Evening star., 1928-03-17
BETTER, BALANCED D. C.. ZONING
is ADVOCATED BY MAJ. COVELL
Property Owners Given Suggestion te
Request Changes From Commercial to
~ Residential Designations.

on changes in coming is to be found IL
| the act Of Congress setting up zonint
regulations in the District Of Coluni.
bia. in the provision requiring thai
public hearings be held by the com
mission on changes in coming"
However, the coming executive points
out, careful studies OF the present Zon'
Ing clasSifications of the District have
showed conclusively that there Is nov
fs.' too much commercial and industrial
zone areas, far more than will be
equaled by demand for such areas even
when the District Is entirely built up
Therefore. II 1t can be done without
violating the first principle OF coming
that Of prevailing stability OF coming
claSSificationS. certain sections now
zoned for commercial or industrial use
should be changed back to residential
clasSifications."
Mai. Covell listed the following cases
of property zoned for commercial OF
industrial use. the owners OF which
might we'll consider petitioning for
change to residential claSsifications:
Residential Area Cited.
/. Property now zoned for commercial
or industrial use but which has
covenants running with the deeds ia
the property restricting it to residential
purposes. Such property, though zoned
for commercial use cannot be used
legally for any other purpose than resi-
dental and should be changed to that
classification.
2. Big parcels of property not yet
developed and in some cases not even
subdivi6ed. which now are zoned for
commercial or industrial Use and for
which there Is, in all probability. no
present or future demand for use as
a whole as commercial or industrial
areas. There are such long strips OF
land which zoning ofhcials feel would
be more valuable to their owners II all
or most Of such sections were zoned Tor
residential purposes. While theoreti-
value than residential area. this has
not been found to be the case where
there is a great over-supply OF COM
mercial area, as in the District, ofhcials
warn. In other words. the Law OF
supply and demand supercedes theoreti-
cal estimates as to the comparative
value Of land zoned residential and
land Zoned for commercial use.
Projections on Buildings.
3. In residential areas, the zoning
regulations permit the erection Of
front gorehes projecting over the build
ing lines. thing not permitted In cases
where property is Zoned for commercial
or industrial use. (Projecting show
windows, however, are permitted on the
latter cases.) Inasmuch as there are
many cases OF residences being built
on land zoned for commercial or In
dustrial use.. IL would seem wise for
owners Of such property to seek change
to the residential classification, the
coming once believes.
4. There are cases of property now
zoned for commercial or industrial use.
for which there has developed, over
considerable time. no demand for use
for business developments. Such prop
erty probably would prove Of greater
value to owners and adjacent property
owners as well II changed 10 residential
ciassifications, zoning officials believe.
II any such changes are initiated by
the zoning commission, Maj CoVell
emphasizes. changes would be made
cnly after public hearing on the merits
Of each individual case.