<)050 
 
 Ws^v 
 
THE LAW of 
 the CITY PLAN 
 
 By FRANK BACKUS WILLIAMS 
 
 of the New York Bar 
 
 A careful and authoritative pamphlet on city 
 planning and how to accomplish it. The texts of 
 selected statutes and a bibliography are included. 
 
 %eVised 1922 
 
 National Municipal League 
 
 261 Broadway New York City 
 
 Technical Pamphlet Series No. 8 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 Advantages of City Plan — — _ — — -- 3 
 
 What Plan Should Contain _ — - ~ - 4 
 
 Partial Planning....- „._ — - - — — 5 
 
 Enforcement of Plan - — 5 
 
 How THE Courts Look at It - ~ 7 
 
 A New Method of Protecting the Plan..... - — - 9 
 
 An Act ..._ — - lo 
 
 The City Plan n ing Commission..... - — — 1 2 
 
 Membership of Commission _ — - - 14 
 
 The Powers of Commission.. - 15 
 
 General Advice --• IS 
 
 Advice a Prerequisite to Action by Other City Authorities _.. - _ 15 
 
 Advice which may be overruled by More Than a Majority Vote of City Council _._ _ 16 
 
 Absolute Control _ — _ 16 
 
 Method of Conferring Powers upon Commission - - 16 
 
 Art Commissions..- - — - - 18 
 
 Miscellaneous Powers _ - — 18 
 
 Metropolitan Planning 19 
 
 Interstate Metropolitan Planning — - — - - — 19 
 
 Regional Planning — _ _- _ ~ - 19 
 
 County Planning _ — - — 20 
 
 State Planning — — 20 
 
 Appej^dix a - — — - — 20 
 
 Table of Statutes — 20 
 
 I. Approval of Plats a Prerequisite to Record of Deeds _ _ 20 
 
 II. City Plan...._ 21 
 
 III. Plan Commissions 21 
 
 IV. Art Commissions _ - 22 
 
 V. State Planning _ 23 
 
 Appendix B - 23 
 
 Text of Selected Statutes— — -. 23 
 
 I. City and State Plans 23 
 
 1. Pennsylvania General Plan Act -.... 23 
 
 2. Pennsylvania State Highway Act 23 
 
 3. Pennsylvania State Planning Bureau 24 
 
 II. Municipal Commissions _ 24 
 
 1. Minnesota Planning Act _... _ _ _.. 24 
 
 2. New Jersey Plan and Art Commission Act...._ 25 
 
 3. New York Planning Act ,. _ „ 27 
 
 4. The New York City Art Commission Law _ 28 
 
 5. Ohio. Planning Provisions of Charter and Ordinances of Cleveland 29 
 
 6. Pennsylvania. Planning Act for Third Class Cities 29 
 
 III. Metropolitan Commissions _ __ 30 
 
 1. Massachusetts _ _ _ _ 30 
 
 2. Pennsylvania — „ 32 
 
 IV. County Commission _ _ _ 33 
 
 New Jersey _ _ „ 33 
 
 V. Capital City Commission - _ _._ 34 
 
 California _ : 34 
 
 VI. Interstate Planning Commission 34 
 
 The New York, New Jersey Compact for Planning New York Harbor , _ 34 
 
 Appendix C _ _ 37 
 
 Bibliography .., — 37 
 
 I. Planning Commissions ,...._ „ _ 37 
 
 II. Planning Particular Cities ^ 37 
 
 III. Metropolitan Planning _ 37 
 
 IV. General , 38 
 
 Copyright, 1920-1922 
 By Frank B. Williams 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN* 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF CITY PLAN 
 
 If intelligent and careful planning is 
 necessary to the attainment of economy 
 and efiiciency in construction of any 
 sort — and it will scarcely be asserted 
 that they are mere matters of luck — it 
 follows that the more complicated and 
 extensive that construction is, the more 
 essential it is that it should be planned. 
 A city is a huge agglomeration of social 
 and economic interests, under many in- 
 dependent heads, each seeking, through 
 the city government, its expression in 
 the physical life of the locality. The 
 aim of that city government should be 
 to harmonize these interests in the 
 unity of the locality, as the only meth- 
 od of giving the greatest expression to 
 each of these interests that is compat- 
 ible with the fullest expression of the 
 interests of all. Evidently here is an 
 enterprise, extensive and complicated 
 beyond any private undertaking, su- 
 premely in need of the guidance of a 
 plan. 
 
 Self evident truths are usually diffi- 
 cult to prove. Such truths, while often 
 ignored, are seldom denied, but may 
 with profit be illustrated. The advan- 
 tages of a city plan are so well stated 
 by Nelson P. Lewis, Esq., chief engi- 
 neer of the board of estimate and ap- 
 portionment of the City of New York, 
 and president of the National Confer- 
 ence on City Planning and the Ameri- 
 can City Planning Institute, in his 
 book entitled, "The Planning of the 
 Modern City"^ that we cannot do bet- 
 
 ^John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 191 6. 
 
 ter than quote him for that purpose. 
 In his chapter on "The Economic Val- 
 ue of a City Plan," Mr. Lewis says: 
 
 It may not be possible to express the advan- 
 tages of a good city or town plan in money. 
 Mr. John Burns, who may be called the father 
 of city planning legislation (in England) has 
 said that investment in a good plan, whether 
 it be for new parts of a city or for the correc- 
 tion of older parts, if regarded for a period of a 
 year, may appear expensive; if considered for a 
 period of five years it will be profitable; when 
 considered for a period of fifty years it will be 
 an investment which in subsequent days will 
 make the community regret that it did not 
 adopt it sooner. Mr. Burns further notes that 
 the neglected hamlets of a hundred years ago 
 are the squalid industrial towns and cities of 
 to-day, and he pleads that we so arrSnge the 
 physical life of a hamlet, village, town or city 
 that it can grow naturally and at each stage 
 avoid cost, nuisance, ugliness and squalor which 
 one sees wherever a town encroaches on the 
 country. 
 
 Instances may be cited (continues Mr. Lewis) 
 where towns have grown very rapidly and have 
 developed into great commercial and industrial 
 cities, although their plans violate almost every 
 principle laid down by city planning authorities. 
 Their growth, however, has been due to certain 
 natural advantages and to the general develop- 
 ment and prosperity of the districts tributary to 
 them, and they have grown in spite of the 
 handicap of a poor plan. When its defects and 
 the embarrassment to business due to them be- 
 come apparent, vast sums are often spent to 
 cure the defects which might have been dis- 
 covered and avoided had sufficient study been 
 given to the plan when it was first under con- 
 sideration, and the increased cost of doing busi- 
 ness for a period of years and the large sums 
 spent in the correction of the plan might have 
 been saved. The cost of reconstruction has run 
 far into the millions in nearly every large city 
 except Washington, which was so planned as 
 to provide for future growth. To give figures 
 for different towns is unnecessary, but the total 
 would be staggering. 
 
 Of the efforts to estimate with any- 
 thing like precision the economic value 
 of a city plan, Mr. Lewis says: 
 
 •Editor's Note — This pamphlet is a portion of a book entitled "The Law of City Planning and 
 Zoning" now being published by the Macmillan Co. in the Land Economics Series edited by Dr. 
 Richard T. Ely, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin. In this book Mr. Williams 
 discusses, for the first time, the entire subject of the legal bases and applications of city planning, 
 including, in addition to a fuller consideration of that phase of it here taken up, such other phases 
 as the scope and fundamentals of city planning law; acquiring the land; excess and zone condem- 
 nation and replotting; public utilities; the water front; streets; set backs; traffic regulations; build- 
 ing regulation and zoning; city planning finance; planning for the promotion of beauty; planning 
 administration in foreign countries and the United States. The book gives the references to the 
 important legal decisions on the subject in its various bearings and discusses them; and treats in 
 the same way the leading statutes and ordinances, giving the text of such of them as are most 
 important. 
 
