An Act to regulate the location of chanceries and other business offices of foreign governments in the District of Columbia
PL 88-659 (S.646), enacted 10/13/1964

78 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 88-659-OCT. 13, 1964 
1091 
Public Law 88-659 
AN ACT 
October 13, 1964 
To regulate the location of chanceries and other business offices of foreign govern- 
^^' ^^^^ 
ments in the District of Columbia. 
D.C. zoning 
regulations. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 6 of the _^_^ 
^, 
Act entitled "An Act providing for the zoning of the District of ^Buildings' o
f 
Columbia and the regulation of the location, height, bulk, and uses ^^^j^" govem-
of buildings and other structures and the uses of land in the District 
of Columbia, and for other purposes", approved June 20, 1938, as 
amended (D.C. Code, sec. 5-418), is amended by inserting " ( a ) " after 
^2 stat. 798. 
"SEC. 6." and by adding at the end of such section the following new 
subsections: 
"(b) After the date of enactment of this subsection a foreign gov-
ernment shall be permitted to construct, alter, repair, convert, or 
occupy a building anywhere in the District of Columbia, other than 
a district or zone restricted in accordance with this Act to use for 
industrial purposes, for use by such government as an embassy. 
"(c) After the date of enactment of this subsection, except as other-
wise provided in subsection (d) of this section, no foreign government 
shall be permitted to construct, alter, repair, convert, or occupy a 
building for use as a chancery where official business of such govern-
ment is to be conducted on any land, regardless of the date such land 
was acquired, within any district or zone restricted in accordance with 
this Act to use for residential purposes. 
"(d) After the date of enactment of this subsection a foreign gov-
ernment shall be permitted to construct, alter, repair, convert, or occupy 
a building for use as a chancery within any district or zone restricted in 
accordance with this Act to use for medium-high density apartments 
or high density apartments if the Board of Zoning Adjustment shall 
determine after a public hearing that the proposed use and the building 
in which the use is to be conducted are compatible with the present and 
proposed development of the neighborhood. 
In deteiTaining com-
patibility the Board of Zoning Adjustment must find that^— 
" (1) in districts or zones restricted in accordance with this Act 
to use for medium-high density apartments, that oiff-street park-
ing spaces will be provided at a ratio of not less than one such 
space for each twelve hundred square feet of gross floor area; and 
"(2) in districts or zones restricted in accordance with this Act 
to use for high density apartments, that off-street parking spaces 
will be provided at a ratio of not less than one such space for each 
one thousand eight hundred square feet of gross floor area: and 
"(3) \h<& height of the building does not exceed the maximum 
permitted in the district or zone in which it is located; and 
"(4) the architectural design and the arrangement of all struc-
tures and off-street parking spaces are in keeping with the 
character of the neighborhood. 
"(e) As used in this section, the term— 
Definitions. 
" (1) 'embassy' means a building used as the official residence of 
the chief of a diplomatic mission of a foreign government. 
"(2) 'chancery' means a building containing business offices of 
the chief of a diplomatic mission of a foreign government where 
official business of such government is conducted, and such term 
shall include any chancery annex, and the business offices of 
attaches of a foreign government who are under the personal 
direction and superintendence of the chief of mission of such 
government. Such term shall not include business offices of non-
1092 
PUBLIC LAW 88-660-OCT. 13, 1964 
[78 STAT. 
Transfer of 
property between 
foreign govern-
ments. 
52 Stat. 798. 
diplomatic missions of foreign governments such as purchasing, 
financial, educational, or other missions of comparable nondiplo-
matic nature. 
"(3) 'person' means any individual who is subject to direction 
by the chief of mission of a foreign government and is engaged in 
diplomatic activities recognized as such by the Secretary of State." 
SEC. 2. Nothing in the amendments made by the first section of this 
Act shall prohibit— 
(1) the future or continued use of a building as a chancery or 
the making of ordinary repairs to any such building for which 
lawful use as a chancery existed on the date of enactment of this 
Act, or 
(2) the construction, reconstruction, expansion, or alteration in 
accordance with any permit issued by the Board of Commissioners 
of the District of Columbia on or before February 18,1964, of any 
building used or to be used as a chancery. 
SEC. 3. The amendments made by the first section of this Act shall 
apply only to applications for special exemptions to the zoning regu-
lations filed with the Board of Zoning Adjustment after May 1,1964. 
SEC. 4. After the date of enactment of this Act, no building or 
chancery being used by a foreign government in the District of Colum-
bia shall be transferred to or used by another foreign government 
unless such use is in accordance with section 6 of the Act of June 20, 
1938, as amended (D.C. Code, sec. 5-418), or unless such use was in 
accordance with applicable law at the time of this enactment. 
SEC. 5. This Act and the amendments made thereby shall not be 
administered in such a way as to discriminate against any foreign 
government on the basis of the race, color, or creed of any of its citizens. 
Approved October 13, 1964. 
October 13, 1964 
[S. 1593] 
Public Law 88-660 
AN ACT 
To amend section 14 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954 concerning the 
interstate planning and coordination of the Great River Road. 
Federal-Aid 
Highway Act of 
1954, amendment. 
Great River 
Road. 
63 Stat. 626. 
Appropriation. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 14 of 
the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954 (68 Stat. 70), is hereby 
amended to read as follows: 
"For the purpose of expediting the interstate planning and coordi-
nation of a continuous Great River Road and appurtenances thereto 
traversing the Mississippi Valley from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico 
in general conformity with the provisions of title 23, United States 
Code, and with the recommended plan set forth in the joint report 
submitted to the Congress November 28, 1951, by the Secretaries of 
Commerce and Interior pursuant to the Act of August 24,1949 (Public 
Law 262, Eighty-first Congress), there is hereby authorized to be 
expended by the Secretary of Commerce from general administrative 
funds not to exceed $500,000; the amount expended under this section 
shall be apportioned among the ten States bordering the Mississippi 
River on the basis of their relative needs as determined by the Secretary 
of Commerce." 
Approved October 13, 1964.