Evening star., 1954-10-19
Supreme Court
Asked 10 Rule
On Sib|eySite
Group Of Residents
Presses Dispute on
Location at Al

Presses Dispute on ]
Location at AU
The Supreme Court has been
asked to rule that lower Federal
courts here "usurped a legisla.
tive function" by reversing o
District Zoning Commission
order against construction Of
a new Sibley Hospital on the
American University campus.
A petition filed late yesterday
in behalf of several property
owners in Spring Valley and
Wesley Heights attacked de-
cisions by Judge Alexander Holt
zoff in U. S. District Court and
the u. S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia. -.
The Supreme Court may an
nounce late next month whether
it will review the case. If the
petition is denied, the hospital
can be built.
Commission Not in Suit.
The Zoning Commission itself
voted yesterday not to join in
the petition. In January, 1858,
by a 3-to-2 vote, it granted a
plea by the residents to rezone
the southwest corner of the
university property from "resi-
Dental A" status to residential
A restricted" The latter claSsi-
fication limits use of the property
essentially to single family
homes. 1t does not permit apart
ment houses or similar struc-
lures, including hospitals.
Judge Holtzoff. in deciding
against the commission, held
that rezoning in this instance
would amount to taking Of the
university's property without due
process of law. The appeals
court ruled last spring that Judge
Holtzof was clearly right"
The review petition submitted
yesterday to the Supreme Court
by Attorney James C. Wilkes in
behalf of several nearby private
property owners declared that
the lower court decision com
pletely transgressed the scope Of
judicial review of an action Of
an administrative agency"
Appellants Listed.
Appellants listed in the brief
were Alice D. Wrather, Percy H.
Russell, jr.; Clayton H. HiXon,
Fred A. Smith, Harrison Som
merville, H, Lamar Henderson.
John l.. Sullivan, Harold r.
Starry and Thomas w. McGreg-
or, jr.
Their petition maintained that
the case involved questions Of
national Importance. Federal
courts in various parts of the
country have handed down con-
flicting decisions on coming and
rezoning controversies. This, the
brief stated, threatens to i'm
pede effective zoning" every
where.
The brief urged the high court
to pass for the first time on
the constitutional limitations
applicable to rezoning as dis
tinguished from original coming. {"
1t recalled that the District Zon-
ing Commission found there had
been change of conditions in
the neighborhood of American
University since that area was
originally zoned residential A"
in 1920. -
1t contended that the commits
sion properly decided that the
retention of that zoning classi-
f1cation for the university
campus constituted an obvious
mistake because it permitted
apartment zoning to project into
Single-family area without any
zoning justification"
New Policy Cited.
The commissions vote for re-
zoning into residential A re-
Stricted" was in line with "a
new policy to eliminate apart
ment house zoning wherever
possible as a result of a study
by the National Capital Planning
Commission which revealed
there was a substantial excess
of apartment zoning within the
city," the brief added.
Beside defending the commits
sion's rezoning order as having
been based on adequate evidence
and law, the brief contended that
the District court should not
have interfered in the matter,
at least until all administrative
remedies were exhausted. It
also protested that the univer-
sity itself never applied to the
commission for permission to es-
tablish hospital on the campus.
"Zoning regulations of the
District, effective February, 1853,
provide that colleges and uni
versities may be permitted in
residential districts, including
residential A or residential A
restricted, without distinction or
limitation to the two zoning
classif1cations, upon an appeal
to the Board of Zoning Adjust
ment," the brief stated.
Says Board By-passed.
Therefore, the question
whether a hospital or school Of
nursing is part of the university
or an appropriate use upon a
part of the university property
should first be presented to the
administrative agency having
jurisdiction, namely the Board
of Zoning Adjustment.
"The board has been by-passed
in the present proceeding. Ap-
pellants believe this is a very
serious omission. constituting q
dangerous precedent and the
most obvious failure to exhaust
administrative remedy"
D. Ha D.. Dill,