The tower has now reached an official building height of 99.95 meters.

"A building height of about 160 to 170 feet," he said, "seemed to be the most that was practical to ask for."

The amendment would place a 495-foot cap on building heights in that neighborhood.

But whether community groups will support the city on expected new proposals to increase maximum building heights is open to question.

A recent rule change had increased permissible building heights immediately south of the site.

With energy prices rising, Springfield's 1908 building height limit now seems like an idea that was far ahead of its time.

High-rise projects cannot be built in Washington because of federal limitations on building height.

City planners said, however, that other design controls would limit building heights to 25 or 26 stories.

The limits on building height and size have not kept new buildings from going up, developers say.

The officials said guidelines on building height and other characteristics were still being developed for those two sites, which total 160,000 square feet.