Opinion ID: 2075219
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Comparison Requirement

Text: Petitioner's comparison argument is founded on Zoning Regulation § 7501.1. In three paragraphs, the purposes of a PUD are set forth. It is sufficient to note that the purposes are, inter alia, to offer a variety of building types with more attractive and efficient overall planning and design, to improve circulation and site facilities, and in the event that an increase in building height over that permitted by existing zoning is granted, such increase must provide future occupants of planned unit developments with a living and/or working environment and amenities superior to those which can be achieved by applying the general provisions of the Zoning Regulations. Petitioner argues that, implicitly or explicitly, § 7501.1 requires applicants for a PUD to provide substantial evidence at hearings that the facility they propose is superior in several ways to any which is available under the general provisions of the zoning regulation. There is, they argue, no evidence whatsoever in the Commission's preliminary order comparing the plan offered by American Trucking with whatever can be provided under standard regulations.
The first two paragraphs of Article 75 do not require such a hypothetical, side-by-side comparison as petitioner contends. As a practical matter, speculating as to the type of facilities which might be available under traditional regulation is, in itself, a potentially endless task limited only by the imagination. Furthermore, at the preliminary hearing stage, the actual characteristics of the PUD are only in vitro since the Commission establishes guidelines and elements for the final project only in its order granting the preliminary approval. For these two reasons, such a comparison is almost impossible during the actual hearings. More importantly, however, these paragraphs stand as a preamble to the PUD regulatory scheme and restate, for this city, the accepted view of the purpose of the PUD as it has developed in the past two decades. See Babcock, Krasnowiecki & McBride, The Model State Statute in Urban Land Institute, Legal Aspects of Planned Unit Residential Development, Technical Bulletin 52 (1965). This statement of purpose indicates that the PUD scheme is to be used as a tool of land use development which supports the objectives of the community by permitting the development of large areas as a unit. This package approach to land use is an antidote to the ill effects of traditional Euclidean zoning where limitation on location, lot size, use, square footage, and building height may frustrate the type of growth intended by the community. See Cheney v. Village 2 at New Hope, Inc., 429 Pa. 626, 629, 241 A.2d 81, 83 (1968). The first paragraphs of Article 75 simply require that in exchange for this flexibility which a PUD approval provides the developer, he must provide a synchronized amalgam of living, institutional, and commercial facilities with diversity in buildings and structures that is in the spirit of the Zoning Regulations. See 5 P. Rohan, Zoning and Land Use Controls § 32.01[3] (1978). Implicit in the concept of a PUD is the recognition that although this type of growth is an objective of the zoning regulations, it often is difficult to achieve with piecemeal, lot by lot development. The question which Zoning Regulation § 7501.1 compels the Commission to consider is whether the PUD application as proposed by American Trucking meets the intent and purpose of the district and is consistent with the spirit, intent, and purpose of the Zoning Regulations. As a court of review, we must acknowledge that this question is better answered by the Zoning Commission which has the expertise to make such a broad justification based on elements of fact, policy, and experience. The court is more concerned that the Commission followed procedures designed to assure that this decision is proper and adduced enough testimony to support its conclusions than it is concerned with the virtue of the decision. See Krasnowiecki, Planned Unit Development: A Challenge to Established Theory and Practice of Land Use Control, 114 U.Pa.L.Rev. 47, 77-78 (1965). Such is the requirement of the Administrative Procedure Act, D.C.Code 1978, Supp., § 1-1509(e). The procedure followed by the Zoning Commission in this case goes beyond those minimum rights guaranteed by regulation. At the preliminary stage, the Commission is not required to hold a public hearing, § 7501.37, but nonetheless did hold such a hearing for which proper notice was published. At the three hearings, over five hundred pages of testimony were taken by the Commission and the record contains over four hundred pages of information submitted by agencies and interested persons. From the testimony, the Commission made thirty-seven findings of fact and six conclusions of law. The completeness of the proceedings is further supported by the fact that the Commission negotiated a change in the PUD plan to include a substantial residential component as a result of the information gathered at the first two hearings. [8] They further imposed conditions on the final application which require American Trucking to consider proposals for creating a greater setback between the twin office building and the adjoining apartment