 488310 
 
x\ATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 It is very difficult to capitalize the advan- 
 tages of any improvement or betterment which 
 is for the free use and benefit of the general 
 public. It may be possible to estimate the 
 pecuniary loss suffered by individuals, by groups 
 of individuals or by corporations through de- 
 lays and the increased expenses which are due 
 to a bad plan. . . Estimates could be pre- 
 sented which have doubtless been made with 
 care . . . but those who have made them 
 have been so intent upon making a case that 
 other contributing causes may have been lost 
 sight of. Even if due allowance is made for 
 such omissions, the preponderance of evidence 
 is so great that the general conclusion must be 
 admitted to be sound. It is quite obvious, for 
 instance, that if goods are to be moved_ from 
 one point to another, and it be necessary in do- 
 ing so to follow two sides of a triangle instead 
 of traveling along the hypothenuse, there is a 
 loss of time and an increase in cost. . . To 
 compute the delays which occur to traffic and 
 apply them to the hourly expense of a team 
 and driver and to argue that each teani would 
 have accomplished so much more during the 
 working day is to neglect the personal equation 
 of the driver and the improbability of his or 
 his team's disposition or capacity for a sus- 
 tained maximum effort during the entire work- 
 ing day. 
 
 When an attempt is made to estimate the 
 value to the city or the state of the more robust 
 and vigorous manhood and womanhood which 
 would result from better living and working 
 conditions, and the consequent saving in the 
 annual budget for charities and the mainten- 
 ance of order, we are again dealing with some- 
 thing which we know to be of enormous advan- 
 tage, but which can scarcely be expressed in 
 dollars and cents. 
 
 Such estimates, if not mathematical 
 demonstrations, are nevertheless an 
 aid in grasping the undeniable facts of 
 the case. With this object in view, Mr. 
 Lewis points out that: 
 
 If a million passengers are carried by surface 
 railways or omnibuses each day — and this num- 
 ber is greatly exceeded in several large cities — 
 and if the loss in time due to traffic congestion 
 through inadequate street capacity averages 
 ten minutes a day, the total loss of time would 
 be equivalent to 20,833 working days of eight 
 hours each. If the average pay of those who 
 were subjected to this delay is assumed to be 
 $3, and if but one half of this time is a loss to 
 their employers, the total loss in productive 
 work during a year of 300 working days would 
 be $9,375,000, to say nothing of the loss of 
 efficiency by reason of worry and wear and tear 
 in reaching their places of employment. This 
 would represent 5 per cent on $187,500,000. If 
 in this same city there were 60,000 horse and 
 motor trucks that are subject to an average 
 delay of half an hour a day, and if they repre- 
 
 sent a cost of $s for a day of eight hours, their 
 loss in time, all of which would fall upon the 
 employer or owner, would represent a value of 
 $5,625,000 during a year of 300 working days 
 which is equivalent to 5 per cent on another 
 sum of $112,500,000. It may be argued that 
 the expenditure of $300,000,000 would be justi- 
 fied if these losses could be eliminated. 
 
 While such arguments (continues Mr. Lewis) 
 are of little real value, they are frequently used; 
 but why try and prove by figures something 
 which is so evident that it connot be gainsaid? 
 If improvements to correct such defects and do 
 away with such delays were not worth while, 
 why are they so frequently undertaken.^ Why, 
 also, is it that the cities which have the courage 
 to undertake them are those which are conspicu- 
 ous for their rapid increase in population and 
 wealth.'' What induced them to undertake such 
 great and costly improvements.'' ... It 
 was because they found that it paid in the case 
 of other improvements and believed that it 
 would- pay again. Did Paris make a good in- 
 vestment when it expended hundreds of millions 
 of francs in beautifying the city and making it 
 a more attractive and beautiful place in which 
 to live and do business.^ Ask the Parisians and 
 see. Ask them also what prompts them to 
 consider further gieat undertakings of this kind, 
 unless it is due to the beneficial results of those 
 carried out under Haussmann. 
 
 In the same way, Mr. Lewis points 
 out, the vast improvements in German, 
 English, Scotch, South American, Ca- 
 nadian, and our own greatest and most 
 prosperous cities, have justified them- 
 selves with the people who have paid 
 for them; and he points his moral as 
 follows: 
 
 But why continue to put questions, the 
 answers to which are self evident.'' Yes, a good 
 city plan pays. The benefits . . . are quite 
 apparent and every town which has tried to 
 improve its plan seems satisfied that it has done 
 a wise thing and would not go back to its old 
 conditions. . . . How much better then if 
 this enormous cost of rearrangement could have 
 been avoided by a more careful study of the 
 plan when it was first worked out. That would 
 be constructive city planning, the advantages 
 of which cannot be computed in money but 
 which can readily be realized when we consider 
 the enormous expenses which have been incurred 
 by cities where this preliminary study was not 
 given and where the corrections had to be made 
 at a subsequent time. 
 
 WHAT PLAN SHOULD CONTAIN 
 
 Since the aim of city planning is the 
 attainment through unity of efficiency 
 and economy in city construction, there 
 must be in all the steps of that con- 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 struction a plan, in outline at least, of 
 the city as a whole, to which any part 
 of that planning, however small, shall 
 relate to be followed from time to time 
 by the planning of details, extensions, 
 and such modifications of existing fea- 
 tures as unforeseen changes or further 
 experience and study seem to dictate/ 
 
 The complexity of city life being 
 great, the factors in its physical devel- 
 opment are numerous. In order to se- 
 cure unity, the plan of the city should 
 include and harmonize as many as pos- 
 sible of these factors, public, semi-pub- 
 lic and private whether within the legal 
 limits of the city or outside them, if 
 near enough materially to aflfect the 
 city or be affected by it; such as the 
 street system, the water front and its 
 improvements, the parks and other 
 open spaces, the public and semi-pub- 
 lic buildings and their sites, the trans- 
 portation systems, local and long dis- 
 tance, with their freight and passenger 
 stations and terminals, the gas, water, 
 electric, and similar public utility sys- 
 tems, the subdivision of building land 
 and the height, area with relation to the 
 size of lot and use of structures on it. 
 
 The entire urban area, however, 
 need not be planned in detail. Thus 
 spaces for public buildings and parks 
 should be reserved, to be devoted to 
 more specific uses and laid out as re- 
 quired; in the newer parts of the city 
 only the principal streets need be fixed, 
 leaving the minor streets to be filled in 
 
 ^The legal map of a city consists of many 
 sheets, each showing one or more features of the 
 plan for a section of the city. For the provi- 
 sions with regard to the map of the city of New 
 York, see the Chapter (4th ed., 1918, by Mark 
 and Wm. Ash) ch. X, title 4 (sec. 438-449). 
 For similar provisions with regard to the map 
 of Philadelphia, see Purdon's Digest of Statute 
 Law of Pennsylvania, 13th ed., vol. Ill, p. 2942 
 ff. and supplement, 1905-15, p. 6744. The 
 Pennsylvania law for second class cities is much 
 the same: ib., vol. Ill, p. 3088, sec. 569. For 
 similar provisions for Baltimore, see sec. 84-86 
 of "A code of Public Local Laws of Maryland," 
 art. 4, title "Citry of Baltimore," subtitle 
 "Charter." 
 
 from time to time as the necessity for 
 them arises; and beyond the present 
 city, the city of the future may be left 
 unplanned except for the laying out of 
 the main thoroughfares connecting the 
 cit}' with the cities and villages outside,, 
 and, perhaps, the imposition of pro- 
 visional building and zoning regula- 
 tions for the areas between them. 
 
