A Subject Matter Summary for "Mayor's Agent - Jurisdiction"

The Mayor’s Agent reviews work -- including demolition, alteration, subdivision, and new construction -- that could impact landmarks and contributing buildings in historic districts. {1} The Mayor’s Agent first refers any applications for such work impacting historic properties to the Historic Preservation Review Board ("HPRB" or the "Board"), which contains experts on historic preservation, history, architectural history, and architecture, and which advises the Mayor’s Agent. {2} The Historic Preservation Office, which serves as the administrative staff to the Mayor’s Agent, assists the Board in exercising this authority. {3}

Mayor’s Agent’s hearings may be either mandatory or discretionary, depending on the procedural posture of the case as it emerges from the initial HPRB review. If the Board recommends denial of a requested permit involving "demolition of historic landmarks or contributing building in historic districts, subdivision of historic landmarks, [or] a claim of unreasonable economic hardship or special merit," public hearings are mandatory. {4} For all other applications, including when the Board approves an applicant’s permit as consistent with the purposes of the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act, an additional public hearing before the Mayor’s Agent is within the Mayor’s Agent’s "sole discretion." {5} As the Mayor’s Agent explained in a recent case, the Mayor’s Agent’s role is "very limited" when the Board recommends approval:

<blockquote>

"The Mayor’s Agent should hold a public hearing only when a request demonstrates a palpable error of law or such a clear error of judgment as to amount to an abuse of discretion. Any other approach would encourage routine efforts by disappointed opponents of applications to overturn HPRB decisions and upset the appropriate allocation of functions between the HPRB and the Mayor’s Agent." {6} </blockquote>

The Mayor’s Agent also has jurisdiction to determine whether landmarks or contributing buildings in historic districts are faced with demolition by neglect, and he or she can enforce remedies as necessary. {7}

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{1} 10C DCMR §104.4

{2} Id.

{3} 10C DCMR §104.1(b), §104.2(a).

{4} 10C DCMR §104.4. This authority may be delegated to the Mayor’s Agent (Hearing Officer). Id.

{5} 10C DCMR §104.4. See In the Matter of 1922 Belmont Road, NW, HPA No. 14-18 (Dec. 18, 2014) at 2.

{6} In the Matter of 1922 Belmont Road, NW, HPA No. 14-18 (Dec. 18, 2014) at 2 (quoting In the Matter of 2225 California St., NW, HPA No. 11-472 Feb. 24, 2013).

{7} 10C DCMR §104.5.

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