Zoning Notes Prepared by Frank B. Williams Author of "The Law of City Planning and Zoning" From data collected by the Zoning Committee of New York (233 Broadway) 1926. Recent Zoning Decisions LOUISIANA.-State ex rel. Sausone v. City of New Orleans, 113 So. Rep. 126. A petition for injunction to prevent the city from interfering with building construction, and mandamus to compel the city to issue a permit, alleging that the relator had complied with the building code and that the city arbitrarily refused to grant the permit and threatened to stop construction, states a cause of action. MARYLAND. R. B. Construction Co. V. Jackson, Mayor of Baltimore, 137 Atl. Rep. 278. Extracts from this decision, with excellent 103. Since the passage of the Act of 1926, ch. 315, it is well settled that where it is shown that a board of appeals exists, an appeal to it from an adverse ruling of the building inspector is a prerequisite to the bringing of mandamus. In accord, Elkay Realty Co. v. Redfern, 138 A. 196. NEW YORK.-Matter of Morrone, Supreme Court, Bronx County, reported in New York Law Journal, August 29, 1927. Certiorari to review the determination of the Board of Standards and New Jersey Adopts Constitutional At a special election on September 20, 5. The Legislature may enact general laws under which municipalities, other than counties, may adopt zoning ordinances limiting and restricting to specified districts and regulating therein, buildings and structures, according to their construction, and the nature and extent of their use, and the exercise of such authority shall be deemed to be within the police power of the state. Such laws shall be subject to repeal or alteration by the Legislature. Pro This was the only amendment adopted ข. comment on it, are printed as an eidtorial in the New York Law Journal for July 7, 1927. MASSACHUSETTS.-Polish Political Club Cloper, 157 N.E. Rep. 705. Since an automobile and filling station at common law is not a nuisance per se unless the fact of nuisance is admitted, an issue of fact is presented for determination in each case to enjoin its erection. Adjoining property owners cannot maintain such an action without evidence that plaintiffs would suffer peculiar damages if it were erected. MISSISSIPPI.-Dart v. City of Gulfport, 113 So. Rep. 441. The issuance of a permit by the city to erect a filling-station does not prevent the city from abrogating rights thereunder by valid ordinance prohibiting the erection of such a structure within certain limits embracing the lot in question. But the power given by the Zoning Act (Laws 1924, Ch. 195) to "regulate and restrict" the erection of such a building does not authorize its prohibition. NEW JERSEY.-Raskind v. Dowling, 138 Atl. Rep. the determination of the Board of Standards and Appeals of New York City, which granted a use variation to permit the erection of a public garage in a business district on a portion of a street between two intersecting streets for the reason that a public garage or stable existed there at the time the zoning resolution was adopted; and also by reason of practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships. The determination of the Board was upheld. The case is important as a careful review of the surrounding circumstances, serving as a guide in similar cases. NEW YORK. People ex rel. Westchester Housing Corporation v. The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Village of Pelham, Supreme Court, Westchester County, August, 1927. Certiorari to review the action of the Board in affirming the action of the Building Inspector rejecting applications for permission to erect twenty-four one-family houses. In the district in question the ordinance prohibited the erection of any building other than one "arranged, intended or designed exclusively for a private dwelling for one family only." The houses are in groups of six, each upon a block of land. The houses in each group are divided from one another by party walls, each house having separate connections for sewer, water, gas, and electricity, and an individual heating plant. Held, reversing the decision of the Board, that there was nothing in the ordinance to prevent the erection of the houses in this district. OREGON.-Ludgate v. Somerville, 256 Pac. Rep. 1043. A purchaser of residence property in a tract in which business uses are prohibited by private covenants acquires a property right of which he is not divested by a city zoning ordinance allowing business in the tract. Neither alleged public inconvenience in having to go 1,900 feet further to unrestricted property for a filling-station, nor the opportunity for profit to the land intended to be used for business contrary to the ordinance, is sufficient to prevent the enforcement of the covenants. VIRGINIA.-Martin v. City of Danville, 138 S.E. Rep. 629. An ordinance prohibiting the erection of gasoline filling-stations in residential districts without the written consent of two-thirds of the property owners within 500 feet, is valid. VIRGINIA. Wood v. City of Richmond, 138 S.E. Rep. 560. City's requirement of removal of fillingstation driveway, construction of which it had previously authorized, reserving power of removal, is not an unreasonable exercise of the police power. WASHINGTON.