House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said the National Capital Planning Commission and the D.C. Office of Planning will study possible changes to D.C.'s Height Act of 1910.
“The committee’s hearing on the Height Act has opened an entirely new way to see our city and its possibilities,” Norton said in a statement included in Issa’s release. “However, our committee wisely decided that the first study since the Height Act was passed in 1910 is necessary. This study is just the beginning of what will be a complete public process examining the economic and aesthetic consequences of changing a law that has stood for more than 100 years.”
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said in a statement that he welcomes “an important and strategic look at height in this city.”
Though Issa has generally supported expanded autonomy for the District of Columbia — including budget autonomy — the Height Act is listed in the D.C. charter as one law that can be amended only by Congress. Other issues the D.C. Council cannot address without Congressional action are imposing a D.C. commuter tax or giving itself statehood and voting rights.
A man from Kentucky attends a Tea Party Patriots rally on the West Front of the Capitol to protest the IRS' targeting of conservative political groups.
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