Evening star., 1941-05-23
Trick Editing
Charged in
Apartment Ban
Montgomery Civic
Federation Unit
Hit by J. Bond Smith
sx. statt correspondent Of The star.

By staff Correspondent of The Star.
ROCKVILLE, Md, May 23.-The
Montgomery County Civic Fedora
ton was severely criticized last
night for its opposition to apart
ment houses and was charged with
having adopted report that was
deliberately misleading" on the
subject.
The civic body was scored by j
Bond Smith, legal counsel to the
Maryland National Capital Park
and Planning Commission, in testi-
mony at a public hearing held by
the county commissioners, sitting
as council for the MarylandW WASH
ington Metropolitan District, on
proposed revision of the zoning ordi-
nance
(At the last civic federation
meeting, the group adopted a
report from the Internal County
Improvement Committee oppos-
ing further construction of
apartments anywhere in the
county and also adopted reso-
luton placing the group on
record as opposed to such con-
struction as a matter OF general
policyO
ut is with some reluctance that
] call this matter to the attention
of the District Council tonight" "
Mr. Smith declared. Il cannot do
other than condemn not only the
conclusions but also the manner
In which the report was prepared" !"
wilkins Makes Denial.
A. C. Wilkins. chairman of the
Internal County improvement Com
mittee. today denied attempts had
been made to deliberately mislead
or create any impression"
President o. M. Kile regarded the
federation's almost unanimous &C.
tion as rejecting the delegates
very strong disapproval Of several
recent applications for rezonings fol-
apartment house construction.
Personally" he continued. Il had
the feeling that the resolution was
too sweeping and had not been suf-
fciently considered. I did all
could as chairman president of the
federation) to invite and stimulate
discussion. I was surprised at the
apparent unanimitv of views and
votes of the delegates.
Since it now appears that there
may have been misunderstanding
Of the facts in some instances and
that the legality of such complete
exclusion Is very questionable. !
shall expect a motion for reconsid-
Grafton at the June meeting. I
plan to review the whole matter at
the meeting of the Executive and
Advisory Committee on-May 29." -
Charges Quotations Changed.
Referring to the federation COM
fnittee's report which quoted emf
nent planning officials and other
authorities to back up its recon-
mendations, Mr.. Smith asserted
"some quotations have been changed
and none of the citations would
restrict residential construction to
single-family dwellings.
The committee is not frank with
this District Council and it was
not frank with the federation. !.
Even the quotations lin the report)
show that they have been edited
In pencil"
At this point. Commissioner John
e. Oxley asked: I'm other words,
you mean they were deliberately
r1isleading?"
Il do not see how it could have
been inadvertent," Mr.. Smith re-
piled.
When questioned today, Mr.. Will
kins said While we did quote ex-
cerpts in our committee report, we
also submitted fuller quotations
which were to voluminous to be
read, but which were filed with the
record. do not know of any editing
that occurred"
Quizzes Planned by Wire.
Asserting the federation report
quotes Alfred Bettman. Cincinnati
(Ohio) city planner, in arguments
against apartments, Mr.. Smith said
he had telegraphed Mr.. Bettman
who had replied that correct prin-
ciple of rezoning should provide
for all types and degrees of uses
In reading telegram he said he
received from Mr.. Bettman, Mr..
Smith quoted the planner as saying
q statute which forbade any type
OF zone would be invalid"
In his remarks, Mr.. Smith praised
the work of some civic federation
members on zoning matters. He
complimented members of the
zoning Subcommittee of the fedora
tion's Legislative and Legal Action
Committee for having submitted a
comprehensive list of suggested
amendments. He mentioned the
names of Richard B. Barker, Carey
z. Quinn, Frederic P. Lee and Louis
Gravelle as having done splendid
work on constructive coming recon-
nendations.
Mr.. wilkins explained the COM
mittee intended the exclusion of
apartments to apply only to the
metropolitan district, but that Mr.
Barker had amended the resolution
30 as to include the entire county
under the proposed ban.
w. B. Horn, a member of the
internal County improvement Com
snittee, told the hearing last night
he was not present when parts of
the criticized report were prepared
and that it was his personal feeling
that the recommendations barring
apartments entirely were too
sweeping"
Quinn Comments on Weakness.
Mr.. Quinn was asked to comment
on the report which was the object
Of the attack
II think the report probably
speaks for itself" he said. 81 would
not dare add anything to its weak
nesses and certainly find myself in
more difficulties In discussing its
strength"
In reviewing recommendations of
his own committee. Mr.. Quinn en-
phasized the need for providing an
enforcing officer so as to place re-
sponsibility in carrying out the law
Mrs. B. A. Crock and Mrs. Ira
Castles, both of the Sligo Park Hills
Citizens Association, called atten-
tson to action taken by their or