Barry Farm, one of the largest public housing complexes in Washington, D.C., and one of the largest planned developments east of the Anacostia River, is in a state of flux.
After Barry Farm's development team — A&R Development, the Preservation of Affordable Housing and the D.C. Housing Authority — had its planned-unit development approval vacated by the D.C. Court of Appeals in April, it has gone back to the drawing board, the Washington Business Journal reports. Construction on the new apartment structures was set to begin next year, there is no updated timeline, or even firm plans on what comes next.
Something must be built, as 115 households have already been moved away from the existing, 444-unit complex into temporary housing, with 85 families set to be relocated, D.C. New Communities Initiative Director Angie Rodgers told the WBJ. Attorney Aristotle Theresa said the residents are being coerced to move off-site, but he and Rodgers agreed the current conditions for residents are far less than ideal.
Whenever a new development is proposed, it is likely to include less density — the approved PUD included more than the local small area plan allowed — and more green space. While Rodgers and the developers are already at work formulating the next plan, Theresa — who has litigated appeals against developments all over the District, holding up thousands of housing units in the process — claims the current residents have not been told of renewed development efforts.
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