building. Petitioner's position, essentially, is that the first two paragraphs of § 7501.1 create a contested issue which must be resolved with findings of fact. See Dietrich v. Board of Zoning Adjustment, D.C.App., 293 A.2d 470, 473 (1972); D.C.Code 1978 Supp., § 1-1509(e). Petitioner claims that substantive evidence must support the conclusion that the PUD facilities are superior to those available under the general regulations. That is not the case. Section 7501.1 details the purpose of the PUD scheme and as such is not an issue  rather it is an expected result of the Commission's resolution of legally relevant issues. See Wheeler v. Board of Zoning Adjustment, D.C.App., 395 A.2d 85, 89 (1978). Our role does not include making such a judgment. Many zoning ordinances contain similar statements of purpose as preambles to specific subsections. See R. Anderson, American Law of Zoning § 12.09, at 488 (1968). The Zoning Regulations of the District of Columbia do the same. See, e. g., §§ 4101.1, 8207.2. Like statements of purpose contained in enabling acts, such statements were included mainly to fortify against constitutional attack. Anderson, supra at 485. In addition, some such preambles guide the court toward an understanding of the relationship between the regulations and the approved statutory objectives of zoning. Id. at 486. Just such a provision is the preamble of Zoning Regulations, Article 75. [9] On other occasions, we have held that statements of purpose in the Zoning Regulations do not create contested issues, even where petitioner has presented testimony on the point. In Wheeler, supra, this court ruled that the Board's decision was not statutorily incomplete because there were no explicit findings on whether the special exception being sought would promote stability in the neighborhood. We ruled that stability was not an issue, but rather an expected result because it was contained in the purpose section of the regulation. [10] The proper procedure, we indicated, was for the Board to make findings on the relevant factors stated in the regulations that followed the preamble. See also Dupont Circle Citizens Association v. Board of Zoning Adjustment, D.C.App., 390 A.2d 1009 (1978) (court examined whether Board findings satisfied specific conditions that special exception be in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the zoning regulations); Citizens Association of Georgetown v. Board of Zoning Adjustment, D.C.App., 365 A.2d 372 (1976) (Board's findings of fact insufficient to fulfill conditions of § 3101.46 as prerequisite for special exception); Salsbery v. Board of Zoning Adjustment, D.C.App., 318 A.2d 894, 897 (1974) (Board's findings of fact and opinion should have contained, inter alia, expressed conclusions relating to [stated purposes of granting a variance]. Also, the underlying findings of fact should provide the rational bases for such articulated conclusions). We hold that the first two paragraphs of amended Article 75 of the Zoning Regulations do not create a contested issue on which specific findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the relative benefit of the proposed PUD over possible structures permitted under existing zoning need be found. Since the first two paragraphs of Article 75 describe the end result of the Commission's examination, we must decide to what extent their conclusion that the PUD proposal does comply with the purposes of Article 75 is supported by subsidiary findings of basic facts on material issues. Dietrich, supra at 473. Unlike other sections of the Zoning Regulations, such as § 8207.2 authorizing special exceptions, Article 75 does not contain a recitation of all the relevant material issues. See also Stewart v. Board of Zoning Adjustment, D.C.App., 305 A.2d 516, 518 (1973) (Board has no authority to grant a special exception to a use other than those stated in the regulations, and the factors that the Board of Zoning Adjustment may consider are restricted by the regulations). This omission is by necessity since the PUD approval process must be more flexible to accommodate potential diverse community needs. The alternative is a barrage of complex regulations governing every conceivable structure available to a PUD developer. See Krasnoweicki, supra at 71. Therefore, the Commission is required by the Administrative Procedure Act, D.C.Code 1978 Supp., § 1-1509(e), to make findings of fact on relevant contested issues that are raised by the parties to the proceeding. Our role then is only to examine these contested issues and to determine whether the Commission's conclusions meet the test of substantial evidence set forth in Citizens Association of Georgetown v. Zoning Commission, D.C.App., 402 A.2d 36, 41-42 (1979). The Administrative Procedure Act substantial evidence test requires (1) that the agency make findings of basic facts on all material contested issues; (2) that these findings, taken together, must rationally lead to conclusions of law which are legally sufficient to support the decision; and (3) that each basic finding is supported by substantial evidence. This standard is aptly met. The Commission isolated and ruled on numerous contested issues: traffic impact, proposed parking, pollution impact, proposed commercial use, loss and addition of proposed residential