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-_ =G=AA ff rAtiND:T S D.C. Court Affirms Denial of Application for Rear Rooftop Addition The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has affirmed the denial of an application to construct a third floor deck and roof top addition to a townhouse in the Dupont Circle Historic District, up- holding the District of Colum- bia's -determination that the proposed changes were not consistent with its historic preservation law. Amongother things, the court found that the Mayor's Agent had not erred in concluding that, un- der D.C. law, the applicant must establish _ that the pro- posed changes are consistent with not just the frontal view, but "all vistas if effects." The court's ruling under- scores the high level of defer- ence generally accorded to administrative agencies in applying historic preservation laws to particular cases. Pres- ervation commission or review board decisions are generally upheld unless the findings of fact are not supported by "sub- stantial evidence" and the conclusions of law do not "flow rationally" from those findings. The decision also highlights that requirements of general compatibility can rationally be interpreted to require compatibility with all viewpoints within a historic district, not just with the street on which the structure abuts. [Reneau v. District of Columbia, 475 A.2d 913 (D.C. App. 1996.] paul Reneau purchased a three-story townhouse in the Dupont Circle Historic District, and hired architects and contractors to convert the single- family townhouse into condomini- ums. Three months later, a stop work order was issued for failure to obtain necessary permits as re- quired under several laws, includ- ing the District's "Historic Land- mark and Historic District Protec- tion Act." In response, Mr. Reneau initiat- ed the process for review by the Historic Preservation Review Board (the "HPRB"). He simultaneously submitted two applications, both of which the HPRB rejected while providing recommendations for modifications that would reduce the visibility, and intrusion of a fourth floor roof top addition "as perceived from the front facade." Other proposed changes, including the construction of rear decks, were found consistent with the Act and upheld. Mr. Reneau subsequently pre- sented the HPRB with a new appli- 4 Cl cation, which included plans to modify the proposed rooftop addi- tion. Upon consideration of staff comments, however, Mr. Reneau withdrew is rooftop proposal from consideration and instead requested consideration of a rear deck. Upon review of the evidence, the HPRB voted to deny the rear deck and sent official notification to Mr. Reneau that his applications for the roof top addition and proposed rear deck had not been approved. Mr. Reneau, accordingly, ap- pealed the HPRB's decision to the Mayor's Agent. After holding a public hearing on the matter and consider- ing all the evidence, the Mayor's Agent denied the permit and dismissed the application with prejudice. The agent found that the prop- erty owner had failed to establish that the proposed additions were either compati- ble with the historic district or necessary to "encourage their adaptation for use." In making its finding of facts and conclusions of law, the Mayor's Agent noted that no permit could be issued under D.C. law unless the addition was "compatible with the historic district." In considering the meaning of this requirement, the agent determined that "the test of compatibility must be measured not just from the view immediately in front of a structure but from the entire historic district." The agent also stressed that while "the charac- ter in some neighborhoods may be affected by a change in visibility from directly across the front fa- cades," the "neighbors of this com- munity, as well as presumably the majority of most Historic neighbor- hoods, are concerned about their views from all streets." The Court's Decision. The D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the May- or's Agent decision, finding that it was "supported by substantial evi- dence in the record considered as a whole" and that its conclusions of law "flow[ed] rationally" from those findings. In reaching its decision, the court observed that "[a]lthough the decision is not a model of clari- ty, a close reading reveals that it con-, tains a cogent analy- sis of the record evi- dence, flows ratio- nally from the find- ings of fact, and con- tains no erroneous interpretations of law." According to the court, the agent's findings were sup- ported by "substan- tial record evidence." Notably, in up- holding the Mayor's Agent's decision, the court rejected a separate argument raised by Mr. Reneau that the agent had erred "because he had failed to state why he [rejected] the uncon- tradicted expert testimony offered [on Mr. Reneau's behalf at the hear- ing.]" The court, however, dis- missed this claim, noting that the agent was only required to give some indication as to why he re- jected expert testimony and he met that requirement. According to the court, the agent had properly noted that the applicant's expert failed to indicate which of the additions she "[A]lthough the de- cision is not a mod- el of clarity, a close reading reveals that it contains a cogent analysis of the re- cord evidence, flows rationally from the findings of fact, and contains no erroneous inter- pretations of law."