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

Heading: Street Closing, Pedestrian Bridge, and Height Restriction Proposals

Text: The BZA lacks jurisdiction to approve the particular street closings, pedestrian bridges and height restriction relief proposals in GWU's plan. [15] For this reason, the BZA declined to comment on the merits of these issues, explaining: The Board notes that before any specific action can be taken with regard to any of these three proposals, the University must submit an individual, detailed, application to the appropriate District authority for review and decision. In all instances, be it a PUD and map amendment application to the Zoning Commission for permission to construct a University building in excess of prevailing height requirements; or an application to the Council to close a campus street; or an application to the Zoning Commission under the Air Rights Act to construct a pedestrian bridge, existing procedures provide ample opportunity for citizen review and comment. We conclude that the BZA mistook its lack of authority to approve the proposals for a lack of jurisdiction to assess the impact of the proposals on the surrounding neighborhood in its review of the campus plan. We are not required to defer to an agency's interpretation of its authority if that view is plainly wrong or inconsistent with the regulation, George Washington Univ., supra, 429 A.2d at 1348, and here the BZA's interpretation is both incorrect and contrary to the regulatory scheme. Not only did the BZA have authority to assess the impact of these proposals, the regulations affirmatively required it to do so. The essence of the BZA's regulatory mandate in approving a campus plan is to evaluate whether proposed use as a college or university, as a whole, is likely to become objectionable to neighboring property because of noise, traffic, number of students and other conditions. See 11 DCMR § 507.7; Draude, supra, 527 A.2d at 1247-48; Marjorie Webster Junior College, supra, 309 A.2d at 316-17. See also note 2, supra. In abstaining from consideration of such significant and controversial factors as the traffic and parking effects of street closings [16] and the impact on the surrounding neighborhood of height increases, the BZA based its ultimate conclusionthat the plan would not result in objectionable conditionsnot on the plan as a whole but on a redacted version. In doing so, it largely ignored the body of evidence adduced in opposition to these proposals. Paradoxically, the Board recognized that the regulations required the plan to contain the proposals it declined to address: [W]hile the Board acknowledges it lacks jurisdiction over these concepts, the Board nonetheless finds their incorporation in the Proposed Plan appropriate. Indeed, their inclusion appears mandated by 11 DCMR 210.4 and 507.4. These sub-sections call for submission of a unified campus plan incorporating information on the height of buildings, street improvements, and all improvements in general, which would appear to incorporate improvements like pedestrian bridges. Inclusion of such information would serve little or no purpose if the zoning regulations did not also require the BZA to consider it in evaluating the plan. Nothing in the regulations suggests that the BZA's authority to approveor rejecta campus plan depends on its authority to approve the specific proposals contained therein. Indeed, as indicated in the previous section, even with respect to specific uses requiring special exceptions within the BZA's power to grant, the regulations contemplate a two-stage process, entailing independent inquiries. GWU suggests, however, that recognition of a two-tier approval requirement for these proposals is pointless since the agency with ultimate decision-making authority can undo the BZA's approval. GWU misses the point that, in approving the plan, the BZA assesses the aggregate impact of an entire development program, an inquiry different from evaluation of discrete proposed improvements. Emphasizing the independent nature of the inquiries, we noted in Georgetown II that approval of the plan represents a reasonable forecast or prediction that the plan will not cause objectionable conditions, but made clear that such a finding does not preclude a contrary result after a hearing on an application for final approval of a specific use. 403 A.2d at 743 (emphasis added); see supra, note 13. Moreover, multiple-agency approval is not inconsistent with the regulatory scheme's two-tier decision-making structure. As this case illustrates, the BZA's misgivings over a specific proposal can lead to its deletion from the plan, [17] or imposition of a condition governing subsequent applications for final approval of an improvement. See Georgetown I, supra, 365 A.2d at 376-77 & n. 7. Even though another agency may have jurisdiction to grant approval despite the BZA's objections, the Board's disapproval of a specific proposal in a campus plan can alert the agency with final approval authority to a potential adverse impact which can influence the ultimate decision. [18] Conversely, a finding by the BZA that a proposal ( e.g., for a street closing) fits in with a reasonable campus plan may provide valuable insight to the Council or the approving agency. We hold that the Board's failure to consider the effects of proposed street closings, pedestrian bridges and relief from height restrictions rendered its findings inadequate, and legally insufficient to support the ultimate conclusions which underlie approval of the plan. See Foxhall Community Citizens Ass'n, supra, 524 A.2d at 761; George Washington Univ., supra, 429 A.2d at 1345; Citizens Ass'n of Georgetown, supra, 402 A.2d at 41-42. The Board's exclusion of these considerations from its analysis owing to an erroneous interpretation of its jurisdiction left unaddressed material issues contested by the ANC 2A and other neighborhood residents. Accordingly, we remand, see Nursing Servs., supra, 512 A.2d at 303, so that the Board may enter findings and conclusions after evaluation of the effect of the entire campus planincluding the street closing, pedestrian bridge, and height restriction relief proposalson traffic, noise and other conditions specified in the regulations.