Citizens Ass'n, Etc. v. District of Columbia, 13008.

• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: Nebeker
• Citation: Citizens Ass'n, Etc. v. District of Columbia, 403 A.2d 737 (D.C. 1979)
• Decision Date: 21 June 1979
• Docket Number: No. 13008.,13008.
• Parties: CITIZENS ASSOCIATION OF GEORGETOWN et al., Petitioners, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BOARD OF ZONING ADJUSTMENT, Respondent, The President and Directors of Georgetown University, Intervenors.

403 A.2d 737

CITIZENS ASSOCIATION OF GEORGETOWN et al., Petitioners, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BOARD OF ZONING ADJUSTMENT, Respondent The President and Directors of Georgetown University, Intervenors.

No. 13008.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued October 12, 1978.

Decided June 21, 1979.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied August 29, 1979.

John D. Taurman, Washington, D. C., with whom Timothy A. Harr, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for petitioners.

Leo N. Gorman, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., with whom Richard W. Barton, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., adopted the brief of intervenor, for respondent.

Norman M. Glasgow, Washington, D. C., with whom C. Francis Murphy and John F. McCabe, Jr., Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for intervenors.

Before KERN, NEBEKER and MACK, Associate Judges.

NEBEKER, Associate Judge:

Petitioners seek to set aside as an abuse of discretion the Board of Zoning Adjustment's (BZA's or Board's) order approving intervenors' Campus Development Plan (plan). Challenged are the conclusions that approval of the campus plan does not constitute an endorsement of unreasonable campus expansion and that implementation of the plan will not create objectionable traffic conditions. Intervenors defend the Board's order as being supported by substantial evidence in the record. We affirm in part and remand for a reconsideration of the BZA's conclusion regarding the campus boundaries.

Georgetown University is located at the western extremity of the Georgetown area of the District of Columbia. The majority of the University facilities are located on square 1321, a 94-acre, irregularly shaped area of land bounded on the north by Reservoir Road, on the west by Glover-Archibald Park, on the south by Canal Road and Prospect Street, and on the east by the Convent of the Visitation, and by 37th and P Streets.¹ In addition, the University has classrooms, offices, dormitories and other similar uses located on four smaller blocks (squares 1222, 1223, 1226 and 1248) immediately to the east of 37th Street. The University owns over 90% of the four-block area. Thirty-seven percent of these blocks consist of lots with row houses devoted to residential uses, including nine lots of private, non-university ownership.

The area in which the University is situated is zoned R-3, which is intended to preserve a family-life environment. Present University uses exist in this zoned district as a matter of right or as nonconforming or special exception uses. To employ additional property for campus purposes, the University must obtain a special exception from the BZA. To qualify for a special exception, the University, like other colleges or universities, must meet three conditions set forth in Zoning Regulation § 3101.46: (1) that the proposed university use "is not likely to become objectionable to neighboring property because of noise, traffic, number of students, or other objectionable conditions" (§ 3101.46(a)); (2) that the proposed use does not constitute an "unreasonable campus expansion into improved low-density districts" (§ 3101.46(b)) (emphasis in original); and (3) that the college or university submit a campus development plan to the BZA which sets forth the proposed improvements and their uses (§ 3101.46(c)). The BZA has required approval of the campus plan as a condition precedent to consideration of college or university applications for special exceptions. If granted, a special exception permits the educational institution to develop property located within its campus boundaries without regard to the normal bulk restrictions applicable in low-density zoning districts (though a higher maximum bulk limit is imposed).

In 1977, the University submitted a campus development plan to the BZA for approval. The plan included specific plans for campus development from 1977 to 1982 and general plans for the post-1982 period. The 1977-1982 phase of the plan contained a proposal for the establishment of campus boundaries. The only boundary here in dispute is the eastern, which would include within the campus four blocks located east of 37th Street. In addition, this phase designated five buildings to be constructed on the university campus, including a student dormitory to be located on one of the blocks east of 37th Street (square 1226). The plan also contemplated an increase in total University population of 301 (from 13,454 to 13,755) over the five-year period. The post-1982 phase of the plan is not relevant to this case.

