Opinion ID: 1527345
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Specificity of Building Proposals

Text: Petitioners assert that GWU's campus plan violates zoning regulations by failing to describe proposed buildings with requisite specificity, and that the plan as conditionally approved afforded the BZA insufficient information to evaluate the overall effect of proposed development on the surrounding neighborhood. We uphold the BZA's findings that GWU's showing was sufficient as a reasonable interpretation of the zoning regulations, and conclude that the information provided was adequate to support the Board's evaluation of the plan. Petitioners point out that GWU's plan failed to identify specific locations, heights and bulks for the fifteen new buildings. The plan did, however, identify (1) gross square footage of additional space allocated to each of five land use categories, (2) the number of buildings proposed within each category, (3) potential square footage ranges of each building, and (4) preferred and alternative sites for the proposed structures within each use category. [9] GWU explained that the plan did not provide definitive siting of proposed buildings and detailed building envelopes because of programmatic, funding and land acquisition [10] constraints. Charles E. Diehl, Vice President and Treasurer of the University, testified on behalf of GWU regarding, inter alia, factors affecting the planning process for construction of new university buildings. He noted that the university had nine schools and colleges, and a continuing education program, all competing for limited resources, observing that obtaining consensus on building priorities was a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Once consensus is obtained, and the University has some sense of the nature and cost of a project, it then must obtain approval from the Board of Trustees. Beyond Board approval, Diehl testified to further obstacles in obtaining financing, citing as an example the three years it took GWU to obtain a municipal revenue bond issue to build its Academic Center. [11] While the BZA found persuasive GWU's need for flexibility, it also agreed that the University needs to augment its description of proposed development. In approving the 1985 plan, the BZA imposed the condition that GWU notify OP and ANC 2A of development plans for specific sites after internal University approval had been secured but before detailed plans and specifications were completed. Presumably, this early warning would give these entities an advanced opportunity to evaluate proposed development in preparation for participation in proceedings on GWU's special exception applications for specific buildings or uses. Petitioners contend that, despite these provisions, the plan's omission of specific locations, heights, and bulks for each proposed building violated the regulations governing campus plans. We are unpersuaded. Although the regulations express a clear preference for such detailed information, they require only that the plan show the location, height, and bulk, where appropriate, of all ... proposed improvements. 11 DCMR §§ 210.4, 507.4. The BZA concluded that GWU made the requisite showing by submitting a campus plan that, subject to the notice condition described above, complied with sections 210.4 and 507.4. The Board found convincing GWU's need for flexibility within the constraints identified in the plan. It rejected ANC 2A's recommendations that the Board deny the application or impose rigid and detailed design and land use restraints on GWU as a condition of approval, opting instead for the early warning mechanism to address concerns over lack of specificity. As recited earlier, we must uphold the BZA's interpretation of the campus plan regulations unless that interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulations. George Washington Univ., supra, 429 A.2d at 1348 (citations omitted). In light of the where appropriate language modifying the requirement of information concerning location, height, and bulk, we cannot say that the BZA's conclusion that GWU's plan complied with the regulation was clearly erroneous. [12] Petitioners oppose this conclusion by arguing that the lack of specificity prevented meaningful evaluation of the impact of overall university development on the surrounding residential district; the identification of multiple potential sites and floor area ranges for many of the buildings, they claim, made review effectively impossible. Yet, although the plan indicated that actual development might take the form of any of several combinations of sites and floor area configurations, it placed all of these possibilities before the Board, thus enabling the agency to evaluate the aggregate impact of each potential combination on the surrounding neighborhood. As OP commented with regard to the adequacy of GWU's information: Generally, OP believes the commitment made by the University to generalized land use categories and priority sites provides a reasonably clear indication of what the University intends to build and where. Further, although admittedly not tied to specific sites, the plan provides some sense of future building bulk. Petitioners further assert that, in adopting OP's proposal to require GWU to provide early warning to OP and ANC 2A of specific development plans, the BZA abdicated its duty to assess the overall impact of the development plan in favor of later building-by-building evaluations. While flexible, however, the plan as approved established distinct limitations within which all future construction must occur (absent plan amendment), and in that sense imposed requirements independent of the building-by-building review expected to occur later. The Board's order makes clear that it intends to evaluate future special exception applications for specific uses or structures for compliance with the plan. This intention, and the imposition of specific conditions meant to regulate future development, see note 14, infra; Georgetown I, supra, 365 A.2d at 376 n. 7, demonstrate that the Board considered the overall effect of proposed campus development in approving the plan. Although we find the Board's interpretation permitting a flexible development plan reasonable, we add a cautionary note. While submission of generalized information instead of detailed location, height and bulk data may suffice when the university cannot determine its specific needs with precision, it does not follow that approval of the campus planand the conditions attending that approvalare of no consequence in the BZA's evaluation of subsequent special exception applications. It would surely contravene the regulatory scheme for the BZA to approve a building plan, even one with broad outlines, but then grant future special exception applications for specific buildings inconsistent with the plan. Dictum in our decision in Georgetown II, supra, can be read to say that approval of concepts in a campus plan has no binding precedential effect on future special exception applications. [13] Read in context, however, this passage suggests no more than that the BZA's findings that proposed improvements will have no objectionable effects do not prevent the Board from reaching a contrary conclusion after a subsequent hearing on a special exception application for a specific improvement. To the extent that GWU's approved plan restricts uses, sizes, and potential locations of proposed buildings, its effect on subsequent proceedings is quite different. Specifications of what GWU proposes to build, where it plans to place those improvements, how large the structures will be, and the uses to which they will be put represent concrete restraints on future development. As mentioned earlier, the BZA approved the plan with the proviso that GWU demonstrate that any subsequent specific improvements are consistent with the plan. Consequently, GWU may not make improvements inconsistent with the plan unless it obtains BZA approval of an amendment to the plan. See Draude v. District of Columbia Bd. of Zoning Adjustment, 527 A.2d 1242, 1255 n. 6 (D.C. 1987) (acknowledging that GWU's approved campus plan restrain[s] placement of a given building ... much like other zoning restrictions placed on the university); Georgetown I, supra, 365 A.2d at 376 n. 7 (conditions should be enforced if the applicant takes advantage of the benefits of approval) (citation omitted). In light of the independent and binding significance of plan approval, therefore, petitioners' assertion that the BZA abandoned any effort at overall evaluation lacks merit. We conclude that GWU's showing adequately served the functional purpose of the regulations, and that the BZA's interpretation that the regulations did not require GWU to identify the precise location, height and bulk of each proposed building was reasonable under the circumstances. [14]