Evening star., 1925-10-16
ARLINGTON URGED
TO ACT ON zON|NG
County May Need New State
Law as Basis, Maj. Brown
Tells Civic Body.

Proper participation by Arlington
County in the greater Washington
movement demands that no time be
lost in plating the county and locat-
ing its streets and highways" Maj.
Cary H. Brown, assistant director of
the office of Public Buildings and
Grounds, declared in discussing pro-
posed zoning regulations for the
county before a meeting of the greater
Arlington County committee of the
Arlington County Civic Federation
last night.
After explaining the necessity for
Zoning regulations for a growing COM
munity like Arlington, Maj. Brown
invited questions on the subject from
his audience. Members of the com
mittee, who are striving to reach d
concrete basis for the zoning of the
county, hadr much to ask, the inter
rogators being Maj. l.. w. r. Ewing,
Or. kirkpatrick, ]. Cloyd Byars,
Charles f. kincheloe and others.
New Legislation Advised.
Besides plating the county, one of
the first steps TO be taken by the
county in the direction of coming, Maj
Brown said, is to ascertain the legal
status of coming in Virginia. He de-
Clared that the county must have
The proper legal basis or else it would
run into many difficulties. He call
ed attention to the fact that the State
has an enabling act by which cities
may adopt zoning. and suggested the
possibility Of organizing the county to
meet the definition of a city, or TO
have the enabling act amended to give
counties the right to zone.
In calling attention to the I'M
rortance of plating the county, Maj.
Brown said: You must find out what
YOU have before you determine what
YOUR Zoning limitations are to be-"
There are three fundamental prin-
cipleS involved in coming, Maj. Brown
said-heiGht, area and use-and three
clements in determining height lim-
tations of buildings light, air and
protection The height of buildings
is usually regulated by the width of
the street on which they are located.
Maj. Brown said. In the District of
Columbia, he said, the maximum
height is 10 feet, suggesting less for
the county, and expressing the view
that it would never have the need for
buildings over So feet.
In zoning for business I'm the
county, Maj. Brown suggested that
the zoning planners should be guided
by present uses of property. Area
should be zoned for business where
business now exists, he said, with
provision for expansion. The same
thought should be applied to industry
and residences, he said.
Points Limit of Zoning Power.
Maj. Brown pointed out that in
adopting a Zoning ordinance the plan
ners will find it impossible to force Il
man out of business. Sections where
there are a few retail stores, but
with residences in the ma jority, he
advised. should be zoned as residential
sections. Even though these stores
do not conform to the surroundings.
he said, they will have to be permit
ted to exist unless they can be proven
nuisances and removed by condem-
nation.
Asked how the ZoninE question
could be handled in undeveloped Sec
tions Maj Brown replied:
You could have ordinances so writ
ten to provide zoning for thickly set
tied areas and let the undeveloped
sections be marked undetermined
until they develop, when they could
be zoned in accordance and in con-
fornity with the general plan"
In view of Gov. Trinkle's avowed
interest in the regional plan of de-
velopnlent it was decided to request
the presence of the States chief ex-