Opinion ID: 2164332
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Improper focus on the University's needs.

Text: The FGCA contends that the BZA's decision granting the special exceptions was based on incorrect legal criteria. It argues that the Board focused almost exclusively on the University's needs, rather than on the community's. The Board erred, according to the FGCA, both when it failed to consider a suggestion that the law school be constructed off campus and when it declined to require the University to show that there was no alternative site on the campus which would have been less objectionable to the neighbors. We are not persuaded by any of these contentions. The BZA found that the siting, massing and design of the law school building are appropriate and that the proposed plan is thoroughly responsive to the reasonable concerns of the neighbors. (FF ¶ 51). The evidence discussed in Part I A, supra, fully supports this finding. The Zoning Regulations do not require that the Board treat the University's needs as irrelevant. Contrary to the FGCA's approach, a universityeven a law schoolis not to be presumed, for purposes of the Zoning Regulations, to be the land use equivalent of the bubonic plague. [5] In general, uses of land for educational purposes are highly favored, 2 ROBERT M. ANDERSON, AMERICAN LAW OF ZONING, § 12.09, at 508 (1986), and it has long been recognized that universities serve the public welfare and morals in important ways. Cornell University v. Bagnardi, 68 N.Y.2d 583, 593, 503 N.E.2d 509, 514, 510 N.Y.S.2d 861, 866 (1986); see also 2 ANDERSON, supra, § 12.15, at 526. We are dealing here with special exceptions contemplated by the Zoning Regulations, see Stewart, supra, 305 A.2d at 518, and the Board's function on these facts is surely to determine whether a reasonable accommodation has been made between the University and the neighbors which does not interfere with the legitimate interests of the latter. Cornell University, supra, 68 N.Y.2d at 589, 503 N.E.2d at 511, 510 N.Y.S.2d at 861. The Regulations require only that the applicant demonstrate that it is not likely that the proposed site will become objectionable to neighboring properties. See 11 DCMR § 210.2 (1987). The BZA may grant a special exception for university uses in residential and special purpose districts where in the judgment of the Board, those special exceptions will be in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the Zoning Regulations and Maps and will not tend to affect adversely the use of neighboring property ... Levy, supra, 570 A.2d at 742 (quoting DCMR § 3108.1); see Rose Lees Hardy Home and School Association v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment, 324 A.2d 701, 706 (D.C.1974). [T]he applicant is not charged with considering every option that any party in opposition might conceptualize. Don't Tear it Down, Inc. v. District of Columbia Dep't of Hous. and Community Dev., 428 A.2d 369, 379 (D.C.1981). The Board found, on the basis of substantial evidence in the record, that the 1989 plan accommodated the reasonable concerns of the residents and otherwise met the requirements for a special exception. Many or most of the erstwhile adversaries agreed. The standard applied by the Board was reasonable and legally correct.