District of Columbia Building Heights Act of 1994

Summary

District of Columbia Building Heights Act of 1994 - Amends the District of Columbia Code to revise provisions with respect to street widths controlling building heights in the District to require that if the alignment (currently, course) of streets forming an intersection is not interrupted by a public space or reservation confronting a building, the limit of height of the building shall be determined from the width of the widest street, avenue, or highway. Defines "street" to mean any road, avenue, drive, cart way, or other route open to the public as a regular right-of-way, but not an alley. Replaces provisions allowing the heights of spires, towers, domes, minarets, pinnacles, penthouses over elevator shafts, ventilation shafts, chimneys, smokestacks, and fire sprinkler tanks to exceed mandatory limitations with provisions allowing roof structures that are not constructed or used for human occupancy to be erected to a greater height than any mandatory limit for the District with the Mayor's approval, provided that: (1) the roof structure must be fireproof; and (2) such structure (other than a spire, tower, dome, minaret, pinnacle, chimney, or smokestack) shall be set back from the exterior or bounding walls of the building upon which the structure is placed at distances (not less than) its height above the adjacent roof. Authorizes the Mayor to waive the latter requirement if it would be unduly restrictive or impracticable and if such waiver would not materially interfere with the Act or adversely affect the exposure of adjacent buildings to light and air. Provides that a skylight shall not be considered a roof structure if it is less than five feet in height. Increases the fine for violation of: (1) the Act to not more than $10,000 per day (currently, not less than ten dollars nor more than $100 per day); and (2) a court injunction resulting from such violation to not more than $100,000 (currently, not less than $100 nor more than $500). Requires the approval of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Mayor before a roof structure of any building in the District can exceed building height limitations. Allows the NCPC or any of its members to request a determination of whether any building proposed to be constructed in the District meets mandatory requirements. Provides that the NCPC and each of its members shall have standing to enforce any limitation on the heights of buildings and structures in the District.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in House (text)

  Introduced in House · EN · 18 April 1994

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House (PDF)

  Introduced in House · EN · 18 April 1994

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 18 April 1994

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.