Evening star., 1951-11-08
zoning Of Rural Changed zoning
Montgomery Hit Plan Proposed
At0pen Hearing In Alexandria
Committee Urges
New Law to Fit
Planning Needs

A new coming plan, requiring
off-street parking facilities anc
establishing 13 zoning classifica.
tlons, was proposed today in Alex
andria.
The recommended changes pre-.
pared by a f1ve-member committee
OF city officials, and were made
public today by Philip B. Hall
director of planning.
Mr.. Hall served as a member Of
the special committee, along with
City Councilman Leroy S. Bend
helm; Edward S. Holland, jr., OF
the planning commission; City
Attorney v. Floyd Williams, and
Building Inspector A. R. Lash
Map of Proposed Uses.
The committees report has been
turned over to the City Council
and planning commission, together
with a map showing the proposed
new land uses throughout the city.
The committee said it decided
any attempt to amend the present
zoning law to fit the new plan
would be futile. and it was decided
to prepare a completely new zon-
ing ordinance.
Most revisions of the zoning
ordinance in recent years have
been confined to procedure. and
this portion of the old zonlng ordi-
nance would remain virtually un-
changed.
The present five-zone classifica-
ton would be junked in favor of a
new 13-zone plan. Under each
classification. permitted uses of
the land would be specified. The
present zoning ordinance i'll many
instances does the opposite-lists
the uses which are not permitted.
Yard area requirements would
be governed by a completely new
plan. It would require that the
maximum total floor area of any
building bear a certain ratio to
the total lot area. This is called
the floor area ratio plan" Each
new zone would have a specified
floor area ratio.
Ratio to Govern Height.
A ratio plan also would be used
to measure the permitted height
OF buildings. A city-wide maxi
mum building height of $50 feet
would be established. The height
of each building, however, would
depend on the ratio of yard space
to the building height.
Each dwelling unit would be re-
qulred to provide its own off,
street parking space, and all COM
mercial buildings would have to
provide off-street customer park
ing according to the gross floor
area or seating capacity. Each
commercial building would have
to provide off-street loading ia
cilities.
Alexandria's central business
area, bounded by the Potomac
Duke street, West street
and Queen street, Is exempted
from the off-street parking re-
quirements because the committee
felt the area was too built up to
make that requirement now.
A community unit plan is a
completely new provision OF the
ordinance.
This plan permits the owner
OF a tract Of undeveloped land of
10 acres or more to develop his
whole tract according to a compre-
hensive plan. without strict ad-
herence to requirements of the
particular zone in which the land
is located. The average density
OF the zone and the floor area ratio
would have to be adhered to, how
ever, and the overall plan would
be subject to approval by the city
council and planning commission
Zones and Locations.
The IL new zones that would be
established and a general descrip-
ton OF their locations are as fol-
lows:
RIO Zone-This single-family
residence zone, which requires lot
sizes of 10000 square feet, would
be located in the Chapel Hill area
along Quaker lane and Key drive.
1t is anticipated that the area the
city expects to annex from Fairfax
County will provide more land
suitable for this zone classiflca-
ton.
Ria Zone - Another single
family residence zone, requiring
lot sizes Of 10000 square feet. It
would be chiefly in the Quaker
lane-Janney's lane area, plus some
land along Russell road.
R-8 Zone-A single-family res
idence zone requiring lots of
5000 square feet. It's requirements
are roughly the same as the pres
sent Al residential zone. It would
be found principally in the Bever-
ley Hills-Braddock Heights-Jef-
ferson Park-Janney's lane and
upper King street areas.
Rs Zone-This residential zone
would be concentrated between
Mount Vernon avenue and Russell
road, taking in Rosemont, Rose
Great and Temple Park. It would
be principally a single-family res
idence zone, with two exceptions:
/, single-family dwelling could be
converted to duplex dwelling if
area requirements are met and
no exterior changes are made to
show that it is a two-family dwell
ing, and 2, semidetached dwellings
could be constructed if each unit
meets the full area requirements
|of semidetached dwellings.
Row-House, Apartment Area.
r residence zone-This would
include row houses. semidetached
houses and apartments. Most of
the Del Ray area would come
under this classification, as would
most of the apartment house de-
|velopments in the Arlandria area