Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12
Movement Seen for More
Flexible Code Affecting Dis
trict Property.
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
INCLUDED IN PROPOSAL
Many Advantages Are Seen in
Program to Modify Present
Regulations.
BY DON. s. WARREN.

Radical reorganization OF the admin
istrative Office of the zoning Commits
sion, designed to enable 1t to function
more effectively and constructively, is
planned by District officials, and pro-
posals to this end are to be formulated
this year for action by Congress next
Winter, it was learned yesterday from
authoritative sources at the District
Building.
Appointment of a full-time perma-
nent coming officer to conduct the ex-
ecutive work of the commission and the
provision of an adequate personnel for
the office will be recommended, it is
announced. It is planned to make pro-
vision for salaries for these employees
in the estimates for the year 1882
which will be drafted this coming Sum-
mer as part of the budget proposed for
that fiscal year.
Another important proposed change
in coming here is the subject of an
official and serious study, 1t was re-
vealed. The commission has directed
It's present executive officer to investi-
gate and report as soon as possible on
the need of creation of a board of ad-
justment and to prepare an outline of
proposed machinery and organization
under which such a board would
operate. The purpose of such a board
within or separate from the present
commission. would be to make more
flexible the present coming regulations
Code Too "Infiexible."
the present code Is in some cases too
"infiexible," causing hardships to some
property owners with no advantage to
the District as whole, but there is
some fear that separate board of adj
justment empowered to make excep-
lions from literal interpretations of the
regulations of the Zoning Commission
might prove unwise. The study just
ordered Is designed to determine II
some form Of organization might be
given board of adjustment powers, with.
out the danger that the fundamental
zcning here might be upset, and vel
providing relief in justifiable cases.
Zoning in Washington now Is ad.
miniStered by an ex-officio commission
composed of heads of Federal and Dis
trict agencies, and the work of the
commission office is executed under the
direction of an ex-off1cio District exec
utive by District employees borrowed
from other departments.
An assistant engineer commissioner
Maj. Donald A. Dawson, now Is desig-
mated as executive officer of the COM
mission, but can devote but a modicum
of his time to coming matters because
OF the pressure of other Government
matters, it is pointed out.
Other members of the present staff
are S. G. Lindholm, employed and paid
as an engineer of the building inspec-
tors Office, who is borrowed by the
ZnnIY10 a1A
by the District as a messenger in the
engineering department of the District,
and Maj. Davison's stenographer, an
employe of the engineering department,
who gives part time to the coming work.
Not Adequate Now.
Zoning officials, as we'll as outside
organizations, the Operative Builders
Association, the local chapter of the
American Institute of Architects and
the coming advisory committee of local
trade groups. have stated that this
present organization of the coming
executive Office is not adequate to
handle Its work properly and have rec
commended creation of properly
stated executive office.
One official declared emphatically
yesterday that the executive officers,
under the present system, cannot find
time to make current studies of the
effect OF coming in Washington in the
light of the trends of the city's growth,
increase in population and amounts of
available building sites for various
classes Of structures to guide the COM
mission intelligently in its decisions.
Provision of q permanent, full-time
coming executive officer and provision
of commission staff adequate to han
die the mass of routine business of the
commission, 1t is declared, would make
possible such studies and more effective
and constructive coming.
Zoning has been in effect in WASH
ington for nine and q half years and
yet there were no comprehensive
studies of its effect here in relation to
the growth of the city until 1928, 1t was
pointed out.
Thus, while the decisions Of the COM
mission by and large have met with
public approval in most cases, there
being but an insignificant number of
contests over decisions taken to court
for review, the commission has not had
the advantage of studies Of the effect
OF its decisions as a guide to future
planning.
Changes Are Frequent.
Proponents of a permanent full-time
executive officer point out also that the
membership of the commission changes
from time to time, the Assistant En-
gineer Commissioner serving as ex-
ofhcio executive officer changes every
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