D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 11, r. 11-I807
The purpose of this section is to:
This section applies to lots containing historic resources or to lots containing a non-historic building that received its first certificate of occupancy prior to 1936.
For the purposes of this section, a historic resource is a building or structure listed in the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites or a building or structure certified in writing by the State Historic Preservation Officer as contributing to the character of the historic district in which it is located.
A building described in Subtitle I § 807.2 or Subtitle I § 807.3 shall generate one (1) credit for each square foot of undeveloped gross floor area, up to an additional 4.0 FAR, provided:
For the purposes of determining the unused development rights that generate credits, the matter-of-right densities of the applicable underlying zone districts are deemed to be 6.0 FAR in the D-1 and D-2 zones; 6.5 FAR in the D-3, D-4, D-5, and D-8 zones; and, in the D-6 and D-7 zones, 8.5 FAR for properties fronting on streets with a right-of-way less than one hundred ten feet (110 ft.) wide, or 10.0 FAR for properties fronting on streets with a right-of-way at least one hundred ten feet (110 ft.) wide.
A project that removes any incompatible intrusion into a street right-of-way of the L'Enfant Plan of Washington, as determined by the Historic Preservation Review Board, may generate additional credits by an amount equal to the gross floor area of the removed intrusion, provided the right-of-way is returned to public jurisdiction, or the property owner executes a covenant that runs with the land permanently foregoing construction above grade within the historic right-of-way.
No credits generated under this section may be transferred unless the Zoning Administrator has acknowledged the generation of the credits in a covenant, filed with the Zoning Administrator and recorded in the land records of the District of Columbia, that:
For the purposes of administering Subtitle I § 807.7, the Historic Preservation Division, Office of Planning, shall certify in writing to the Zoning Administrator that restoration has been completed pursuant to plans approved as consistent with the Historic Preservation Act.
Prior to the completion of restoration as certified in Subtitle I § 807.8, one (1) or more Certificates of Credit Transfer described in Subtitle I § 901 may be executed pursuant to a recorded covenant as described in Subtitle I § 807.7 following issuance of a building permit for the credit-sending lot containing the historic resource or the non-historic building meeting the requirements Subtitle I § 807.2, but a certificate of occupancy for the credits on the credit-receiving lot shall not be issued until the restoration of the sending lot's historic resource or non-historic building meeting the requirements Subtitle I § 807.2 has been certified, as provided for in Subtitle I § 807.8.
After the completion of restoration has been certified, any credits shall vest in the receiving lot without any relationship to the status of the sending lot.
Notwithstanding the requirements of Subtitle I §§ 807.9 and 807.10, up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the credits that the sending lot is eligible for may be transferred to and fully vest in a receiving lot under the following conditions:
A request for approval of the covenant described in Subtitle I § 807.7 may be made at any point after the rehabilitation is fifty percent (50%) complete.
The request shall be filed by the person owning the property that generated the credits, or the person's agent and, at a minimum, contain the following information:
The Zoning Administrator, in his or her discretion, may request the General Counsel of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs or the Office of Zoning Legal Division to undertake a legal sufficiency review.
The covenant shall be signed by the Zoning Administrator and the State Historic Preservation Office as evidence of its compliance with the provisions of this chapter
The signature of the Mayor of the District of Columbia is not required.
The owner of the credits, upon notification by the Zoning Administrator that the covenant has been signed, shall take the covenant to the Recorder of Deeds, who shall record the covenant with the lot that generated the credit and provide the owner with two (2) certified copies of the certificate.
The owner of the credits shall provide one (1) certified copy of the covenant to the Zoning Administrator and one (1) to the Office of Planning.
The covenant shall be effective as of the recordation date of the covenant unless a later time is requested by the owner of the credits.
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 11, r. 11-I807