 PARTIAL PLANNING 
 
 Very few cities in this country have 
 comprehensive city plans, although in 
 many of them certain features have 
 been thought out and executed with 
 care and with good results. This par- 
 tial method of planning is open to 
 grave criticism. New York, for in- 
 stance, built an extensive system of 
 subway and elevated transportation to 
 relieve congestion in the older parts of 
 the city which, for lack of zoning re- 
 strictions, has been instrumental in 
 adding new congested areas to the old 
 ones. Nevertheless partial planning is 
 by no means necessarily a mistake. 
 The American public is not educated 
 to the need of a comprehensive plan, 
 but is sometimes alive to the advan- 
 tages of some one feature of such a 
 plan as, for instance, transportation or 
 zoning; and the planner unable to do 
 what he would, must do what he can. 
 In such cases, however, the need of the 
 general plan should always be kept in 
 mind and as an incident of the smaller 
 work, as much of the larger done as is 
 feasible. This is in fact the practice of 
 wise city planners. For instance all 
 good zoning is based on preliminary 
 surveys, which are partial planning 
 studies. 
 
 ENFORCEMENT OF PLAN 
 
 The city plan, in order that the many 
 features included in it may conform to 
 it in their development, must be en- 
 forced. These features are widely dif- 
 ferent in their nature and character- 
 istics, and the measures to be taken to 
 
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 secure this conformity must vary ac- 
 cordingly. The pubHc features, such 
 as highways and public open spaces, 
 are constructed b}' the city, or, if built 
 by private persons, become public onh' 
 by acceptance by the city; and the 
 city, by controlling its own acts, can 
 see to it that to this extent these fea- 
 tures are in accord with its plan. The 
 semi-public features, such as the pri- 
 vately owned utilities, are planned and 
 constructed by private interests; but 
 their location, in so far as it is on, over 
 or under city property, is usually sub- 
 ject to the cit\''s consent, which may be 
 made dependent upon conformity to 
 the city plan. The state also has the 
 right to grant or refuse a charter to a 
 utility, and to amend its charter; and 
 also to prescribe, within certain limits, 
 the character of service and the rates 
 to be charged for it. A portion of this 
 power the state usually delegates to the 
 city; and could delegate more. All 
 these powers could be used to obtain 
 conformity to the city plan. The im- 
 provements of private land for private 
 use, are made by the private owners of 
 this land. To some extent, the plan of 
 these improvements may be guided by 
 the planning of the city's public fea- 
 tures; but the city can control their 
 construction only in so far as our con- 
 stitutions, state and national, permit by 
 virtue of what is known as the ''police 
 power." A certain amount of public 
 control over private land and the uses 
 to which it may be put is as essential 
 to the planning of both the public and 
 the private features of the city. The 
 planning of the city's private features 
 is accomplished for the most part by 
 the regulation of the height, area and 
 use of buildings; and these regulations 
 are to be regarded as a part of the city 
 plan. The subject of such regulation 
 is discussed in a supplement to this 
 magazine on "Zoning" (i), and will be 
 ^By Edward M. Bassett, Esq., issued with 
 the May (1920) number of the National 
 Municipal RE\nEw. Rev'ised April, 1922. 
 
 referred to only incidentally here. 
 
 A measure of public control over 
 land which is, and is to remain, in pri- 
 vate ownership and use is essential to 
 the carrying out of the public features 
 of the city plan. If feasible, the city 
 could ensure the possibility of the con- 
 struction of its public features as 
 planned by purchasing the land needed 
 for them; but prudent planning must 
 always anticipate present needs for 
 many years. Cities, for lack of nec- 
 essary funds, seem never able to pur- 
 chase more land than is required for 
 the immediate future, and to attempt 
 to assess the cost of improvements on 
 land so long before these improvements 
 are needed, would be most unjust. 
 Unless, therefore, the city can by some 
 method make adherence to the public 
 features of the plan binding upon the 
 owners of the land affected by it, this 
 land is sure to be used in ways which 
 will make it very expensive and there- 
 fore practically impossible, when the 
 time comes, to construct these features 
 as they were originally planned. This, 
 the history of many American cities 
 only too clearly proves. - 
 
 In foreign countries where city plan- 
 ning has been most successful, adher- 
 ence by the land owners to a plan con- 
 taining a few of the main features of 
 that the land owner shall not improve 
 his land in any way which will inter- 
 fere with the carrying out of that plan; 
 or that, when the public subsequently 
 the future city^ is secured by providing 
 
 ^See the report of Dr. Robert H. Whitten, at 
 that time secretary of the Committee on the 
 City Plan of the Board of Estimate of New 
 York City, to that committee, dated November 
 20, 191 7, on the "Erection of Buildings within 
 the Lines of Mapped Streets." 
 
 ^The streets and, in some cases, a few other 
 features. There are modifications in foreign 
 laws whose purpose it is to avoid hardship to 
 land owners in special cases; but since in the 
 opinion of the writer they do not offer a solu- 
 tion of similar problems in this country, they 
 have been omitted from the statement of the 
 foreign rule. It_ should be noted, however, that 
 even abroad, mitigations of the law have been 
 found to be necessary. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 takes the land, he shall receive no pay 
 for any improvement infringing upon 
 the plan made subsequent to its adop- 
 tion.- This system has been in oper- 
 ation for many years, not only in Ro- 
 man Law countries, but in England 
 and Canada, whose laws and traditions 
 are so like our own; and has not been 
 found to be unjust to the land owner. 
 The street is essential to the land own- 
 er in the profitable use of his land. 
 The only right of which the plan de- 
 prives him is the right to build in the 
 bed of mapped streets between the 
 time when the plan is adopted and the 
 time when it is carried out. In the vast 
 majority of cases this right is worthless 
 both because if the plan is a good one 
 it indicates where the street and the 
 building should be for the best interests 
 of the land owner and because if the 
 plan is carried out seasonably the street 
 will be built before there is an economic 
 demand for the building. 
 
 HOW THE COURTS LOOK AT IT 
 
 The need of protecting planned 
 streets from the encroachment of land 
 owners has always been appreciated in 
 this country, and, at various times 
 many of our states have passed laws 
 for that purpose. Everywhere in the 
 L'nited States, however, except in 
 Pennsylvania, these laws^ have been 
 held to be a taking from the land own- 
 er of a right of use in his land and, 
 therefore, to be contrary to the pro- 
 vision of our constitutions that no man 
 shall be deprived of property for a 
 public use without just compensation.^ 
 
 ^Temporary structures, etc.. are therefore 
 universally permitted. 
 
 ^For a reference to these laws, see Appendix 
 A, Tables of Statutes; for the text of the most 
 important of them, see Appendix B, Text of 
 .Selected Statute. 
 
 ^See report just cited (Erection of Buildings 
 within the Lines of Mapped Streets, Dr. Robert 
 H. Whitten. November 20, 1917). The law 
 is settled to the effect as stated in the text 
 evervw'here in the United States where the 
 question has arisen, except in Pennsylvania. 
 The cases are given in Lewis, Eminent Domain, 
 
 The increased interest in city planning 
 within recent years in this country has 
 revived and strengthened the demand 
 for some method of establishing the 
 street plan on a secure basis, as is done 
 abroad; and many suggestions have 
 been made for the accomplishment of 
 this result in a constitutional manner. 
 It has been proposed that the city, 
 when the plan is adopted, purchase or 
 condemn an easement or option in the 
 land, to acquire it, when needed, at its 
 unimproved value; but the expense of 
 the purchase of this right, with the 
 proceedings to acquire it, added to the 
 expense of taking the land, later on, 
 would unquestionably make the land 
 cost the city too much, and laws au- 
 thorizing cities to adopt such a course 
 would remain a dead letter.- It has 
 been suggested that the land owner, in- 
 "If the improvements should be made in 
 bad faith, with intent to throw an undue 
 burden on the public, another element would 
 enter into the consideration of the question 
 which might, perhaps, produce a different 
 result;" but see Matter of City of New York 
 (Briggs Avenue), 118 Appellate Division Re- 
 ports (N. Y.) 222 (1907); and notes on 
 same, 36 L. R. A. (N. S.) 273, and 17 An- 
 notated Cases 1034. 
 
