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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 97, no. 2499: Articles]: February 5, 1916

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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