Congress “constituted a commission to be known as the National Capital Park and Planning Commission (NCPPC) to develop a comprehensive, consistent, and coordinated plan for the National Capital and its environs in the States of Maryland and Virginia.”

By 1926 the National Capital Park Commission had approved a park plan that provided a large park within a reasonable distance from every part of the District and a neighborhood park within walking distance of each resident. Including additions to Rock Creek Park and miscellaneous parks, the plan’s park acreage totaled 2,608 acres, compared to the system’s 2,442 acres in 1924.

However, the park commission lacked sufficient funds for implementation. It was also powerless to influence the city’s plan except for structuring growth within the configurations created by the protected parklands. Civic interests, specifically the Washington Board of Trade, conveyed that Washington needed an agency with broader authorities.
Congress established NCPPC with the “duty of preparing, developing, and maintaining a comprehensive, consistent, and coordinated plan for the National Capital and its environs.” It specified that the “plan shall include recommendations…as to traffic and transportation; plats and subdivisions; highways, parks, and parkways; school and library sites; playgrounds; drainage, sewerage, and water supply; housing, building, and zoning regulations; public and private buildings; bridges and water fronts; commerce and industry; and other proper elements of city and regional planning.”

It conveyed that NCPPC’s purpose was “to obtain the maximum amount of cooperation and correlation of effort between the departments, bureaus, and commissions of the Federal and District Governments.” The act conferred to NCPPC the duties of the Highway Commission, (specified in an 1898 act to provide a “permanent system of highways” in Washington). The act also conferred the authorities of the National Capital Park Commission (established in a 1924 act to create a park and playground system for the national capital) to NCPPC.