 Lewis, in his book on Eminent Domain, 
 Callaghan and Co., Chicago, 3d ed., 1909, 
 Sec. 226, Note 23, says, in explanation of the 
 Pennsylvania decisions: 
 
 "Such an Act was held valid in New York 
 on the ground that it was passed before there 
 was any limitation in the Constitution of 
 that State upon the power of eminent domain, 
 and compensation for improvements placed 
 within the lines of a proposed street was 
 denied, although the street was not actually 
 laid out until seventeen years after the map 
 was made. Matter of Furman Street. 17 
 Wend. 649. This Case was followed in Penn- 
 sylvania without noticing the ground on 
 which it rested. North Street, 70 Pa. St. 
 125." See in this connection People ex rel 
 N. Y. C. R. R. Co. V. Priest, 206 N. Y. 274 
 at 288 (1912). 
 
 3d ed. sec. 226; Nichols. Eminent Domain, sec. 
 loi (at p. 282); See also Windsor v. Whitney, 
 95 Conn. 357 (1920), considered below. 
 
 Of interest in this connection is the dictum 
 in State v. Carragan. Collector, 36 New Jersey 
 Law Reports 52 (1872) that 
 
 -There is such a law in Connecticut for the 
 planning of towns; Revised Stats., 1918, Sec. 
 391-396. 
 
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 tending to improve land in the bed of 
 mapped streets, should be required to 
 give the city six months' notice, within 
 which to acquire the land; but this in- 
 stead of protecting the city would fur- 
 nish the land owner altogether too easy 
 a method of forcing the city to buy his 
 land at his pleasure, instead of at the 
 pleasure of the city/ 
 
 In a number of states laws exist 
 which provide that the owner of land, 
 wishing to lay out streets with lots 
 abutting on them for sale, shall sub- 
 mit his subdivision to the city for ap- 
 proval before the plan shall be record- 
 ed; and also forbid utilities in streets 
 until such approval is obtained.^ The 
 private street, laid out by the land 
 owner, all too often for his immediate 
 profit, with no regard for the interests 
 of the city as a whole, or those of the 
 people who are to live on the tract in 
 question, while by no means the only 
 offender against the city plan, is prob- 
 ably the commonest one; and when the 
 lots on such a street are sold to inno- 
 cent purchasers and houses built on 
 them, the city is practically forced to 
 accept the street as a part of its public 
 system, giving up its own plan in that 
 locality; the only alternative seeming 
 to be to allow the street to remain in 
 private control,^ thus continuing one 
 evil without lessening the others. The 
 provision for approval as a prerequisite 
 to record is effective; it is impossible 
 in this country to sell land without a 
 record title. The provision is also con- 
 
 ^See the report on the "Erection of Buildings 
 within the Lines of Mapped Streets" already 
 referred to; and for a more radical suggestion, 
 see "A Survey of the Legal Status of a Specific 
 City in refation to City Planning" by Edward 
 M. Bassett, in the proceedings of the Fifth Con- 
 ference on City Planning (Chicago, 191 3) p. 
 46 at 48. 
 
 ^For precedents see pp. 
 
 ^Unquestionably the city has the legal right 
 to condem the land for its own system of streets 
 regardless of the existing private streets, and 
 the buildings abutting on them; but it would be 
 seldom indeed that any city would exercise 
 such a ri<'ht. 
 
 stitutional;^ record being not a righi 
 but a privilege which the law, for rea- 
 sons of public policy, may withhold.^ 
 Evidently such a provision can be used 
 to the best advantage only in connec- 
 tion with an accepted city plan, as 
 otherwise the planning of any given 
 plot would not be related to the plan 
 of other tracts of land and of the city 
 as a whole. 
 
 Useful as are the laws providing for 
 the approval of the subdivisions of 
 owners desiring to sell land, as a pre- 
 requisite to record of the deeds, they 
 do not prevent the owner who does not 
 wish to sell from improving his land 
 in such ways as often practically to 
 force changes in important features of 
 the plan, and in some cases their entire 
 abandonment; as, for instance, by en- 
 croaching upon a mapped street, or 
 building a factory or a row of costly 
 houses entirely across it.^ In order that 
 the plan may be adequately guarded, 
 its main features must be protected by 
 the police power of the state. It has 
 therefore "been suggested that an 
 amendment to our state constitutions 
 be urged giving cities the right to adopt 
 plans binding land owners, as in Penn- 
 sylvania. At best, such amendments 
 could be passed only after a long strug- 
 gle; and it is to be feared that they 
 would be held by the Supreme Court 
 of the LInited States (which has not 
 as yet passed on the question) to be 
 contrary to the federal constitution. 
 It is true that with proper city planning 
 a good plan will be made for undevel- 
 oped territory and will be carried out 
 seasonably; but in this country the 
 probability of good administration is 
 not regarded as a sufficient safeguard 
 
 ^Bauman v. Ross, 167 U. S. 548 (1897). 
 
 -See cases cited in 13 Cyclopedia of Law and 
 Procedure, p. 597, note 599; also State v. 
 Register of Deeds, 26 Minn. 521 (1880); Van 
 Husan v. Heames, 96 Mich. 504; Contra State 
 V. Moore, 7 Wash. 173 (1893). 
 
 ■''See the "Report on the Erection of Buildr 
 ines within the Lines of Mapped Streets" jus{ 
 referred to. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 against injustice in exceptional cases, 
 as it is abroad. And there are many 
 cases, especially in portions of the city 
 already more or less built up, where in- 
 justice might be done. Take for in- 
 stance a lot, all or aij undue portion of 
 which lies in the bed of a future street. 
 The owner has nothing to gain by the 
 street; and if, as often happens, its con- 
 struction is delayed beyond the time 
 when the lot might with profit be built 
 up, the owner for many years must pay 
 taxes on the lot, but cannot get any 
 return on it. Again, suppose a deep 
 lot on an existing street with a factory 
 on the front portion of the lot and a 
 proposed street planned to occupy its 
 rear portion. The entire lot would hold 
 with advantage perhaps two additional 
 factory buildings. If the owner wishes 
 to construct one such building, he can 
 put it in the middle of the lot, and 
 there is no loss to him in depriving him 
 of the use of the bed of the mapped 
 street; but if, in course of time, he 
 needs a third building, the only land 
 for it is the land devoted to the future 
 street; and it is unjust to deprive him 
 of the only use he can make of that 
 land for many years. It is no answer 
 to his claim of damage that when the 
 rear street is built his land will be ben- 
 efited, for under proper laws he must 
 pay for that benefit when it comes. 
 And the city may change its mind and 
 never build the street; in spite of the 
 fact that for years It has kept It on the 
 map. 
 
 A NEW METHOD OF PROTECTING THE 
 PLAN 
 
 A method by the employment of the 
 Police Power of making a city plan of 
 streets and perhaps a few other fea- 
 tures binding upon property owners 
 which. It is submitted, would be just to 
 them and valid under our constitutions, 
 was proposed by the writer at the last 
 session of the National Conference on 
 Citv Planning. In the discussion 
 
 which followed, Edward J\I. Bassett, 
 Esq., suggested the addition of a 
 board of appeals, and the proposal is 
 here given, with this most important 
 change. In the hope that It may lead 
 to a solution of this difficult problem. 
 
