A manual on the origin and development of Washington

by H. Paul Caemmerer

ARCHITECTURAL STANDARDS ABSENT

The zoning ordinance has not attempted to regulate buildings, except as to height and size, nor set any standard of architectural fitness to the surroundings. If it had attempted any such thing, it could never have become a law. Only in recent years have citizens begun to think that attractiveness may add a cash value to houses, or that insistence on beauty is becoming in a democracy.

The Shipstead-Luce Act, adopted May 16, 1930, gives the Commission of Fine Arts a limited control over private buildings in the District of Columbia and provides that private buildings facing important Government buildings and parks, in areas specified in the act, must harmonize in appearance with the latter. Although not affecting the Zoning Act, it is, like the height law of 1910, part of the zoning restrictions.

The provisions of the Zoning Act of 1938 do not apply to Federal public buildings.

However, the location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of Federal public buildings and the provision for open space in and around the same, will be subject to the approval of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Approximately one-half of the area of the Capital is under Government control and one-half is open to private development. That private development should proceed in harmony with the plans of the local and Federal Governments was acceptable as an ideal, and a determined effort was made in 1918 to introduce zoning into Washington. In that year and the year following congressional committees, the District Commissioners, and others formulated plans, and a zoning bill became a law effective August 30, 1920. After a period of 18 years, during which several important changes in the law had suggested themselves, Congress adopted a new Zoning Act, which was approved by the President on June 20, 1938 (Public, No. 684, 75th Congress).

The act provides that the regulations heretofore adopted by the Zoning Commission under the authority of the act of March 1, 1920, including official maps, shall be deemed to have been made and adopted and in force under this present act. The act empowers the Zoning Commission “to regulate the location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot which may be occupied, the sizes of yards, courts, and other open spaces, the density of population, and the uses of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence, recreation, public activities, or other purposes * * *.”

Many people do not understand the importance and necessity of a zoning law in a city; they think it deprives them of private rights. Yet without a good zoning law living conditions in cities of the present day become chaotic. Section 2 of the act of June 20, 1938, sets forth the purpose of the zoning regulations and also points out the benefits to be derived from zoning, as follows:

Such regulations shall be made in accordance with a comprehensive plan and designed to lessen congestion in the street, to secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers, to promote health and the general welfare, to provide adequate light and air, to prevent the undue concentration of population and the overcrowding of land, and to promote such distribution of population and of the uses of land as would tend to create conditions favorable to health, safety, transportation, prosperity, protection of property, civic activity, and recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities, and as would tend to further economy and efficiency in the supply of public services. Such regulations shall be made with reasonable consideration, among other things, of the character of the respective districts and their suitability for the uses provided in the regulations, and with a view to encouraging stability of districts and of land values therein.

The Zoning Commission may from time to time amend the regulations and the maps, but before doing so a public hearing must be held, and at least 30 days’ notice of the time and place of the hearing must be published at least once in a daily newspaper in the District of Columbia, giving full information concerning the proposed amendment. A favorable vote of not less than a full majority of the members is necessary for the adoption of an amendment.

The Zoning Commission consists of five members, namely, the three Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the Director of the National Park Service, and the Architect of the Capitol.

The act of 1938 provides for a Zoning Advisory Council, to which suggested amendments to the regulations are submitted for consideration and recommendation. The act also provides for a Board of Zoning Adjustment, which shall have the power to hear and decide appeals where it is alleged a hardship will be imposed by carrying out and enforcing any regulation adopted under the Zoning Act, and to hear and decide on complaints regarding zoning, as also requests for special exceptions or map interpretations. In exercising its powers, “the Board of Adjustments may, in conformity with the provisions of this act, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision, determination, or refusal appealed from or may make such order as may be necessary to carry out its decision or authorization, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer or body from whom the appeal is taken.” The concurring vote of not less than a full majority of the members of the Board is necessary for any decision or order.