NCPC Urban Design Policies Feedback Survey

Browse the feedback provided online during the public comment period for the proposed federal urban design policies.

Policies Related To Respecting Context

Section A: The L'Enfant City and its Setting Policies The federal government should implement and support policies and actions that:

A9.	Encourage building, street and exterior lighting that respects the hierarchy among memorials, monuments, and important civic buildings and spaces of the nation’s capital, with the U.S. Capital being the most prominent feature in the nighttime skyline. Signage, illuminated billboards and/or other lighting should enhance viewsheds to symbolic civic and federal buildings and should not impact the setting of the National Mall. What others think about this policy:221 What others have said: "The Old Post Office Building and other visually attractive historic buildings should be lit as well (which is not currently the case)." "Restrictions should lessen as one moves further away from the federal core." "The building and rooftop signs should not be more prominent than the monuments"
Section B: The District of Columbia The federal government should implement and support policies and actions that:

B2.	Maintain or reinforce views to and settings of federal properties in the District of Columbia and to symbolic civic buildings and federal icons within the L'Enfant City. What others think about this policy:211 What others have said: "Ditto B1"

B3.	Encourage private development to enhance the character of any adjacent federal facilities or federal park land. What others think about this policy:193 What others have said: "The federal government should always try to use adaptive reuse of existing and historic buildings before building new for culturally and sustainability reasons. And " "The federal government should not involve itself with adjacent privately owned properties. If the federal government wants to control development there, it has the power of condemnation." "The NPS needs to be more flexible in its management of urban park land." "Examples taking place in the Navy Yard neighborhood should reenforce this proposal."
Section D: Inspiring Building Design New, redesigned, modernized or refurbished federal buildings should:

D1.	Reflect their importance in the National Capital Region and be designed and constructed to the highest quality. What others think about this policy:24 What others have said: "Realistically will the federal government pay for the "highest quality."" "What is meant by "highest quality"? This policy need more meat so that one knows when concurance with the policy has been achieved." "But standard federal office buildings should also include ground floor retail and not be built like fortesses." "...and not in the suburbs, far from transit." "I agree and am curious if the term "highest quality" was used as a blanket term? It is a slippery slope to be so broad, be more specific. At this point, we need make mention of sustainability and built environment efficiency. "

D2.	Complement or improve their context by providing consistency with the adjacent urban fabric. This should include consistency with scale, materials, streetwalls or heights where possible. What others think about this policy:204 What others have said: "This is leading to boring buildings. Consistent scale and height is enough." "This is nothing but code for mindless conformity." "Consistency can be visually boring. See downtown DC where all of the commercial architecture consists of 12 story boxes with very little architectural detail and no setbacks to add variety." "As all urban buildings should, why should the federal government be treater differently just because they collect taxes?" "I agree however do not necessarily agree on materials, this could spiral around to hurt us if a material is no longer available or price prohibitive." "Encourage great architecture. Remember K Street."

D4.	Achieve a balance between iconic design and infill design as appropriate to the location and setting of the building’s site. What others think about this policy:193 What others have said: "Every site deserves a great design appropriate for the function and site."