 It is .suggested that municipalities 
 shall be authorized by state law to 
 adopt plans binding upon them until 
 amended in due form. If a land owner 
 desires to locate an improvement In the 
 bed of a mapped street or within 
 mapped building lines (or perhaps on 
 land destined, by the plan, for a small 
 park or playground, or the site of a 
 public building) he shall apply, in the 
 building permit, for permission to lo- 
 cate an Improvement contrary to the 
 provisions of the city plan; and when, 
 ultimately, the land Is condemned he 
 shall recover no damages for the Im- 
 provement if it is so located without 
 permission. The city, through Its build- 
 ing department or other proper author- 
 ity, shall grant this permission only 
 when Its refusal will unavoidabh' do 
 the land owner substantial economic 
 Injury and In this connection shall take 
 into consideration the possible uses of 
 other land in the neighborhood belong- 
 ing to the same owner and the possi- 
 bility, In whole or In part, of changing 
 the Improvement or its location. 
 
 From the decision of the building 
 department refusing permission- to lo- 
 cate contrary to the city plan, there 
 shall be an appeal to a board of ap- 
 peals, who shall have the power to 
 grant the permission with conditions 
 calculated to lessen or altogether to 
 avoid the expense to the city due to im- 
 provements when, later, the city con- 
 demns the land: no appeal to the 
 courts being allowed until after resort 
 to the board of appeals. This provi- 
 sion would both mitigate most If not 
 all the hardship which the law might 
 otherwise cause the land owner In spe- 
 cial cases and make the law less vul- 
 
10 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 nerable before the courts/ In both 
 
 these respects a board of appeals would 
 
 in this connection render a service 
 
 'A draft of a statute along the lines sug- 
 gested in the text was drawn up by Mr. Bas- 
 sett, and is given below. For the sake of 
 definiteness it was made as an amendment to 
 the New York Charter. It should, be noted 
 that this charter provides that in the construc- 
 tion of all the features legally a part of the city 
 map the city shall follow that map, except as 
 amended in due form. 
 
 The suggested act is as follows: — 
 AN ACT 
 
 To amend the Greater New York charter in 
 relation to the official map and plan, to prevent 
 buildings in streets shown on such map and 
 plan, and to empower the board of appeals to 
 grant building permits in certain cases. 
 
 The People of the State of New York, repre- 
 sented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as 
 follows: 
 
 Section i. Chapter VI of the Greater New 
 York charter is hereby amended by adding 
 after section 442 a new section to be known as 
 section 442a, as follows: 
 
 § 442a. Such map and plan is established 
 to conserve and promote the public health, 
 safety and general welfare. Accordingly for 
 the purpose of preserving the integrity of such 
 map and plan no permit shall hereafter be 
 issued for any building in any street laid out 
 in such map and plan, provided however that, 
 if the land within such mapped street is not 
 yielding a fair return to the owner, the board 
 of appeals shall have power in a specific case to 
 grant a permit for a building or buildings which 
 will as little as possible increase the cost of 
 opening such street or tend to cause a change of 
 such map, and such board may impose reason- 
 able requirements as a condition of granting 
 such permit, which requirements shall inure to 
 the benefit of the city. Before taking any 
 action authorized in this section the board of 
 appeals shall give public notice and hearing. 
 
 Section 2. Section 71 8d of chapter XIV-A 
 of the Greater New York charter is hereby 
 amended so that it will read as follows: 
 
 Board of Appeals. § 71 8d. The appointed 
 members of the board of standards and appeals 
 and the chief of the uniformed force of the fire 
 department, exclusive of the other members, 
 shall hear and decide appeals from and review 
 any rule, regulation, amendment or repeal 
 thereof, order, requirement, decision or deter- 
 mination of a superintendent of buildings made 
 under the authority of title two of chapter 
 nine of this act or of any ordinance or of the 
 fire commissioner under the authority of title 
 three of chapter fifteen of this act or of any 
 ordinance, or of the labor law. They shall also 
 hear and decide all matters referred to them or 
 upon which they are required to pass under any 
 resolution of the board of estimate and appor- 
 
 analogous to that which it has so ad- 
 mirably performed under zoning laws.^ 
 
 tionment adopted pursuant to sections two 
 hundred and forty-two-a and two hundred and 
 forty-two-b of this chapter. They shall alio 
 hear and decide applications for permits for 
 buildings in streets laid out in the official map 
 and plan of the city as provided in section 442-a 
 of chapter VI hereof. No member of the board 
 shall pass upon any question in which he or 
 any corporation in which he is a stockholder or 
 security holder is Interested. 
 
 Hearings on appeals shall be before at least 
 five members of the board of appeals, and the 
 concurring vote of five members of the board 
 of appeals shall be necessary to a decision. 
 
 The words board of appeals when used in this 
 chapter refer to the said appointed members of 
 the board of standards and appeals and the 
 chief of the uniformed force of the fire depart- 
 ment, when acting under the powers conferred 
 by this section. 
 
 .NOTE — New matter in section 71 8d is in 
 italics. 
 
 -In support of legislation for the establish- 
 ment and protection of the city plan under the 
 police power the late case of Windsor v. Whit- 
 ney (95 Conn. 357; 1920) may be cited. In 
 1917 the State of Connecticut passed an act 
 (Special Laws. 1917, No. 133; p. 837) for the 
 planning of outlying parts of the town of Wind- 
 sor in the outskirts of the City of Hartford. 
 The act provides for the creation of a planning 
 commission with power to establish a street and 
 building line plan for this territory; gives the 
 land owner an appeal to the courts if he con- 
 siders the plan for his land unreasonable, and 
 forbids land development, the sale of lots and 
 the erection of buildings not in conformity with 
 the officially adopted or sanctioned plan. No 
 compensation for the establishment of the plan 
 is provided for. 
 
 In his brief in support of this act the at- 
 torney for the town of Windsor says: 
 
 "We anticipate that the defendants will 
 claim that a man has a right to build and use 
 private ways on his own land, that that is all 
 that the present scheme amounts to, and that 
 the State cannot interfere with this right with- 
 out compensation. Without denying the right 
 of a land owner to maintain private ways on his 
 own land which do not affect other property, 
 directly or indirectly, we shall show that this 
 is not the situation involved in the present case. 
 
 ■"Section 11 of this act provides that the 
 provisions of the act shall not apply to the 
 \\ indsor Fire District, in other words, to the 
 village of Windsor. The growth of the City of 
 Hartford toward the North is extending into 
 the southerly part of the Town of Windsor and 
 land developiuent schemes like the one engineered 
 by these defendants are now in progress and 
 probably will be more numerous in the immed- 
 iate future. The present act is intended to 
 properly provide for the conditions which pre- 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 II 
 
 Illustrations of the service which a 
 board of appeals could render in the 
 administration of this provision of the 
 planning law are numerous and va- 
 ried; and of these illustrations I will 
 cite three. 
 
 If a land owner desires to erect a 
 brick structure in the bed of a mapped 
 street, the board of appeals could offer 
 to authorize a wooden building, point- 
 ing out that such a building could be 
 amortized in a given number of years, 
 with a fair return to the land owner on 
 
 the value of his land. No court would 
 hold that (in the absence of other com- 
 plications) the land owner was rightly 
 aggrieved to whom such an offer was 
 made, even if he could obtain a larger 
 amount by violating the city plan, con- 
 trary to the general interest; for if the 
 return is a fair one he is not unjustly 
 deprived of his property. 
 
 If a building were proposed, a part 
 of which only would project into the 
 future street, the board of appeals 
 could offer to consent to a building of 
 
 vail in the outskirts of a city. 
 
 "The complaint states that the defendants 
 are endeavoring to sell a large number of 
 building lots. The two parallel streets are 800 
 feet long. If the building lots are 50 feet wide, 
 the usual width, there will be 16 building lots 
 on each side of each of these streets, a total 
 of 64. In addition there will be building lots 
 on the cross street. It is obvious that in the 
 natural course of events there will be a large 
 number of houses erected on this tract within a 
 few years and that a considerable number of 
 people will live in them. This is not only prob- 
 able but is the result which the defendants 
 contemplate and are trying to bring about. It 
 is respectfully submitted that this enterprise 
 is one in which the State of Connecticut has 
 a legitimate interest. 
 