The BZA held public hearings on the Georgetown University campus plan and received evidence from both proponents and opponents. Relevant to this opinion are the proceedings regarding the proposed eastern campus boundary and the impact of the proposed developments on traffic in the Georgetown area. In support of the eastern boundary line, the University introduced evidence revealing that a campus boundary had never been approved by the BZA. To show the reasonableness of adopting its suggestion to include the four eastern blocks within its eastern campus boundary, the University introduced evidence regarding the many University uses in the four-block area, the University's ownership of over 90% of the four squares and the University's inclusion of the four blocks in its plans for campus development. A representative of the National Capital Planning Council (NCPC) testified that in 1966 the NCPC approved the campus plan, that in 1973 it reaffirmed this approval, and that it had no reason to modify its prior positions. The Municipal Planning Office (MPO)² filed a report approving the proposed campus plan but withheld approval of the dormitory development east of 37th Street pending further study.

In support of its position that the plan would not create objectionable traffic conditions, the University presented its vice president in charge of planning, who testified concerning the University's efforts to reduce traffic congestion generated by the University. He described the steps taken by the University to encourage students not to drive their cars to campus. He noted that the University programs instituted in 1973 had reduced the total number of vehicular trips to the campus by 1500 per day and had lowered the number of University-related personnel seeking parking by 1000 per weekday. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DCDOT) reported that the developments proposed in the campus plan for the 1977-1982 period would not appreciably change the University's impact on traffic in the area. It also concluded that the "innovative steps taken by the University to reduce traffic on streets within the residential areas of Georgetown will decrease the demand for automobile usage." It also recognized, however, that "there exists a transportation problem in the Georgetown area which is due, in part, to the traffic and parking generated by the University" and recommended that BZA action on the campus plan be postponed until the results of a DCDOT-Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' (COG) study of traffic in the Georgetown area be completed.³

Opponents, including petitioners and residents of the residential Georgetown area, claimed that the proposed eastern boundary of the campus constituted "unreasonable campus expansion" in violation of § 3101.46(b). Petitioners argued that due to the availability of land on square 1321, there was no need for the University to expand beyond that square to develop its proposed improvements. Therefore, absent a compelling need to do so, granting permission to the University to acquire the four squares east of 37th Street would be to allow unreasonable campus expansion.

Petitioners and several residents of the Georgetown area also testified as to the existing traffic problems in the University area. They contended that the University was responsible in large part for this congestion. By allowing the University to increase its uses in the area, they claimed, more deplorable traffic problems would inevitably result. Consequently, petitioners contended that the evidence of objectionable traffic conditions warranted a rejection of the University's proposed campus plan or, in the alternative, a conditional approval, contingent upon the University's alleviation of the existing objectionable traffic conditions.

After hearing the extensive evidence, the BZA conditionally approved the 1977-1982 phase of the campus plan. The Board concluded, inter alia, that "the continuation of the University's use [within] the [proposed eastern] boundary does not represent an unreasonable expansion into a residential neighborhood," and that the campus plan would "not have an adverse effect because of traffic and will not create dangerous or otherwise objectionable traffic effects." Two of the six conditions upon which the approval was granted require the University (1) to apply for and to justify by sufficient evidence a special exception for each development described in the campus plan, and (2) to continue its remedial traffic and parking measures to further limit the impact of University traffic and parking on the area.

Seeking reversal of the BZA order approving the plan, petitioners contend that the BZA abused its discretion by basing its approval on findings of fact which are unreflective of the evidence in the record. Petitioners' first argument in support of this contention is that the evidence shows that the plan provided for unreasonable campus expansion in violation of § 3101.46(b). The evidence referred to by petitioners is the uncontroverted fact that square 1321 contains more than sufficient land to accommodate the University's proposed developments for 1977-1982. While an adequate amount of land exists on square 1321, petitioners argue, the approval of the campus plan permitting development of additional land constitutes an endorsement of unreasonable campus expansion.⁴ We are of the opinion, however,...