Evening star., 1929-12-18
18TH ST. zON|NG
CONTEST IS TAKEN
TO DISTRICT COURT
Owners Ask Commissioners
Be Compelled to Set Aside
Classification Decision.
HOUSE IN COMMERCIAL
AND RESIDENTIAL AREA
Plaintiffs Claim Action Is Arbi-
trary and in Effect Is Depriva-
tion of Rights.


The long-anticipated legal contest
over the power Of the Zoning CommiS-
sion to restrict lower Sixteenth street
properties to residential use while
assessments there remain more or less
| comparable with those on properties in
surrounding areas zoned for commercial
use has been carried to District Su-
preme Court.
Owners of two properties on K street,
just west of Sixteenth street, late yes
terday asked the court for a mandatory
injunction to compel the zoning Com
mission to set aside its decision retain
ing the properties in residential classi-
f1cation and seeking to have them re-
zoned for first commercial use.
Line Runs Through House.
A part of these K street properties
fall within the 100-foot restricting line
back Of Sixteenth street, set up to pro-
tect the residential zoning on Sixteenth
street. This line runs through one of
the two houses on K street, thus leaving
this parcel alf in the residential
classification and half in the CONNER
cial use area which extends west on K
street from this line.
Declaration that the suit would be
assessments and coming restrictions in
this and other Sixteenth street property
cases, was contained in a series of ar
ticles published by The Star early in
October.
The suit was filed by Henrietta B.
Bugher, Frederick Mclean Bugher and
Alvin Untermyer, trustees under the
will Of Frederick H. Bugher; H. Rozier
Dulany,. jr.; Kate w. Dulany and F.
Darlington Weems, owners of the two
parcels of property.
The claim is made that the recent
action OF the Zoning Commission in re-
fusing the request of the owners to
have the property declared first COM
mercial when there was no opposition
to the request at a public hearing is
arbitrary and unreasonable and
amounts, in effect, to a deprivation
Of the rights of the plaintiffs.
Unfit for Residences.
1t is not possible to use the lots of
the plaintiffs, it is asserted, as resi-
dences in such manner as to secure
an adequate return based upon their
value, and unless the. coming be changed
it will not be possible TO use the lots
for any other purpose. The zoning as
residential, it is claimed, does not pro-
mote the health, safety, convenience or
comfort of the inhabitants of the Dis
trict and the change to first CONNER
cial classification would in no manner
injure the adjoining property or affect
adversely the public interest.
The petition was filed for the plain
tits by Attorneys Peelle, Ogilby &
& BreZ .-.
The court is told that the assessment
for taxation on the property has ad-
vanced from $3.50 per square foot in
1919, until now on one parcel it Is $3.50
and on the other $17.40 per square foot.
Practically all the property south of
M street to B street and from Wash
ington circle to the Capitol now is
zoned first commercial, it is stated in
the petition, and the plaintiffs declare
that K street is connecting link be-
tween the old business section and the
new section along Connecticut avenue
The houses on these two lots, the court
is told, have remained vacant since last
April, although continuously kept on
the market by their owners
The Star articles, based on a techni-
cal study Of the conditions underlying
the recurring conflicts over the coming
OF Sixteenth street, showing a head
on" collision between Zoning restrictions
and assessments, brought forth state
ments from both Commissioners Dough-
erty and Taliaferro that they believed
assessments should take into considera-
ton restrictions against uses of the
property contained in coming regula-
tionS.
Assessments Basis Cited.
Tax Assessor Richards, after consider
alton, declared that If property owners
could show him that the values of their
properties were lower than the assessed
values placed on them by the District,
due to zoning restrictions, he would see
that the Board of Tax Appeals con-
Sidered the cases. Mr.. Richards, how
ever, stressed the point that assessments
must be made primarily on current sales
prices on nearby comparable properties
to one under consideration.
In this series of articles Mr.. Richards
declared that he and his assistant as
SCISSORS gave but little consideration to
zoning restrictions on properties in
making up assessment values.
The Stars study revealed that as
Sessments on dwelling properties on
Sixteenth street ranged from ST to
$40 per square foot, whereas land
assessments of residential sites in five
of the city's. most exclusive dwelling
sections range from SITS to $11 per
square foot.
Further, The Stars study showed.
for instance, that the assessment on
the home of Mrs. Mildred Mclean
Dewey, northwest corner of Sixteenth
and K streets, in the residential zone,
is $50 per square foot, whereas the
assessment on the site of the huge IL
story Investment Building, at Fif-
teenth and x streets, in first COM
mercial zone, is SIS per square foot.