 "If within the next few years this tract con- 
 tains numerous dwellings and a considerable 
 population, it will become the duty of the State 
 of Connecticut and its agent, the Town of 
 ^\'indsor. to provide fire protection and police 
 protection. In the interest of safety and mor- 
 ality lights must be provided. In the interest 
 of health a sewer must be installed. Water 
 must be furnished. The children must be pro- 
 vided with school facilities. In caring for all 
 these essentials the State must use streets. We 
 all know from experience that the normal result 
 of such an enterprise is that the town sooner or 
 later takes over such streets as public highways. 
 If it does, grading, curbing, drainage, etc., be- 
 comes necessary and expensive. But whether 
 these streets become public highways or not, 
 the above public duties and many others will 
 be eventually thrown on the Town of Windsor 
 if the project of the defendants becomes a suc- 
 cess. 
 
 "We think further that the State and its agent, 
 the town, are fairly entitled to take into con- 
 sideration the relation of the tract in question 
 to the general lay-out of highways in the town, 
 both tho.se already existing and such highways 
 as the future is likely to call for in the neigh- 
 borhood. It is obvious that if one land owner 
 lays out streets according to his notions and 
 the adjoining owner adopts an entirely different 
 scheme, when the town eventually takes both 
 
 groups of streets, the performance of its public 
 functions will be greatly complicated. Wide, 
 straight streets are not merely beautiful — they 
 are the best streets for practical purposes. It 
 is certainly not unreasonable that the town 
 should have some control over the matter in 
 advance. 
 
 '"It may be contended that the time for the 
 town to take a hand in the matter is when the 
 necessity for actual public care arises. But we 
 respectfully maintain that the state is fairly 
 entitled to look forward to probable conditions 
 contemplated by the parties in interest with 
 proper foresight for its future duties and that 
 this is supported by common sense and by the 
 authorities which we have cited above. It is 
 ridiculous to say that the state must stand by 
 and watch the defendants and their vendees 
 build up a considerable community and then 
 step in and straighten out the street problems 
 at greatly increased expense to both the State 
 and the parties then concerned. The prudent 
 and sensible thing for the State to do is to have 
 its say now. This is what the present act seeks 
 to accomplish. It is clear from the above cita- 
 tions that the police power of the State would 
 enable it to handle the situation when the com- 
 munity has once come into existence and we 
 think it equally clear that the police power of 
 the State is broad enough to enable it to anti- 
 cipate the future conditions indicated by the 
 situation." 
 
 In sustaining the .'\ct, the Court says: — 
 "Unless this regulation can be supported as 
 a legitimate exercise of the police power, the 
 -Act must fall. A town commission plan such 
 as this .Act contemplates is distinctly for the 
 public welfare. Its theory is to lay out streets 
 when and where the public need them, and of 
 adequate width to meet the requirements of the 
 community and of transportation. In such a 
 plan each street will be properly related to 
 every other street. Building lines will be 
 established where the demands of the public 
 require. Adequate space for light and air will 
 be given. Such a plan is wise provision for the 
 future. It betters the health and safety of the 
 community; it betters the transportation facili- 
 ties: and it adds to the appearance and whole- 
 
12 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMExNT 
 
 which the projecting portion was only 
 one story high; backing up the pro- 
 posal by plans showing the suitability 
 and yield of such a building in such a 
 location. 
 
 If the city intended to build the 
 street within, perhaps, five years, the 
 board could be authorized, with the 
 consent of some proper city authority, 
 to agree with the land owner that the 
 city would build it within that time. 
 This agreement would usually make it 
 certain that the location of the building 
 with relation to the future street, so 
 soon to be built, was the most profit- 
 able one, especially if the building was 
 to be an expensive one. 
 
 A provision, under the police power, 
 making a few of the essential features 
 of the city plan binding upon the land 
 planned is essential to the success of 
 city planning in this country. The pro- 
 vision here suggested would seem to 
 accomplish everything which is secured 
 by the provisions for the same purpose 
 of foreign laws, by methods already 
 familiar in this country, and therefore 
 more likely to win the approval not on- 
 ly of city planners, but of our courts. 
 
 THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION 
 
 The prevailing form of planning ex- 
 ecutive in this country, both for cities 
 and for smaller communities,^ is the 
 commission. The first permanent of- 
 ficial planning commission was ap- 
 pointed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 
 1907- and there are now hundreds of 
 such commissions in the United States. 
 Prior to 1907 city planning was wholly 
 a voluntary movement of private citi- 
 zens, inaugurated by a chamber of 
 commerce or other society or by a com- 
 mittee formed for the purpose and sup- 
 ported entirely by private funds. By 
 such experiments the feasibility and 
 usefulness of planning was proved suffi- 
 ciently to induce the public authorities 
 to adopt it. Thus to this citizen move- 
 ment we owe official city planning in 
 this country; and any community 
 which cannot obtain an official plan- 
 ning commission should form an un- 
 official one, as a first step to that end. 
 
 ^And for Counties in the few cases in which 
 they have attempted to plan; See Appendix A, 
 Table of Statutes. 
 
 -Special Laws, Conn. 1907, no. 61, amended; 
 ib. 1909, no. 34, sec. 6, and no. 74. 
 
 someness of the place, and as a consequence it 
 reacts upon the morals and spiritual power of 
 the people who live under such surroundings. 
 The demands of a large city may excuse conges- 
 tion but in a small city or a country town there 
 is no excuse for such living conditions. But un- 
 less some authority controls and regulates the 
 land development, we may look for too narrow 
 streets, too few or no building lines, and build- 
 ings erected, unstable in character, unsuitable 
 in material, and inappropriate in construction. 
 Our large communities all have their examples 
 of the unregulated layout of streets and build- 
 ing lines and buildings; of instances of land de- 
 velopment so as to yield the last penny to its 
 promoters regardless of the public welfare; of 
 community eyesores; or streets made over, 
 whole sections changed, because at the begin- 
 ning no reasonable provision was made for the 
 safety, health or welfare of the community. 
 
 "Such an Act as this is conceived in public 
 wisdom and serves great public ends. Courts 
 will be reluctant to destroy it and with it its 
 beneficent purposes." 95 Conn. 362-s. 
 
 It should be noted that there is a material 
 
 difference between the Connecticut statute and 
 the statutes for the establishment of city plans 
 sustained by the courts of Pennsylvania and 
 held invalid in all the other states in which the 
 question has been raised. The Connecticut 
 statute, unlike the others, provides for a modi- 
 fication of the plan to suit special circumstances 
 and remove special hardships, granting the land 
 owner feeling himself aggrieved an appeal to the 
 regular courts for the purpose; and it is for 
 this reason that the Connecticut judges, in the 
 case under examination, in which the owner did 
 not avail himself of this method of relief, is 
 justified in assuming that "the regulations as to 
 the lay out of the streets and building lines, 
 and as to the issuance of building permits, are 
 reasonable for that section and location." It 
 may well be that, under Connecticut law and 
 procedure, provisions for modification of the 
 plan by appeal to the regular courts, especially 
 in administering an act which applies only to 
 outlying territory, would work , well; whereas 
 under acts to be made applicable also to city 
 land, provisions for a board of appeal, more or 
 less as suggested in the draft act given above, 
 would be more appropriate. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 13 
 
 In the beginning of the city planning 
 movement planning commissions were 
 often created for the purpose of pre- 
 paring a city plan, and when this was 
 done, ceased to exist; but the mistake 
 of such a policy is now generally re- 
 alized, and almost invariably perma- 
 nent commissions are now appointed. 
 The city is not a static thing to be made 
 complete, according to model once for 
 all, but a growing and changing or- 
 ganism. Not only must the plan be 
 prepared but it must be enforced on 
 forgetful and sometimes unwilling city 
 officials and property owners, and add- 
 ed to or modified as the growth and 
 change of the city demands. All this 
 requires the watchfulness and study of 
 a planning executive, — a duty which 
 the commission that prepared the plan, 
 if a proper one, is best fitted to per- 
 form. The planning commission should, 
 therefore, from the start be a perma- 
 nent one. 
 