development, projected economic benefit, and light and ventilation to the neighboring apartment building. We have examined the record and find that there is testimony supporting each of these findings. That these findings rationally lead to the conclusions of the Commission is also apparent. On some of these contested issues, the Commission modified the PUD in favor of American Trucking (traffic, parking, pollution, and economic benefit), and on some in favor of the opponents (residential component, commercial zoning, setbacks, building heights). The project which received the Commission's preliminary approval is a compromise for all interests and supported by enough basic facts, rationally connected to the decision and supported by the evidence. Id. at 44. As to whether the decision is supported by sufficient evidence, we deem it unnecessary to cite the numerous pieces of evidence in the record and the order of the Commission which support their conclusions. Suffice it to point out that testimony included that of a traffic expert, the D.C. Department of Transportation, the D.C. Department of Environmental Services, parties on both sides of the issue of commercial use, the Office of Planning and Development, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, Bay State Tenants' Association, and numerous others. In light of this analysis, it is beyond doubt that the Zoning Commission was fully justified in reaching the conclusions that it did. We hold that there is substantial evidence in the record to support the Commission's decision.
Petitioner further argues, in the same vein, that the third paragraph of Article 75 explicitly requires a comparison of the PUD proposal facilities with those available under the general provisions of the Zoning Regulations. Petitioner's argument is that a grant of a height incentive to American Trucking triggers the application of this provision requiring comparison. This height incentive, arguably, is the result of the Commission's designation of the appropriate zoning for the PUD in the preliminary approval as SP-2 (ninety foot limit) to allow for construction of the office component in areas previously zoned SP-1 (sixty-five foot limit). We need not reach the question of whether the third paragraph of Article 75 requires an explicit comparison of the proposed plan with that available under general zoning regulations because in this case there has been no height incentive granted. Petitioner misconstrues the regulatory scheme in the zoning regulations for a PUD. A height incentive is granted as an exception to the zoning that will remain in effect in the area of the PUD after completion. This incentive is specified in the Article 75 regulations and is described as the maximum relaxation of the standards in the Zoning Regulations for the district in which a planned unit development is to be located. § 7501.24. For example, no incentive to build over 130 feet may be granted in a PUD with the present zoning of SP. Under the new regulations, incentives may not exceed seventy-five feet in SP-1 and ninety feet in SP-2. Under these new regulations, if such incentive increase over the height permitted by the zoning in effect is sought by the applicant, he shoulders the burden of demonstrating and justifying the public benefit of the increased height. § 7501.41, 25 D.C.Reg. 7993 (1979). Under the version of Article 75, applicable in this case, the regulations provide that the application shall not be approved if the Commission determines that the primary purpose of the PUD is to circumvent existing zoning regulations. The case at hand is much different. Here, the applicant has requested rezoning in conjunction with its PUD application pursuant to the provision of § 7501.2. And, as specified in that regulation, the Commission after three days of hearings has informed the applicant that the appropriate zoning classification which should be requested is other than that which he originally sought. This decision is a product of the adversary proceeding which took place during the period of hearings. The designation of the appropriate zoning classification accompanies the preliminary approval of the PUD and the applicant is required to submit a separate application for zoning change along with the PUD application as a condition for final approval. The height of the new building will not need an exception to the zoning regulations because it will be within the limits designated by the new zone. This process is anticipated by the notice and hearing regulations contained in § 9101.3 and § 7501.39. That the PUD application and the zoning change must be acted on at the same final proceeding is only a logical construction of the regulations. We hold, therefore, that where the appropriate zoning for a rezoning request is designated by the Commission in conjunction with its preliminary approval of a PUD application, and the applicant's PUD proposal is conditioned on his seeking such a zoning amendment, that does not constitute a height incentive under Article 75. Since there is no height incentive granted in this case, we need not decide whether the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 75 require a side-by-side, empirical comparison of the PUD application structures with those possible under the general provisions of the zoning regulations.