Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-18
Revised Zoning Plans
For D. c. Made Public
Restrictions Would Tighten
Uses Of Most Lund in City
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hoods by preventing overcrowd-
ling or other harmful develop.
ment and helping others improve
Copies of the regulations, alonl
with a map showing how the new
coming controls would be applied
to each parcel of property, are ir
the mail to more than 400 organ
izations and citizen leaders.
Reaction Sought
They are being distributed fol-
the specif1ce purpose of getting
citizen reaction.
After months study time
residents will have a chance tt
sound off-either for or against
them--at a series of 10 mas!
meetings to be held nightly II
each area of the city starting
June 10. The Lewis firm viii
change some of its proposals or
the basis of the citizen reaction
and submit a final report" by
next November.
Most immediate effect of the
new rules is on future develop.
ment of vacant land. They spell
out two things by which owner.
of vacant land must abide:
l. The kind of building that
will be permitted, such as 9
single-family house, an apart.
ment. a grocery store or a park.
ing garage.
2 Controls on the building it.
self, such as its height. lot area
and amount of floor space.
For the most part, these same
rules also apply to the future
use of property which already
is developed. The owner of 6
house on big lot, for example
couldn't tear down that house
and build an apartment unless
the new coming specifically per-
mited apartments there.
Other property owners sharp.
ly affected will be those whose
existing buildings do not con.
form to new coming rules. Tit
regulations require that many
of these "nonconforming uses
be stopped within 10 or Is years
depending on their types ant
location.
In addition. the regulation.
require that all owners of mon.
conforming uses" register with
the District as a basis for fol.
low-up Investigations on how the
property is used.
The new regulations, however
have little effect on the great
bulk of Washington resident.
who own and live in their owr
homes.
One reason is that most ex.
listing residences are exempted
from the requirement that nom
conforming uses be halted in q
set period of time.
Another is that the consult.
ants. in their revision, largely
adopted the predominant exist.
ing uses of land throughout the
city. Areas now being usec
mainly for single-family de.
tached homes, for example, are
zoned for that use. So are mos
of the big commercial and bust.
ness areas.
Shopping Zones Cut
The new regulations, however
do make drastic changes in pres.
ent coming. Washington now ha.
twice as much land zoned fol
retail shopping as it actually use.
for that purpose, for example
So the new regulations cut dowr
commercial coming. They alsC
sharply reduce land areas zonec
for apartmentS-a move sure II
bring howls of complaint from
some land owners, who foreset
dropping land values.
At the same time, some resi-.
dental coming is changed to en-
courage shopping centers
schools, parks and other public
facilities. These changes result
largely from the planning studies
of the 1873 neighborhoods.
George S. Cater. chief of the
Lewis firms Washington office
listed the following major diff
ferences between the existing
and new regulations:
l. Existing coming is based or
three separate types of controls
height of buildings, kind oi
use and lot coverage-each de-
picted on a separate set Of
coming maps.
The new regulations pull al
the controls together into one
set of 20 zoning districts. Or
a single map. every piece of lane
in the city is placed into one Of
these districts. The regulation:
specify what kind of develop.
ment is permitted in each dis
trict. and the controls to assure