Over 60 sign petition to prevent further restrictions to home rear additions

Want more space? There are options. Homeowners can aways build on top of their houses or create a rear addition. If a recent zoning change is approved, though, this might all change.

According to Greater Greater Washington, the zoning changes will make it illegal to extend a house more than ten feet beyond its neighbor's back wall. Additionally, homeowners will not be able to cover 60 percent of their lot. By limiting rear additions, this also causes D.C. to have a further limited housing supply. This zoning code amendment would cover property owners in R-2, R-3, R-13, R-17, R-20, and RF zones.

UrbanTurf reported that there is now a petition by C and S Development against these restrictions. The petition states that the restrictions will discourage homeowners from expanding or purchasing their homes and will limit developers’s ability to convert single-family houses into flats.

At the time of this article’s publication, 61 signatures have been collected. Once 100 signatures have been collected, the petition will be submitted to the Zoning Commission.

One of the signers of the petition is D.C. resident Jesse Connell, who wrote, “These regulations will negatively affect homeowners from reaching full potential of their property in the District and will limit affordable homes for new home buyers.”

Another signer from Washington, D.C., named Melissa Schmidt, wrote, “This is an illogical regulation that clearly slipped through by a special interest group. This is overstepping a boundary and infringes on the rights of property owners.”

In a November 2016 letter sent from ANC 6B Chair Kirsten Oldenburg to Anthony Hood, chairman of the Zoning Commission, it was stated that ANC 6B unanimously voted in agreement of the changes.

• You’ll have to jump through a new hoop if you want a rear addition on your house in DC [Greater Greater Washington]

• A DC Petition Against Rear Addition Restrictions [UrbanTurf]

• Petition [Change.org]