The Washington herald., 1922-05-28
zONING SYSTEM
PREVENTS MUCH
ECONOMIC Loss
Department of Commerce
Experts Tell of Value
Of New Plan.
STOPS "BLIGHTING'
Value of Much Residential
Property Saved by
Zone Laws.

How the great economic loss re-
sultinS from the scrapping of build
ings in "blighted' city districts can
be eliminated through the use of
the zon.ng system is outlined by
the advisory committee of the di-
vision of building and housing. De-
partment of Commerce. in the sec
ond article of a series on the sub
ject.
A ''blighted'' district is described
as one. originally developed for res
licences or industry, ip the future
Of which people have lost confidence
because OF the encroachment of in
appropriate structures.
Property and Health.
Suppose you have just bought
some land in a neighborhood of
homes and built cozy little house."
the article says. There are two
vacant lots south of you. If your
town is Zoned. no one can put up a
large apartment house on those lots
overshadowing your home. stealing
your sunshine and spelling the in.
Nestment of twenty years saving.
Nor is anyone at liberty to erect a
noisy. malodorous public garage to
keep yOtI awake nights or to drive
you to sell out for half what you
put into your home.
IF a town is zoned. property
values become more stable. mort
gage companies are more ready TO
lend money, and more houses can
be built
"a zoninG law. IL enacted In time.
prevents an apartment house from
becoming a giant airless hive, hous-
ing human lSings like crowded bees.
1t provides that buildings may not
be so high and so close that men
and women must work in rooms
never freshened by sunshine or
lighted from the open sky.
Cost of Living Reduced.
BY coming millions of dollars of
waste from the scrappinE of build
Ings in blighted districts may be
eliminated. A 'blighted district is
a district. originally. developed for
residence or industry. in the future
of which people have lost confidence.
The Cacuses of such blight are
manifold. The most familiar case
is that of a residential district into
which there have begun to creep
various uses threatening rapid de-
struction of its value for residences,
SUCH uses dS SpOTdulC SlOEtSr VI
factories. or cheap rooming houses.
1T is not that a few such inap-
prOpriate uses really spoil the dis
trict. but that people having lost
uOnfidence. start a panic. like a run
Oh the bank. Hundreds of them
hurry up TO unload their properties
at sacrifice for any kind of use
mo- matter how Objectionable to
their neighbors-and the blight is
on.
dwellings worth in the aggre-
gate millions of dollars for the pur-
poses for which they were built and
physically fit to serve those pur-
poses for many years to come with
a moderate investment in altera-
tions and improvements. are thus
annually abandoned to purposes for
which they are unfit. or are left to
stand practically idle.
Public Services Reduced.
Expensive public services of wa
ter. gas. electricity. sewers and
transportation are maintained at
great waste in order to get through
the 'blighted' district to the more
distant and newly fashionable To-
cation.
The total economic loss is enor-
NOUS. and this loss and the risk OF
it are paid by the people. in the
price of house rents or otherwise
as inevitably as they pay the price
of the enormous lire losses either
directly or through insurance.
Proper coming cuts these losses
ut their source. just as proper build
ing regulations apd fire protection
cut fire losses at their source.
Again. miles of streets and sew
ers and other utilities. such as are
ordinarily built when land is newly
subdivided for dwellings, need never
he constructed if we know that
these areas will be devoted mainly
torIar=e factories. Industry will be
more efficient as well as homes more
wholesome. il kept generally sepa-
rate. Separation need not mean
great distances for workers TO
trave'. Concentration of uses anda
fair apportiOning of districts should
reSuce the amount of all transpor-
tation and result in economies not
only directly for the worker but in
directly in the costs Of production
and marketing of goods"