Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12
ZONE Commission
PLANNING CHANGES
Proposal Made to Give Body
Full Time Executive
Administrator.
Continued From First Page,

= AOAAA a Aob o6CsJ
four years, thus bringing into power
new officers unfamiliar with what has
been done in the past, or why.
There Is no move to change the menu
bership Of the Zoning Commission.
which now Is made up of the three
District Commissioners, the executive
officer of the Park and Planning Com
mission and the architect of the Cant
toll. 1t Is believed the creation of a
permanent full-time executive oficer
would make for continuity of knowl-
edge OF coming matters as we'll as to
provide for effective coming planning
on the basis of technical studies.
The coming Commission now has a
comprehensive study made by Mr..
Lndholm of the effect of coming for
residential structures. This shows the
use made of areas set aside for resi-
Dental purposes and the amount of
such sites available for future develop
ment.
But, 1t is pointed out, the commits
sion staff has not yet been able to make
Similar studies Of the amount of areas
Soned for commercial use which have
been or are being used for such pur-
poses. Yet the most OF the petitions
Tor changes in coming coming before
the commission are for creation of adj
uiliolal commercial areas.
Should BE Up-to- Date.
Such studies. it is declared should
be kept up-to-date as current guides
TO the commission in rendering deci-
s1ons on area changes.
Last September Mr.. Lindholm rec.
commended to the commission that its
powers be enlarged to enable 1t to act
as q BOARD OF adjustment so as to
grant relief in specific cases to prom
cry owners to an extent not now DOS
sloie under the existing code. He
agreed that the present code was too
lnnexible and urged liberalization to
permit the commission to make excep-
lions from hard and fast rules laid
down IN its general regulations,
:, AT the same time. ne opposed crea-
slon OF separate board of adjust
ment, tearing that a separate Commits
SION not related to the coming BODY
might conceivably make decisions up.
setting fundamental coming,
his recommendation were mazda
after study Of the matter and fol.
lowing upon direct Recommendation
from the Joint zoning advisory COM
mlttee OF local trade bodies that the
board OF adjustment idea be adopted
here in some form. The Operatiye
Builders Association previously Ala
mad urged creation of a separate board
OF adjustment. Recently, however, the
builders organization made a corn
promise. Rufus s. Lusk, executive sec.
rotary, wrote the commission, stating.
~ Is essential that some machinery
De set up that will provide for q board
OF adjustment 20 handle individual
zonlng cases. II this can be done by-
tne coming commission appointing
committee to hear these cases, It NAV
be 50 ':sfactory and proper solution'"
VIII Consult Experts.
Zoning officials believe legislation
Will be necessary in either case. Mem
oerS or the commission, however, a.
yet have not acted on the proposal in
either form and plan to approve or
disapprove the plan after the present
study is completed. Noted coming ex-
perts are to be consulted In this study
OF the adjustment plan.
The commission members however
are aware of the present 'infiexibilitv''
OF the present code, it is stated. For
instance. they have had cases where a
property owner wished to add a sleep
ing porch or garage to his house. but
could not without change in coming
because the maximum lot occupancy
permitted under the existing classifica-
ton had been used. Thus the commits
SAoAAt WAc A0NCo WIFI lowering JTe ZODs
ing classification or refusing permis-
sion for the addition.
Again, at the last hearing of the
commission the commission considered
petition to change from resident to
nrSt commercial the classification of
property on the District line near Fort
Dupont, where 1t was proposed to erect
commercial radio station. Since the
structure would be for commercial pur-
ut h. 80
Dental area. Yet the commission found
no Objectionable feature to the site
since 1t was In q remote section and
would not blight. To permit the en-
terpr1se, to which there was no objec-
ton, the zoning was changed.
This created q spot of commercial
coming IN q large area zone for resi-
dences. Had the commission board of
adjustment powers, it is pointed out,
an exception could have been allowed
without changing the zoning. The OBJ
lection to changing the coming Is that
owners OF adjoining property might
also ask for similar change to
lower classification, planning to erect
q commercial structure that would be
Objectionable to the community.
Value in Stability.
There are numerous other possible
cases which would be handled as mat
tiers OF adjustment rather than coming.
While the commission directed
study be made of the adjustment idea,
spokesman points out that its mem
bers are conservative" in decisions on
proposals for violent changes in ION,
ing regulations. being convinced that
the value Of coming lies primarily in its
stability.
Four major changes in coming regu-
lations have been adopted since the
law became effective here in 1920.
These were creation Of the B-restricted
area. the A-restricted area and the
back provision for buildings Of maxi
mum height, allowing them to be in
creased from ITO to 100 feet for occu-
pied portions
n~.I H.-.I-k 49,.