 Official commissions can come into 
 existence only by virtue of law; but 
 it does not follow that in all cases an 
 express law must be passed authorizing 
 such a commission or it will be im- 
 possible to obtain one. If the com- 
 mission is to have simply advisory 
 power, — and, as we shall see, such a 
 commission is by no means powerless, 
 — the city can, in all probability, create 
 it under its general powers; and in 
 many cities planning commissions cre- 
 ated by the legislative body of the city, 
 or planning committees of that body 
 appointed by it, to whom it refers plan- 
 ning matters which come before it, ex- 
 
 In a number of states some or all 
 cities or other local governments are 
 given by law or constitutional enact- 
 ment the "home rule" right to adopt 
 or amend their own charters and may, 
 therefore, include in them a provision 
 for a city planning commission, with 
 more than advisory power, if that is 
 their desire; the extent of that power 
 
 ist, and have done good work without 
 any express provision of law authoriz- 
 ing them.' 
 
 depending upon the laws and constitu- 
 tion of the particular state.' As a rule 
 such cities may give planning commis- 
 sions so created all the planning power 
 which the city itself possesses. Cities 
 under a commission form of govern- 
 ment do not consider it a departure 
 from principle to create planning com- 
 missions. 
 
 In several states planning commis- 
 sions, for all or certain classes of cities 
 or individual cities or cities and smaller 
 communities are provided for by ex- 
 press statute.^ Under these statutes 
 the local authorities are in some cases 
 directed to create commissions;'' but 
 most of these statutes are permissive, 
 these authorities being given the power 
 to exercise or not as they see fit. The 
 advantage of permissive statutes is 
 that they compel the advocates of 
 planning to educate the community to 
 its use before the attempt to plan is 
 made. 
 
 There are various methods of ap- 
 pointing or designating the members of 
 planning commissions. When the com- 
 mission comes into existence under the 
 city's general powers, if created by the 
 mayor, its members are appointed by 
 him; or if created by the council, its 
 members are appointed by it or it au- 
 thorizes the mayor, with or without its 
 concurrence, to appoint them; for while 
 
 'Examples of planning bodies so created are 
 the Commission for Bridgeport, Connecticut, 
 authorized by the Common Council August 18, 
 191 3; that for Providence, Rhode Island, au- 
 thorized by ordinance, ch. 599. No. 407. ap- 
 proved December 2, 191 3; and the committee 
 of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment 
 of New York City, authorized by it January, 
 1914. 
 
 ^See on this subject generally ''The Law and 
 Practice of Home Rule," by Howard Lee Mc- 
 Bain, Columbia University Press, New York, 
 1916. 
 
 ■''See Appendix A, Tables of Statutes. 
 
 *As, for instance, in Massachusetts: the cita- 
 tion is i.'i\-en in the table just referred to. 
 
14 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 there is no legal reason why there 
 should not be more than one such plan- 
 ning commission in existence in the 
 same city at the same time, it is not 
 probable that this will occur. 
 
 When commissions are formed by 
 virtue of a statute or a charter provi- 
 sion, the statute or charter provides 
 for a method of their appointment. 
 In some cases the city council, author- 
 ized to create a commission if it sees 
 fit, is also authorized to decide how its 
 members shall be named; but usually 
 the law directs that, in so far as the 
 members are not designated by law, 
 they shall be appointed by the mayor 
 or by the mayor and council. Ap- 
 pointment solely b}' the mayor would 
 seem to be the better method. The 
 principle of centralizing both . power 
 and responsibility in government is 
 now universally regarded as the correct 
 one, especially in the appointment of 
 officers for the performance of duties 
 with regard to which the general public 
 has little knowledge and interest. This 
 is a part of the well known ''short bal- 
 lot" principle. 
 
 MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION 
 
 The number of. members of the com- 
 mission is as a rule between five and 
 fifteen, the usual number being seven 
 or nine. In special cases, as in metro- 
 politan planning, where several local 
 governments are involved, there -is 
 much to be said for a large commis- 
 sion, although even in that case it 
 should be avoided if politically possi- 
 ble; and often for special work such as 
 for instance the preparation of zoning 
 regulations and maps, a representation 
 of the various interests involved larger 
 than that which the usual planning 
 commission affords, seems desirable; 
 but a sub-committee may be formed to 
 aid in that work, without enlarging the 
 permanent commission. That com- 
 mission in city planning should as a 
 
 rule be kept small; for while it is im- 
 portant that it should be representa- 
 tive, it is even more so that it should 
 be efficient, as the large commission in 
 executive work seldom is. 
 
 The provisions with regard to the 
 qualifications which the members of 
 the commission shall have for the work 
 vary in the different laws and ordi- 
 nances under which the commissions 
 are appointed, in some cases the ap- 
 pointing authority being left free to use 
 its own judgment, in others that au- 
 thority being required to select men 
 skilled or learned in certain matters; in 
 still others, and this is the more com- 
 mon provision, the law requiring that 
 a part, generall}^ from a half to three- 
 quarters of the whole, shall be the in- 
 cumbents of certain designated city 
 offices, while the rest, to be selected by 
 the appointing authority, shall be citi- 
 zens holding no other city office. In a 
 few cases the law provides that not 
 more than one or two of these selected 
 members may be non-residents. 
 
 The city officials who ex-officio are 
 oftenest designated as members of the 
 planning commission, are (in the order 
 of frequency) the mayor, the chief of 
 the department of public works, the 
 head of the park board or department, 
 and the city attorney. Often, too, a 
 representative of the legislative branch 
 of the city government, or even repre- 
 sentatives of its two branches, if it is 
 bicameral, are so made members. The 
 periods of time for which the selected 
 commissioners are appointed are usual- 
 ly made overlapping so as to secure a 
 measure of continuity. 
 
 The reason for including on the com- 
 mission both cit)' officials and lay mem- 
 bers is that both the immediate and 
 the more far-reaching points of view 
 may be represented. The plan must 
 be sufficiently Ideal to provide for prog- 
 ress, sufficiently general to unify the 
 city In its growth, sufficiently prophetic 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 IS 
 
 to provide for the future; but the ideals 
 must be capable of practical fuliilment 
 and closely related to the city as it is. 
 There is also the danger, especially in 
 the large cities, that the officials will 
 be too busy with what they are likely 
 to regard as duties which are more spe- 
 cially theirs, to give attention to plan- 
 ning. The individual problems of each 
 city may well modify the ■ choice of 
 members for the commission. It should 
 be remembered, however, that the com- 
 mission is entitled to the assistance and 
 advice of the city officials. There is, 
 for instance, little need for including 
 the city attorney as such in the mem- 
 bership. 
 
 THE POWERS OF COMMISSION 
 
 The powers of commissions in mat- 
 ters relating to city planning under the 
 various laws may be characterized as 
 those of (i) general advice; (2) advice 
 a prerequisite to action by other city 
 authorities; (3) advice which may be 
 overruled only by more than a majori- 
 ty \"ote of the city council; (4) absolute 
 control; (5) in addition such commis- 
 sions are given powers of various sorts 
 with regard to special phases of plan- 
 ning, are made the agent of the city in 
 various matters of city construction or 
 are required to perform certain duties 
 for the city. 
 
