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REAL. ESTATE
AF/D
^) BUILDERS
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 5, 1916
PLANS OF THE DISTRICTING COMMISSION
Justification For Use, Height and Area Districts—Strong
Endorsement From Real Estate Financiers and Builders
AT a conference of representatives of
financial institutions and taxpayers'
organizations, held in the assembly
room of the Merchants' Association on
Thursday afternoon, advanced ground
was taken in favor of the principles rep¬
resented by the Commission on Building
Districts and Restrictions with respect
to the limitation of the heights of build¬
ings and dividing the city into zones
for the purpose of regulating the loca¬
tion of trades and industries.
Addresses were made by George T.
Ford, consulting engineer to the Com¬
mission; Otto M. Eidlitz, of the firm
of Marc Eidlitz & Son; Clarence H.
Kelsey, president of the Title Guaran¬
tee & Trust Coinpany; Walter Stabler,
comptroller of the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company; Louis \'. Bright.
president of the Lawyers Title & Trust
Company; Richard M. Hurd, president
of the Lawyers Mortgage Company;
Stewart Browne, president of the United
Real Estate Owners' Association, and
others.
The conference was presided over by
Cyrus C. Miller, ex-president of the
Borough of the Bronx, and chairman of
the executive committee of the Ad¬
visory Council which had sent out the
call for the meeting.
Mr. Ford explained the tentative plans
with the aid of maps, and other speakers
commended the work of the commission
highly and emphasized the need of dis¬
tricting the city and limiting building
height.
Messrs. Eidlitz and Stabler, as mem¬
bers of the commission, were in a posi¬
tion to speak of the extraordinary
amount of time and the exceptional care
the members of the body had given to
the solution of the great problein.
Messrs. Bright, Hurd and Kelsey, as
financial men, were able to make clear
to the large and interested audience the
urgent need of restrictions in order to
prevent the destruction of values. Mr.
Browne, speaking more particularly from
the owner's standpoint, while holding
the plans of the commission to be desir¬
able in essentials, was still of the opinion
that in some residential districts they
might operate to prevent an owner de¬
riving as much benefit or profit as under
present conditions. He remarked that
some of the members of his association
were on some grounds opposed to re¬
strictions.
The Tentative Plan.
The Commission on Buildin.g Districts
was appointed by the Board of Esti¬
mate, under authority conferred by the
Legislature, to report a districting and
limitation plan. This report is now in
preparation. Tentatively the city has
been divided into (1) Use, (2) Height,
and (3) Area Districts.
In the Use Districts will be: (a)Resi-
dentia! districts from which business and
industry will be excluded, (h) Business
districts from which objectionable trades
and industries and the lar.ger type of
factory will be excluded. (c) The re¬
maining portions of the city will be left
unrestricted as to use.
Five classes of height districts are
provided, limiting the height of the build¬
ing at the street line to a varying mul¬
tiple of the street width. These multiples
vary from 2l4 times the street width in
EDWARD M. BASSETT,
Chairman Commission on Building Districts and
Restrictions.
tlie office and financial section of Man¬
hattan to one times the street width in
the more undeveloped sections of
Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Ricli-
mond.
Back of the street wall, the height of
which is limited by a multiple of the
street widtli. tlie building may go higher
but not beyond the line formed by the
extension of a line drawn from the
center of the street to the limiting height
of the street wall.
Five classes of Area Districts have
been proposed, fixing various percentages
of lot that may be covered, with corre-
spondin.g regulations as to courts and
yards. The area of the lot which may be
covered extends from 100 per cent, class
down to a 30 per cent, class. The 100
per cent, class is intended chiefly for
wareliouses and storage buildings, for
which yard and court regulations would
have no particular importance; the 30
per cent, class is suggested as appro¬
priate for a few high class villa resi¬
dence sections. The remaining groups,
whicli cover 90 per cent., 70 per cent.,
and 50 per cent, of the lot, relate prin¬
cipally to residences, tene.iients and
business structures.
Justification for Use Districting.
A statement from the commission of
tlie principles that have guided the com¬
mission in its consideration of a dis-
trictin.g plan says in justification of use
districtin.g:
"Ever}' city becomes divided into more
or less clearly defined districts of dif¬
ferent occupation, use and type of build¬
in.g construction. We have tlic central
oflice and financial district, loft districts,
waterfront and industrial districts, retail
Inisiness districts, apartment house and
hotel districts, tenement house districts,
private dwelling districts.
"Generally speaking a building is ap¬
propriately located when it is in a sec¬
tion surrounded by buildings of similar
type and use. Strong social and econ¬
omic forces work toward a natural seg¬
regation of buildings according to type
and use. In general, the maximum land
values and the maximum rentals are
obtained where this segregation and
uniformity are most complete. A chief
purpose of districting regulations is to
strengthen and supplement the natural
trend toward segregation.
"In spite of the natural trend toward
segregation building development in
many parts of the city is haphazard.
The natural trend toward segregation
and uniformity is not strong enough to
prevent the sporadic invasion of a dis¬
trict by harmful or inappropriate build¬
ings or uses.
"Once a district has been thus in¬
vaded, rents and property values decline
and it is diflicult ever to reclaim the dis¬
trict to Its more appropriate use. In¬
dividual property owners are helpless to
prevent the depreciation of their
propert}'.
"While in New York City economic
forces tend to the segregation of in¬
dustries of the heavier type along the
water and rail terminals and to the
segregation of certain light industries
near the wholesale, retail, hotel and
passenger terminal center in Manhattan,
there are other kinds of light industry
that seem to be free from any segregat¬
ing force and locate indiscriminately
throughout the city. They are found
scattered tliroughout the business and
residential sections, especially the resi¬
dential sections from which their labor
supply is recruited. They tend to reduce
values and rents in the districts they in¬
vade. There is no greater menace to
the attractiveness and value of residen¬
tial sections than that of the sporadic
factory.
To Conserve Land Values.
Land value is usually based on pres¬
ent or future use for some one or more
specific purposes. A chief purpose of
districting regulations is to conserve
land values by prohibiting the inappro¬
priate or nuisance uses that are inimical
to the one or more uses that are con¬
trolling in fixing land values in a par¬
ticular section. If values in a particular
section are based on residence use, they
will certainly be impaired by the intru¬
sion of the sporadic factory.
"In a residential neighborhood the ex¬
clusion of business from all but certain
designated business streets will improve
values both on the business and on the
residential streets. Stores and other
business buildings scattered among the
residences not only depreciate the value
of residence property but also tend to
lessen tiie value of business property on
the natural business streets. The con¬
centration of all the neighborhood busi¬
ness buildings on the business streets
makes the transaction of business more
convenient and profitable and thus tends
to increase rents and land values on such
streets. The segregation of dwellings
on the exclusively residential streets adds
to the convenience, quiet, attractiveness
and amenities of home life and thus
tends to increase rents and land values
on such streets."
Height and Area Districting.
In justification for height and area
districting the commission's statement
says:
"Rentable values in any given block