Should There Be a Special RPP Zone Around the Georgia Avenue Metro Station?
Typical residential parking sign with regular hours of 7 am to 8:30 pm
On-street parking has long been an issue in the neighborhood, and over the years it has only become harder for residents to park near their residences. Over the past several years, blocks like the 400 blocks of Newton, Otis, and Princeton have all changed from open parking to Residential Permit Parking blocks, leaving few remaining non-RPP blocks in the neighborhood. In 2012 residents in Ward 1 also began to participate in Enhanced Residential Permit Parking which reserved one side of the street for Ward 1 residents only, leaving the opposite side available to non-residents for 2 hours of parking or longer with a visitor’s pass.
However, neither the RPP or Enhanced RPP programs take into account the location of the Georgia Avenue Metro station or the impact it has on area parking. The station is located on the north side of the Ward 1/Ward 4 border, and RPP borders are duel zoned when it comes to RPP. For example, Rock Creek Church Road is the current boundary between Wards 1 and 4. So, when it comes to the RPP Zone designation, that means that border streets as well as the blocks directly north and south of the border all get duel zone designation. The intent was to make parking fair for residents living near Ward borders, but it also potentially opens these streets up to residents from the entirety of two Wards parking there. At the Metro station east of Georgia Avenue, that means that Rock Creek Church Road, Quincy Street, and Quebec Place are all zoned 1/4 and any resident with a Zone 1 or 4 sticker can park on these streets.
Normally, this would not be a problem. However, as stated above, there is a Metro station in this mix … and over the years residents from further north have begun to use these dual zoned streets as commuter parking. I noticed this in 2012 during the Enhanced RPP implementation and things haven’t gotten better since. Most recently, residents frustrated with streets parked up by commuters opposed a Board of Zoning parking variance request for 3701 New Hampshire Avenue due to their concerns that the parking situation would get worse. I appreciate those concerns, yet the opposition to the parking variance request didn’t address the original issue of the area being used as commuter parking.
So the question becomes, has the impact of commuter parking reached a point where DDOT should consider implementing a special RPP Zone around the Georgia Avenue Metro station. Its certainly something I’m going to explore beginning with a request for DDOT to perform a parking study to determine the extent of the problem. The results of that study should provide a clearer understanding of the scale of the issue and suggest appropriate next steps.
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Park View, D.C. 
December 10, 2015 at 9:28 am
The obvious, although unlikely, solution is to revise the entire RPP parking system to reduce the size of zones. They should be ANC-sized, not ward-sized.
December 10, 2015 at 9:40 am
This happens on the other side of GA Ave as well. I’m thinking specifically of the 900 block of Quincy, the 3700 block of 9th Street NW, and the little segment of Rock Creek Church Rd that runs between GA Ave and Spring Road NW.
December 10, 2015 at 10:26 am
I personally hate these restricted parking rules. We live in an urban area and want people to come to our businesses, nothings them, don’t come here more than, you’re not allowed to park here. DC has public streets, they should then have public parking on those streets. If it matters that much then spend the money for an off street space…
December 10, 2015 at 11:15 am
Most residents of row houses already have off street parking or the space and alley access to create it. But whatever the case, transit service connections or bus transit in general should be improved so that people do not have to commute to the metro. To be honest, it’s better to me they are taking metro than driving all the way to work.
December 10, 2015 at 1:11 pm
Absolutely. Yes.