The Washington times., 1919-02-20


In the opinion Of Brigadier Cen
eral .Kutz,. District Engineer Com
missioner, there is nothing more i'm
portant for. the District than the en-
actment OF a building zone law.
Unless there is such a law, he fears
that the architectural beauty of WASH
ington will be marred by haphaza=d
construction having nothing in coIn-
mon with general plans for the beau
tification of the entire District.
He believes that by the next reg
ular session Of Congress the Commits
sioners will be prepared 10 submit TO
Congress a Zoning bill which viii have
the backing of all the leading civic
organizations. The matter is beng
discussed with these. organizations.
General Kutz yesterday talked to the
Kiwanis Club on. the subject, aud
found strong support for the plan.
A committee Of citizens from va
rious organization was nalhed 70 a.t-
wise and assist the Commissioners in
I the formulation OF q. law which will
comprehensiyely suit the needs of
Washington.
Discussing with The times his views
as to a zoning law General Kutz went
I
washington Zone Needs.
THE need for such plan here is
not as great as it was in New York
City prior to the adoption of it's
building zone law there in 1916" said
General Kutz. nor as great as that
of st. Louis prior TO the adoption Of
its plan in 1918, for Washington was
one of the pioneers in the enactment
of laws regulating the heights Of
buildings Our building regulations
prescribe the area of each lot that
must be left vacant for light and
ventilation, and certain classes OF
businesses can only be established
with the consent of property owners
in each vicinity. But for some time
! ii has been realized that our building
laws and regulations are inadequate
and that in the Capital City of the
nation We should not only keep
abreadst Of what is being done else
where. but should set a standard that
! is even higher than might be deemed
reasonable for a commercial or manu-
featuring city.
There is not a month in which the
Commissioners are not petitioned to
prevent the erection of a store in a
residence district. but they are pow
.
can discourage the owner by refusing
a permit for the construction Of show
windows projecting over public space,
by declining to alter the level Of the
parking. but they cannot prevent the
use Of the building as a store. Then
again they are very much restricted
in the determination of what consti-
tutes a business tsreet No matter
what the character OF the buildings,
they cannot declare a street business
street until so per cent OF il is actually
occupied and used for business pur-
poses, and when half of the property
is so used, they must declare it "A
business street regardless of the cr
feet Of such a declaration.
InterestinE Case.
"An interesting case occurred a
few years ago in connection with the
erection of the Lafayette Hotel at
Sixteenth and ] streets northwest. I
street at that time was not business
street. but as 80 per cent OF the 'front.'
age between Fifteenth anG Sixteenth
streets was being used for business
purposes. il was declared a business
street, and that, in turn, gave the
property owners the right to build to
a height twenty feet greater than the
width of the strest. AS a result we
nave a building at this point 40 feet
in height, whereas the permissible
frontage on Sixteenth street. which
is a residence street, is limited to
eighty-five feet; but under the law a
building at the intersection of a bust
mes and a residence street may be
erected to the greater Of the two
heights as determined Oy the two
.ules that are applicable.
1--WE have all seen blocks in process
II change from residence TO business,
The intermediate stage being shown
Ly the conversion of dwelling houses
into stores and by the erection of
one story stores. Under existing law
this intermediate, unattractive stage
is greatly prolonged, because until
30 per cent of the property is actually
used for building purposes, property
owners are barred from building to
the heights authorized on business
streets.
Division Into Zones.
4 building zone plan for the Dis
trict would mean a division of the
ynnaG fonr