Evening star., 1960-03-20
New Appeal Setup
Planned for District
License Cases,
Housing Orders
Are Affected
By MIRIAM GUTENBERG
Star stan Writer


A major overhaul in the Dis
trict's controversial method Of
hearing appeals from license
denials and housing orders
comes before the Commission
ers for action this week.
Under the proposed new set
up. three-member hearing COM
mittees will hear the appeals
instead Of a hearing officer, the
Board of Appeals and Review
will be expanded to 18 mem
bers and the Corporation Coun-
sells Office will play a much
larger role in the appeals ma
chinery.
Goals Of the overhaul are to
eliminate the present long de-
lays in getting appeals settled,
to create the kind of record
that would stand up in a court
test and to get more direct
citizen participation in decid-
ing appeals.
Potentially affected by the
Commissioners decision are the
more than $4,000 holders Of
business licenses in the Dis
trict and every property-owner
who believes the Department
of Licenses and Inspections has
misinterpreted the housing
code.
Disputes Of Long Standing
The controversy has CEN
tered on the Districts Board
Of Appeals and Review, which
has tangled with such officials
as the police chief, fire chief,
corporation counsel and licens-
ing authorities virtually since
it was established in 1855.
The chief criticisms leveled
at the setup by attorneys in
private practice have been
charges that the hearing officer
has acted simultaneously as
investigator, prosecutor and
judge.
Under the present arrange
ment, the hearing officer takes
the testimony and gives his
findings Of fact, conclusions OF
law and recommendations to
the Board of Appeals and Re-
view.
The board was supposed to
submit its proposed rules Of
procedure to the Corporation
Counsel, who would have to
represent the District in court
actions growing out of the
boards decisions, but this was
never done.
Rules Not Provided
In December, 1858, the Com
missioners ordered the board
\ to refer its decisions to the
Corporation Counsel's Office
for a ruling on the legal
aspects of its decisions before
making them public. This was
to be in effect until the long
awaited rules of procedure
were written. They still haven't
been written.
The controversy came to q
head when District legal Of
ficers sat down with Bar Asso-
citation representatives and
spokemen for the automobile
industry to write stiff new reg
ulations governing motor We
hicle dealers and salesmen.
Dealers threatened with loss Of
their licences would certainly
appeal. The question was how
to provide a streamlined appeal
machinery that would assure
swift action free of both the
delays and the criticism that
have plagued the present setup.
The motor vehicle dealer reg
ulations. which went into ef-
feet March /, provided for q
hearing committee within the
Board Of Appeals with a three
member panel-rather than q
hearing oficer-to hear the tes-
timony and decide the auto
cases.
Auto Dealers Appeal
Since i've auto dealers had
been denied q renewal Of their
license before the new regula-
tions went into effect and have
appealed, the regulations pro-
vided them with the option of
facing the hearing COMMITTEES
created by the new regulations
See APPEAL, Page D-3