CONTENTS Public No. 260, 70th Cong., Approved, Apr. 11, 1928- Public No. 1036, 70th Cong., Approved, Mar. 4, 1929. (168) Page [S. 2301] An Act To create a commission to be known as the Commission for the enlarging of the Capitol Grounds, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, the Chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, the chairman and ranking minority member of the House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, the minority leader of the Senate, the minority leader of the House of Representatives and the Architect of the Capitol, are hereby created a commission to be known as the Commission for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds. The commission is authorized to consider plans and estimates for the creation of a park area to enlarge the Capitol Grounds, including the plans showing the original scheme for the development of this area, and the alternative scheme for the development of this and added areas, and to recommend to the Congress such original and alternative plans or schemes with estimates of costs therefor, together with recommendations for the purchase of such other areas as may be considered necessary to give to the plans for the enlargement of the Capitol Grounds a suitable landscape treatment for the Capitol Building in relation to the landscape treatment with the proposed arrangement of the Mall area. SEC. 2. If the Commission is unable to submit a final report before the expiration of the Seventieth Congress, those Members of the House of Representatives who are members of the Commission at the date of expiration of such Congress, if Members-elect to the succeeding Congress, shall continue as members of such commission until their successors are determined by the organization of the House of Representatives of the Seventy-first Congress. Approved, April 11, 1928. [H. R. 13929] An Act To provide for the enlarging of the Capitol Grounds. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the commission created by the Act entitled "An Act to create a commission to be known as the Commission for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds, and for other purposes," approved April 11, 1928, is authorized and directed to carry out the plan for the enlarging of the Capitol Grounds recommended by the commission in Scheme B of its report to the Congress contained in House Document Numbered 252, Seventieth Congress, first session, with certain modifications, as follows: (1) Provision for an avenue extending from the western fountain in front of the Union Station southwesterly to Pennsylvania Avenue, joining said avenue between Second and Third Streets Northwest; (2) Closing of North Capitol Street south of D Street; (3) Closing of C Street to vehicular traffic between New Jersey Avenue and Delaware Avenue, and removal of street-car tracks from C Street and re-laying them in a depression and subway between New Jersey Avenue and Delaware Avenue, and extending the street-car tracks on C Street from Delaware Avenue to First Street Northeast; (4) Removal of street-car tracks from Delaware Avenue and B Street (including the spur extending from Delaware Avenue into the Capitol Grounds) and re-laying them on First Street Northeast; (5) Construction of an underground garage extending from Delaware Avenue to New Jersey Avenue; (6) Acquisition of private property and removal of existing buildings, as hereinafter provided; and (7) Construction of terraces and fountains, grading, landscaping, and architectural treatment. SEC. 2. For the purposes of this Act the Architect of the Capitol is authorized, under the direction of the commission (1) To acquire, on behalf of the United States, by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, all or any part of the privately owned lands, including buildings and other structures, in lot 800 of square numbered 574; square numbered 575; lots 1, 2, and 818 of square numbered 630; lot 1 of square numbered 631; the western half of square numbered 633; and reservation numbered 12, as such squares and reservation appear on the records of the office of the surveyor of the District of Columbia as of the date of the approval of this Act. Any condemnation proceedings instituted under authority of this Act shall be in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Act entitled "An Act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, and for other purposes," approved August 30, 1890, as amended. (2) When title to the property specified in subdivision (1) of this section has been vested in the United States, to provide for the demolition and removal, as expeditiously as possible, of any structures thereon; and to provide for the demolition and removal, as expeditiously as possible, of any structures on other lands within the area of the proposed development. (3) To enter into contracts, to purchase materials, supplies, equipment, and accessories, in the open market, to employ the necessary personnel, including professional services without reference to section 35 of the Act approved June 25, 1910, and to make such expenditures, including expenditures for advertising and travel and the purchase of technical and reference books, as may be necessary. SEC. 3. All privately owned lands acquired under the provisions of this Act, together with all other lands within the area of development proposed in Scheme B of House Document Numbered 252, Seventieth Congress, first session, including streets and roadways, shall be a part of the Capitol Grounds under the jurisdiction and control of the Architect of the Capitol, and all lands within such area heretofore under the jurisdiction and control of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby transferred to the jurisdiction and control of the Architect of the Capitol; except that any street or roadway within such area under the jurisdiction and control of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall not be transferred to the jurisdiction and control of the Architect of the Capitol until such time as the Architect of the Capitol files notice in writing with the Commissioners of the District of Columbia that such transfer is necessary for the proposed development. SEC. 4. (a) It shall be the duty of any street-railway company, the removal of whose tracks is necessary under the plan of the proposed development, when so requested in writing by the Architect of the Capitol, to remove any of such tracks, to repair and restore the space vacated, and to relay such tracks on the streets designated, as may be directed by the Architect of the Capitol, the total cost thereof to be bore by said companies. (b) Whenever, in carrying out the provisions of this Act, it becomes necessary to change the grade of any street occupied by the tracks of any street-railway company the company shall adjust the grade of such tracks to the new grade of the street, the total cost of such adjustment to be borne by said company. SEC. 5. The Director of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital is hereby authorized and directed to proceed with the development of that part of the public grounds in the District of Columbia connecting the Capitol Grounds with the Washington Monument and known as the Mall parkway, in accordance with the plans of Major L'Enfant and the so-called MacMillan Commission, with such modifications thereof as may be recommended by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and approved by the Commission for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds. Such development shall include the grounds now occupied by the Botanic Garden between Pennsylvania and Maryland Avenues west of First Street, and, as to such grounds, the development shall be in accordance with the approved plans for enlarging the Capitol Grounds. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section, jurisdiction over that part of the public grounds the development of which is herein authorized shall be transferred to the Director of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital at such time as may be approved by the Joint Committee on the Library. SEC. 6. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $4,912,414, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to enable the Commission for the Enlarging of the Capitol Grounds to carry out the provisions of this Act relating to the enlarging of the Capitol Grounds. Appropriations made under authority of this section shall be disbursed by the disbursing officer of the Department of the Interior. Approved, March 4, 1929. |