-State ex rel. Seattle Title Trust Co. v. Roberge, Superintendent of Buildings, 256 Pac. Rep. 781. The zoning ordinance of the city of Seattle, prohibiting the erection of a building for a philanthropic home in the first residence use district without the written consent of the owners of two-thirds of the property within 400 feet of the proposed building, is not, under the facts, invalid as arbitrary and unreasonable. Recent Zoning Literature "The Denver Zoning Ordinance," a paper by Fred W. Ameter, Secretary-Engineer of Board of Adjustment in Zoning, read before the American Society of Civil Engineers at Denver, Colo., July 14, 1927, discusses the following "unusual features" of the Denver zoning ordinance: M "Zoning's Greatest Danger-Lawless Acts by Boards of Appeals" is the subject of a timely article in the August issue of this magazine. The Municipal Bond Market By Sanders Shanks, Jr. Editor, The Bond Buyer UNICIPAL officials, even those charged with the administration of the fiscal affairs of a city, county or village, probably do not fully appreciate the favored treatment they receive at the hands of investment bankers. With the single exception of the United States Government, no other class of borrowers pays so little in the form of underwriting commissions to bankers as the typical American municipality. Many examples might be cited in support of this statement. The record, however, is a public one open to all interested, and space need not be utilized here to present the figures in detail. The fact is that municipal bond underwriters are satisfied with gross underwriting profits of less than one per cent ($10 per $1,000 bond) on the bond issues of the normal, well-managed, conservatively bonded community, and out of this modest profit must come advertising and sales expense, overhead and, usually, a "concession" to brokers, banks, etc. Municipal bonds are, of course, extremely highgrade investments and are therefore readily salable. This explains, in part, why the dealer can handle them on a small profit margin. But there is more than that to it. Investment bankers, like merchants in other lines, must do a certain amount of "window dressing." Their show window is their list of security offerings. The presence thereon of a group of high-grade state or city bonds dresses up the whole list. The advertising value At this writing, competition is as keen as ever, and throughout the past month hundreds of borrowing communities have sold their bond issues on remarkably advantageous terms. The following list indicates the trend of the market: 54c Added to the Appropriation Every Minute Newark's first two Barber-Greene Snow Loaders were turned loose during a big January snow storm. When they were taken back to their garage 10 days later they had virtually added $6508 to the appropriation for streets and alleys. In addition, Newark's main thoroughfares were back to a "pre-snow basis." More Than a Yard a Minute During this 10-day period each Barber-Greene averaged 70 cubic yards of snow per hour, loading from windrows into trucks. This exceptional loading speed got the trucks away to the dumps so much faster that each loader saved two trucking hours every hour it worked. In addition 11.7c per yard were saved in handling costs over hand labor. 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The September, 1927, number of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 3622 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa. V 264 pp. $2.00. This symposium comprises 30 papers, by as many persons, on the problems of urban traffic, organized under five heads: I, Planning for Increased Traffic Facilities; II. Traffic Control; III, Planning to Prevent Traffic Accidents; IV, Traffic Problems and the Modern City Plan; and V, City Planning and Traffic Congestion. Specific topics under this arrangement include traffic and transit facilities, traffic surveys, control regulations, methods and devices, parking, storage garages, street lighting, grade crossings, street, city and regional plans, zoning and decentralization. The contributors are drawn from many fields, and include city planners, traffic consultants, engineers, automobile and electric railway men, journalists and civic experts. The Annals has in this issue again demonstrated the timeliness of the subjects that its editors select, and the wide range of inquiry and authoritativeness of discussion which marks them. Austin F. Macdonald, of the University of Pennsylvania, edits the number. Report on Traffic and Transportation in the City of Newark and Vicinity.-The study made by Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff & Douglas, engineers, to Mayor Thomas L. Raymond of Newark, N. J., is reported in this booklet of 126 pp. It includes a summary of general conditions and of a proposed system of transportation, with rapid transit and the extension and coordination of steam and electric railroad facilities serving Newark; this is followed by the details of a series of studies. 1927. (Apply to the engineers, 84 Pine Street, New York.) Year Book, American Engineering Standards Committee, 1927.-This reviews the work of the Committee during the year and gives a list of 238 standardization projects, 103 of which had been approved by the end of the year; the status of the others is indicated. 80 pp. (Apply to the Committee, 29 West 39th Street, New York.) Report to City of Cincinnati on a Rapid Transit Railway. Made by The Beeler Organization, New York, to the special committee representing the Council and Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners of the City, and The Cincinnati Street Railway Co. It deals with the rapid-transit requirements of Cincinnati, with special reference to the possibilities of using in a comprehensve transportation system the partially built rapid transit line, initiated as a high-speed entrance for interurban electric railroads. Attractively prepared and illustrated. September 8, 1927. 