Photo by NCinDC on Flickr.

As part of a new weekly series on Greater Greater Washington, we’ll take a topic that is relevant in the week’s news and allow our contributors to briefly weigh in on it. This week: proposed changes to DC’s height limit.

Dan Malouff had a great post on the topic and there have been several stories featured in the Breakfast Links recently on the subject. Should DC keep its height limit, tweak it, or get rid of it all together? Are there possible consequences people aren’t considering? Two of our contributors weigh in:

Canaan Merchant: I think the original reasons for it are outdated and the current arguments insufficient. That doesn’t mean I think we will start digging foundations for skyscrapers on the Mall anytime soon. I think we can protect the things we like about the height limit by changing the argument from “why should we let this building be tall?” to “why shouldn’t we let this building be tall?”

In his original post, Dan Malouff compares DC’s height limit debate to Paris’. I would like to point out the lessons we can learn from London. London has a special neighborhood for high-rises at Canary Wharf, similar to Paris’ La Defense or our own Rosslyn. But it has started building very tall buildings in central London as well because there is still a lot of demand there. In DC, demand will remain high for downtown office space as well, even if we do allow much taller buildings in areas like Friendship Heights or Poplar Point.

London hasn’t stopped protecting its views either, like King Henry’s Mound, a hill that is 10 miles away from St. Paul’s Cathedral. In DC, we can do the same thing from some of our most famous viewing points while still allowing taller buildings in many other places as well.

Eric Fidler: One point that was largely absent from last Monday’s DC Council hearing is that new housing exceeding the 130-foot height limit will produce more affordable housing thanks to DC’s Inclusionary Zoning laws.

Critics often refute the supply-and-demand argument for greater heights by noting that all the new tall apartment buildings are expensive. That is true because new apartment buildings, like new clothes and new cars, can command a price premium over their older counterparts. Today’s pricey, new buildings become tomorrow’s discounted, “lived-in” buildings.

However, DC’s Inclusionary Zoning law requires that new residential projects with more than 9 units set aside 8% or 10% of units for affordable housing.

Assuming Congress relaxes the Height Act, then DC amends the Comprehensive Plan, then the Zoning Commission amends the zoning text and map to create taller zones with higher height and FAR limits, these new, taller buildings will produce more Inclusionary Units. Think of it another way: 10% of a 22-story building is greater than 10% of a 13-story building.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments.