The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-09
BIRMINGHAM 5
 WOMEN TAKE UP QUESTION
City Attorney Wynn Will Ex-
 plain Enabling Act To League Of Women Voters TueSday-AISo Other Laws
ADVOCATE LIMITS FOR HEIGHT OF SKYSCRAPERS
Controlling Areas Would Af-
 feet Value To Extent That Difference in One Sale Would Pay For Survey

Birmingham women will fire the opening gun in citywide campaign for early enactment of a city zoning ordinance when City Attorney ". J. Wynn appears before the League of Women Voters Tuesday and explains details of the enabling act passed by the last legislature, giving the city commission the right to adopt and enforce zoning regulations.
 The city commission already has taken first steps in the movement by ordering a zoning map prepared by the engineering department. This work is progressing, but further &C., tion has been held up due to inabil- ity of the commission to find the $1S,000 necessary to make a survey for zoning the city and set up the enforcement machinery.
 The voters league is hopeful that financial conditions will improve early next year, and they want to keep the issue alive until the right time comes to press for action.
 A zoning ordinance, in the estima- tion of MT. Wynn, will stabilize property values and enable Birming- ham to grow sanely on it's physical side. Building zones will be laid out, business zones, semi-centraI business zones, apartment house zones and residence zones.
 Business structures will be rs- stricted to certain areas and the pro- posed ordinance will prevent ths erection of towering apartments bs- side residences in certain districts Zones to be known as white resi- dential sections and colored residen- tial sections also will be created.
 o O O
 Curb skyxcrapers.
 Probably the ordinance will fix maximum height for downtown office buildings, as this is a feature of zon- ing measures in operation in q ma jority of the large cities of the country.
 City commissioners, ever since the enabling act was passed by the legis- lature, have been giving considerable time to study of the city's needs from a zoning, or city planning. standpoint, and they plan to bring up an ordinance for action as soon as the necessary funds are In sight.
 It Is likely that a city planning commission will be created to super wise enforcement of the law. Also. a planning expert maye be brought here to assist officials in getting the plan under way. Robert II. Whitten of Cleveland, & city planning expert who drew up zoning measures for Cleveland, Indianapolis, Detroit, At aDta and many other cities, has been in touch with city officials and may be engaged when the commission Is ready to take action.
 In addition to explaining the pur- poses of a zoning ordinance, City At torney Wynn will tell the women voters about several other acts passed by the last legislature which vitally affect Birmingham.
 The act setting up the park and recreation board. and the Brewer bill giving all cities in the state. having more than 100000 population, the right to change their form of government at any time by popular vote, will be among the other sub jects discussed.
 Under the Brewer bill, Mr. Wynn said, Birmingham has the greatest measure of home rule" of almost any city in the country.
 Leading realty dealers who are backing the proposed ordinance are firmly of the opinion that its passage would place property values on stable basis hitherto unknown here
 With the safeguards a zonipg measure would throw around property purchasers, real estate men say that the difference in the price of one reasonably large sale would be more than the entire cost of placing the ordinance in effect.