Evening star., 1924-03-19
CITY HEADS DEFEND
CONTRACT AWARDS
AND ZONING POLICY
tcontinued from First Page.)

4
body of residents technically qualified
! to offer valuable opinion.
No Law Governs Cases.
There is no law permitting control
Of private architecture, and no au-
thorized body to pass on architectural
plans of private buildings, similar to
the Fine Arts Commission in respect
to: public buildings. .
However, unoffcially architectural
comments are made weekly upon pri-
! vate building plans by 4 council. con-
, sisting of committee of architects
of the Washington Chapter. Ameri-
can Institute of Architects, and a
representative of the Commissioners.
The comments are mailed to the
! owners or designer of the building
under review. The excellent progress
made in improving the beauty of the
city by this work is most note
worthy in the cases OF apartment
! houses and row houses"
/ The Commission called attention
| to "one conspicuous instance where
the government departed from it's
policy of low buildings. The war
risk building. on the old Arlington
! site at the northeast corner OF La
fayette Park, is 130 feet high. There
! has been severe and almost universal
, criticism of this structure as being
too high for its surroundings, too
high for it's use and entirely out of
harmony with existing Developments.
The Zcning commission considered
| that the maximum height limit OF l1O
feet would serve every necessary pur-
| pose, tend to prevent undesirab conges-
ton of traffic, extend and stabilize the
value. OF real estate and thus, in con-
! fornity with the intent Of the law,
wou'd protect the pubic health, secure
the public safety and protect property
in the District Of Columbia"
Protect City's Beauty.
The Commissioners insisted that care
ful attention is given to the development
Of residential sections. and that 'instead
Of destroying beautiful residential Sec
tions the present zoning commission has
created districts where erection of
apartment houses is prohibited, and has
, thus forever secured for certain sections
| a beautiful character of residential de-
ve'op,rent"
The Commissioners pointed out that
neither the Zoning commission nor
! the Commissioners can control the
cost of apartment houses.
! Replying to suggestion OF Senator
King that subdivisions and additions
| are peing added to the city which do
not conform to the general plan of
the city as they should, the Commits
SionerS Sa id:
mo such addition or subdivision
may be created unless 1t conforms
| tion pertaining to subdivisions ano
the zontng regulations.'
Deny Pressure Used.
nF ~
| that zoning permits are 'improVi-
IDENTIFY issued. that ofteptimes pres
sure is brought to secure permits
| which contemplate buildings and
structures not warranted by the let
, ter or spirit of the law. or regula-
; trict," the Commissioner said:
| This claim is completely incor-
rect. No change is made except after
public hearings, advertised for ter
consecutive days in a Washington
the ssoning Commission determined. in
addition to the newspaper advertise
/ ments, to notify all citizens of the
proposed changes and to notify resi-
dents in the vicinity through the po-
| lice department."
! The Commissioner denied also tina,
any favoritism has been shown in
granting zoning permits.
! Senator King, in his letter. said
| that complaint had been made that
/ permission was granted certain
company to erect store much higher
/ than the patent Office. which is sit
uated opposite the store and that
such permit was not ccnsonant with
! the law or with existing regulations
| To this the Commissioners replied:
I "a change in height coming from
! So feet to 110 feet was made
: by the zoning commission on March
t 9, 1928. OF the frontage of 124 feet
4 on 7th street and 15412 on street, at
( the southeast corner of 9TH and +
streets northwest, for the erection of
a new building for the expansion of
use as department store by the
Hecht Company. This change does
not violate the Zoning law or regu-
lations. nor the act Of Congress. June
surrounding public buildings"
The Commissioners included in their
letter a list of changes in zoning
since the adoption of zoning, August
so, 1920, to February /, 1924.
In Senator Kings letter there was
request for information on the pur-
chase of school sites, Of which nc
mention was made in the Commits
sioners' reply made public today. It
was explained at the District build
ing today that Senator Kings re-
quest required information going
back over q period of twenty years,
and that the Commissioners did not
care to delay answers to other ques-
tions while waiting to get it up.
The information concerning the
school sites has now been compiled
and will be forwarded to Senator
King this afternoon, it was stated.
WILL REPORT SOON.