Today's DC Register has published the final version of the text amendment (case 05-10) to the Capitol Gateway Overlay District zoning regulations that has been winding through the process since early 2005. From the order: "The amendments place limits on density transferred through combined deployments, extend the Zoning Commission review and approval process and design guidelines to additional properties within the boundaries of the Capitol Gateway ("GC") Overlay, and establish preferred retail and entertainment use requirements and regulations along First and Half Streets S.E. within the area. In addition, the rules impose, within the Overlay, a 15-foot setback and a 1:1 upper story step-back above a height of 110 feet for buildings fronting South Capitol Street; an upper stories set-back for building[s] fronting Half Street S.E.; and a 1:1 upper story step-back above a height of 110 feet for buildings fronting Potomave Avenue S.E. and S.W. The rules also provide for referral to the National Capital Planning Commission of all applications for the review of buildings and uses on lots that abut South Capitol Street." Whew! The CG Overlay has yet to be posted in its entirety on the Zoning Commission web site (see that "Reserved" for Chapter 11?), but in the interim I've cobbled together the various ZC orders and other documents (we're still waiting on the publication of the final order for ZC case 06-25, which extended the CG Overlay boundary across South Capitol Street) into a single sleep-inducing document. You can also read my explanatory treatise from a few months back on this Overlay and its companion, the Southeast Federal Center Overlay.

The long and winding road of the Florida Rock project took a pretty surprising turn tonight, as the Zoning Commission opted not to vote on the second-stage PUD, instead asking the applicant for to come back with an altered design that addresses the commission's concerns: the need for a greater amount of residential within the project (up from the current 40%, with the understanding that this would cut down the amount of office space), better views of and from the stadium (specifically in terms of the views of the Anacostia River from the grand staircase at 1st Street, and also the views of the stadium from the South Capitol Street Bridge), and a somewhat amorphous desire for a better "expression of place" (something that makes the site and the project more identifiable on the waterfront side).

More posts: Florida Rock, Monument Valley/Half St., staddis, zoning