Our Commissioners Have Resident Parking Proposal
By • February 10, 2026 3 368
By Daniel Chao, Topher Mathews and Paul Maysak
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E is exploring a change to how parking is managed in Georgetown that we think will make the lives of residents a little easier. It’s called Resident Only Parking (ROP) and here’s why we think it’s worth introducing to Georgetown.
Since Covid, there has been a surge of people who commute to Georgetown and park all day. Parking enforcement has collapsed as an effective deterrent. We have helped our neighbors call, email, beg and plead for enforcement and our ANC issued multiple resolutions as well. But few improvements have been achieved.
The city is facing steep challenges in staffing that have and will continue to limit how much more enforcement we can expect to see. We have no choice but to consider other available strategies. That’s where ROP comes in.
Currently, anyone can park in any space for two hours. Then they have to leave. Residents with Zone 2 stickers, of course, are exempt from the two-hour limit and can remain for as long as they want. Contractors, nannies, etc., who hold a valid visitor parking permit (VPP) are also exempt and can remain for as long as the permit is valid.
Under ROP, approximately half the spaces on the block would be set aside for residents or those with a VPP. No one else would be allowed to park there. The other half of the spaces would remain as they currently are, open to anyone.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners must first ask the District Department of Transportation to study the blocks where they wish ROP to be implemented. DDOT will evaluate the need, then affirm or deny the request. After a block gets the ROP designation, if it does not help alleviate the problem as expected, the ANC reserves the right to ask DDOT to switch back to the preexisting Residential Permit Parking for that block.
The city piloted ROP in other parts of the city 10 years ago with success. Residents found it easier to park closer to their homes and not have to worry about carrying heavy groceries or items in and out, or resort to double parking for a minute and face the ire and angry horns of an impatient driver who can’t pass.
Based on that experience, we believe Georgetowners would see a similar improvement. We expect to consider the formal request at our March 2 meeting. We welcome your input about what you are seeing on your block and look forward to hearing from you.
Daniel Chao, Topher Mathews and Paul Maysak serve on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E.
Actually, more often than not, parking on my block (29th St, between O and Dumbarton) is easy enough for me as a resident. For the cleaning person who comes once a week for 2-3 hours from MD, not so much. She doesn’t mind searching, but often must park as far R St. She’s a saint and doesn’t complain, but I feel I should get her VPP. Could I without interrupting the VPP privilege I do use for my daily assistant, also from MD, to park close to my house? This is all complicated, and I appreciate you looking into improving the situation. All good wishes for finding the best solution.
The answer is no . RPP would only be registered for you as the homeowner
I remain strongly opposed to the implementation of RPP. Before introducing a new layer of regulation, we should prioritize consistent enforcement of existing parking rules and ensure that vehicles in violation are ticketed. In addition, the parking spaces that were removed for streateries should be restored. That would be my primary recommendation.
In many neighborhoods across the city, RPP has functioned as a significant driver of gentrification. I can point to several examples where churches were adversely affected, ultimately closing their doors because parishioners no longer had reasonable access to parking.
I recommend Georgetown looks at strict regular enforcement before totally changing our current parking. If people got enough tickets they would stop parking past the two hour limit.