166 pp. (Apply to C. O. Sherrill, City Manager, City Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio.) Baltimore's Public Bath System Serves as Model.An article by Robert F. G. Kelley, Superintendent, Free Public Bath Commission of Baltimore, in the Baltimore Municipal Journal for August 8, 1927. It gives a brief history of the public baths in that city. 5 cents. (Apply to the Journal, 906 American Building, Baltimore, Md.) The Crime of Crimes.-An article in the July and August numbers of Safeguarding America Against Fire, dealing with the history, extent and methods of combating arson. (Apply to National Board of Fire Underwriters, 85 John Street, New York.) The Durham Plan; The East Hartford Town Plan. Two reports, of 88 and 61 pp. respectively, to the City Planning Commission of Durham, N. C., and the Town Planning Commission of East Hartford, Conn., by Herbert S. Swan, City Planner. After a general description of the cities' characteristics, historical, physiographic, industrial, etc., the questions of traffic thoroughfares, grade separation, transit, parks and parkways, and schools, are discussed, with special attention to the problems of flood protection and meadow development in the case of East Hartford, and a final chapter in each case presenting a comprehensive planning program. Both reports are attractively printed, and are well supplied with illustrations and maps. (Apply to Herbert S. Swan, 15 Park Row, New York.) The City Manager.-By Leonard D. White, Ph. D., Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. 1927. XVII + 355 pp. $3.00. This is No. IX of the Social Studies directed by the Local Community Research Committee of the University of Chicago. It is a study in administration rather than in political form, and is partly based upon a consideration of the personalities, backgrounds, methods and achievements of the managers, past and present, in a number of cities, starting with Cleveland, the largest and the least orthodox. The Cincinnati, Kansas City, Pasadena, and Dayton managers also receive a chapter for each city, and several others are treated more briefly. After these chapters, the author discusses the relation of the manager to the charter, to the council and to municipal administration generally, and deals with city managership as a profession. A concluding chapter summarizes Professor White's searching analysis, with suggestions for making the city manager a still more effective instrument of efficient administration under popular control. The book is a valuable contribution in this field, and its readability will assist in extending its use. Twenty Years of City Planning Progress in the United States. A 46-page pamphlet presenting an address by John Nolen as President of the National Conference on City Planning. Besides a textual account of city planning progress there is an appendix containing a table of cities with comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances and official city plan commissions, lists of reviews of city planning, colleges where city planning lectures or courses are given, new towns, garden cities, etc., and planning and zoning statistics. (Apply to John Nolen, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass.) First Annual Report of the Bureau of Municipal Equipment, St. Paul, Minn.-A report of 16 pp., 14 x 17 inches, compiled by the Accounting Division of the Department of Public Works of St. Paul. It goes into the transportation problem of the city government and giyes costs of transportation both by city-owned and hired equipment, financial statements, inventories, etc. (Apply to the Bureau, City Hall, St. Paul, Minn.) State Administrative Review of Local Budget Making. -Publication No. 3 of the Municipal Administration Service, New York, constituting an examination of state supervision of local taxes and bonds in Indiana and Iowa, by Wylie Kilpatrick, Associate Research Professor of Government at the University of Virginia. 40 pp. 25 cents. (Apply to Municipal Administration Service, 261 Broadway, New York.) Dis The Preparation of a Long-Term Financial Program. -Publication No. 5 of the Municipal Administration Service, by C. E. Rightor, Chief Accountant, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, Inc., and Secretary, Mayor's Committee on Finances, City of Detroit. cusses the need of long-term planning and experiences of various cities, and presents a procedure for formulating such a program. The booklet is the basis of an ar ticle in THE AMERICAN CITY for September, pages 311 and 312. 25 cents. (Apply to Municipal Administration Service, 261 Broadway, New York City.) Proceedings of the New Jersey Sewage Works Association. This is a 38-page booklet constituting a report of the twelfth annual meeting of this Association, in Trenton. Papers on various sewage treatment plants in New Jersey, and on problems of ground water infiltration, laundry wastes, ventilation in trickling filters, and plant records, are included. (Apply to John R. Downes, Secretary of the Association, Bound Brook, N. J.) Motor Vehicle Accidents.-A third study of such accidents in the state of Connecticut, including those of 1926, made by Professor Richard Shelton Kirby of the Department of Civil Engineering, Yale University, in cooperation with the State Motor Vehicle Department, and presented with the aid of the Hartley Corporation. The results of the study are portrayed graphically, the effort being to make them readily understandable. 45 pp. (Apply to R. B. Stoeckel, State Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, Hartford, Conn.) |