D.C. COUNCIL APPROVES CITY HALL RENOVATION

The D.C. Council approved plans yesterday to renovate Washington's decrepit city hall by leasing two-thirds of it to the federal government, with members saying they were tired of residing in a buginfested building with a suspect water supply.

At the same time, council members authorized creation of a nonprofit John A. Wilson Building Foundation that will try to raise enough money to buy out the federal lease and return the Pennsylvania Avenue building to local hands.

Council members said they hope the foundation will address citizen complaints about the proposal, which would turn much of the grand but run-down building that is the traditional seat of District government over to federal bureaucrats for 20 years. Critics contend that it is politically and economically unwise to let go of the space when the city spends tens of millions of dollars annually renting offices for its own employees.

Council members agreed that the proposed deal is symbolically unfortunate at a time when the city is struggling with Congress to keep home rule intact.

"I do not like having the federal government take any part of this building," said council member Hilda H.M. Mason (Statehood-At Large). "It's kind of frightening. I don't know what they will do when they come in here."

But for most members that concern was secondary. "We're broke," said council Chairman David A. Clarke (D), and the lease plan would allow the beaux-arts building to be restored at no cost to the city.

District developer T. Conrad Monts proposed last summer that much of the building be leased to the federal General Services Administration and that the proceeds be used to finance an overhaul estimated at $47 million.

The GSA has given preliminary approval to the idea and said it likely could find federal agencies as tenants. But a final lease still must be negotiated, voted on by the council and approved by the new financial control board. The intent is for the council to move out of the building next summer at the developer's expense and return 16 months later to a rehabilitated city hall.

"It is rat-infested, full of roaches, the water runs red, yellow and green," said council member Frank Smith Jr. (D-Ward 1), who supported the plan. "I am surprised one of our employees hasn't tried to sue us."

Moreover, Monts noted, at this point much of the building is vacant; Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly moved the executive branch of the government to One Judiciary Square in 1993.

The tentative design for the U-shaped building would fill in its vacant center with new offices that rise one floor above the current top of the structure. The council's fifth-floor legislative chamber and first-floor offices would be retained by the city, as well as some other space for council staff. The rest of the structure would be occupied by federal tenants.

The creation of the foundation was an attempt by Clarke to mollify critics of the plan. He said that if the group is successful in its fund-raising, the money could be used to pay off the building's renovation costs early.

In other action yesterday, the council: Voted to follow more than a dozen states and penalize child-support deadbeats by revoking driver's and professional licenses.

The action is meant to provoke city residents to meet their court ordered child-support payments, or lose their right to drive, practice medicine or engage in any other occupation or activity licensed by the city.

"We have to deal with what is right or what is wrong," said council member Bill Lightfoot (I-At Large). "Let's not be namby-pamby. . . . The consequences of not paying child support ought to be severe." Gave preliminary approval to creation of an independent authority to operate the city's water and sewer plant, which needs tens of millions of dollars worth of repairs and a dramatic rate increase to pay for the work.

Some Maryland and Virginia leaders support a regional authority to run the plant. But the authority recommended by the council would include six appointees from the District and four from the suburbs. Received proposed legislation that would severely limit advertising for alcohol and tobacco products on billboards and vehicle placards.

Lightfoot is sponsoring bills that would prohibit ads in places likely to be seen by minors. He said he hopes to eliminate ads that he called "pervasive," saying, "Our children are influenced to smoke tobacco and drink alcohol."

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.