Watergate West, Inc. v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment

A university sought to convert a former hotel building into a student dormitory, and the Zoning Administrator approved the certificate of occupancy after considering the District's Comprehensive Plan requirement that the university keep building dormitories to relieve pressure on off-campus housing stock; a neighboring building (plaintiff) protested, arguing the Plan barred using the off-campus building this way because it reduced available residential housing, and pressed a broader argument that the Plan was self-executing and independently binding regardless of the Zoning Commission's own decisions. The Board of Zoning Adjustment (defendant) ruled against the challenger, and the challenger sought review.