 General Advice 
 
 Practically all planning commissions, 
 including those which are granted ad- 
 ditional powers,^ are given the right to 
 make a plan of the city and its en- 
 virons, whether within the legal limits 
 of the city or not. This plan as a rule 
 may contain anything which the com- 
 missioners think bears on the planning 
 and construction of the city, even if In 
 some cases the city has no power to act 
 on It. The commission may also make 
 
 ^Such as, for instance, those created under 
 the Minnesota. New Jersey and New York laws, 
 eiven in full in Appendix B. Text of Selected 
 Statutes. 
 
 reports on any or all of these matters, 
 and give advice to city officials, or pri- 
 vate corporations and individuals with 
 regard to them. The right to receive 
 full information of the action of the 
 city authorities on planning matters as 
 soon as it is inaugurated and before 
 such action becomes final, is often 
 added. 
 
 Innocuous as this power seems, it is 
 nevertheless most useful. A good plan, 
 backed up by intelligent publicity, of 
 itself has great influence on the com- 
 munity and on city officials. Gradu- 
 ally some of Its features, more or less 
 modified, sometimes for the better, of- 
 ten, unfortunately, for the worse, are 
 carried out; and even if city improve- 
 ments, rightly or wrongly so called, are 
 made in disregard of it, blocking some 
 of its Important features, there is every 
 probability that its influence for good 
 will reassert itself later. Most of the 
 earlier commissions were given merely 
 the power of advice, and nevertheless 
 justified their existence; and a number 
 of the later statutes are similar In this 
 respect.- 
 
 Advice a Prerequisite to Actioji by 
 Other City Authorities 
 Most of the recent laws for the crea- 
 tion of planning commissions, in addi- 
 tion to granting them the power of 
 '■general advice," provide that before 
 any other city authority takes final 
 action on any one of certain specified 
 matters, it shall notify the commission 
 and await for a certain time a report 
 from it. That report the commission 
 is given the right and duty to submit, 
 but the authoritv concerned mav dis- 
 
 -As, for instance, the commissions appointed 
 under the Massachusetts laws. The reference is 
 given in Appendix A. Tables of Statutes. Of 
 this character also are the laws of New Jersey, 
 191 1, ch. 71, and 1913. chs. 72 and 170. and the 
 later laws of California. Nebraska and Oreeon, 
 listed in the Tables of Statutes, just referred to. 
 
i6 
 
 Nl^TIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 regard if it sees fit.' This is in ac- 
 cordance with the best thought on the 
 conduct of representative government. 
 If power and therefore responsibiHty 
 are divided between the commission 
 and the authority concerned, the voters 
 do not know whom to hold accountable 
 for action or inaction and its results; 
 but under the provision in question 
 that authority is required to listen to 
 the advice of experts, but must itself 
 act and assume full responsibility for 
 so doing, in other words, is unable to 
 indulge in the favorite political game of 
 "passing the buck." 
 
 Advice zvhich may be overruled by 
 
 viore than a Majority Vote of 
 
 City Council 
 
 In several laws and ordinances for 
 the creation of planning commissions 
 the recommendations of the report 
 which is a prerequisite to final action 
 can be disregarded only by a vote of 
 more than a majority of the city coun- 
 cil, the usual requirement being two 
 thirds.^ The purpose of such a re- 
 quirement is to increase the power over 
 city planning matters of the experts in 
 these matters without unduly dividing 
 authority. In certain matters where 
 stability is especially important there 
 is much to be said for such a provision; 
 but its wisdom In all the many matters 
 of city government and construction 
 which should be within the jurisdiction 
 of the planning commission Is more 
 doubtful; for certainly city business 
 must be promptly done, and It is to be 
 feared that by such a requirement 
 either the field of usefulness of the 
 commission would be unduly limited, 
 
 ^The law of Minnesota is of this class; and 
 also the special law for Hartford, Connecticut, 
 already mentioned, special laws for a number of 
 other Connecticut cities, and the law of Wiscon- 
 sin, in the table just referred to. See in this 
 connection also the New York law, printed in 
 full in Appendix B, Text of Selected Statutes. 
 
 ^To this effect is the law of New Jersey 
 printed in full in .Appendix B. Text of Selected 
 Statutes. 
 
 or the city's business confused and de- 
 layed. 
 
 Absolute Control 
 
 In one or two cases"' the commission 
 Is given the right to make a report on 
 the matters deemed of importance in 
 planning, which the other city authori- 
 ties must follow; or Is made the power 
 In the first instance to decide and In 
 some cases to carry out the clt}''s pol- 
 icy in these matters. Under such a 
 system the commission Is In reality the 
 board of public works of the city, 
 which loses the advantage of having a 
 planning commission with the measure 
 of detachment essential to the task of 
 planning. L'sually, too, such matters 
 have a legislative side, and questions 
 of policy with relation to them should 
 be decided by a legislative body, with 
 the advice and subject to the criticism 
 of experts. If the commission Is given 
 complete authority In these matters, 
 this advantage Is forfeited. 
 
 Method of Conferring Pozvers up07i 
 Co7n mission 
 
 The powers granted to commissions 
 vary greatly In character, and the 
 methods of conferring them should 
 vary accordingly. In so far as the 
 power is that of "general advice," 
 which other officials may profit by but 
 are not required to regard or even 
 await In their action, there can be no 
 harm and may be much good in giving 
 this power In the broadest terms; and 
 such Is the general practice. Even 
 matters with regard to which the city 
 has no legal right to act are included. 
 This Is done, as a rule, by empowering 
 the commission to make a map of the 
 city and its environs within and with- 
 out Its legal limits. Including In It all 
 matters which the commission deem 
 relevant, and also, for full measure, 
 giving It specifically the right to Inves- 
 
 •'As for instance, in Cleveland, under the pro- 
 visions of its charter and ordinance, printed in 
 full in Appendix B, Text of Selected Statutes. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CTI V PLAN 
 
 17 
 
 tigate, report, and advise officials and 
 private parties on all such matters. 
 
 When the report of the commission 
 is made a prerequisite to action by 
 other city departments, this power of 
 report, whether it may be disregarded 
 or overruled by these departments or 
 not, should be limited to the consid- 
 eration of the more general aspects of 
 those few matters which most vitally 
 affect the city plan; for the number of 
 matters which relate to the city plan 
 are very great indeed; there is very lit- 
 tle of the city's business which does not 
 in some degree or detail have such a 
 bearing, and to refer most of the busi- 
 ness transacted by the entire body of 
 the city's officials to any one authority 
 would cause intolerable friction and de- 
 lay, even if these officials were under 
 no obligation to follow its advice. 
 
 Perhaps the best method of giving 
 this carefully defined power to the 
 commission is to establish an official 
 city map of those features which, un- 
 like the commission's "general advice" 
 map, city officials shall be compelled 
 to follow. This map should become 
 binding when adopted by the legis- 
 lative branch of the city government, 
 and should of course be amendable in 
 the same way in which it is adopted. 
 It should be the duty of the planning 
 commission to prepare this map and 
 suggest such additions and changes in 
 it from time to time as seem desirable. 
 Being binding upon the city no im- 
 provement could be inaugurated until 
 first made legally a part of the map; 
 and the adoption and change of this 
 map should be forbidden until referred 
 to the commission. More or less ade- 
 quate precedents for such a map exist 
 in legislation and practice in the coun- 
 try.^ In default of such a map the 
 matters in which a report from the 
 commission is a prerequisite to final 
 
 ^Perhaps the best is that of New York City. 
 For a reference to the provisions with regard to 
 the map of that cit>- see page 10, note. 
 
 action may be referred to it by naming 
 them in the statute or ordinance. 
 
 Among the features of city construc- 
 tion which it seems clear should be re- 
 ferred to the commission in this way 
 are highways of all sorts, including 
 parkways, with their building lines or 
 set backs,- sewers, water pipes, con- 
 duits, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and 
 other incidents; and parks, play- 
 grounds, squares, and other public 
 open spaces, and the water front, with 
 its pier and bulk head lines, docks, 
 warehouses, and other harbor improve- 
 ments; and public buildings; and pri- 
 vately owned buildings, such as street 
 railway stations and ferry sheds, in so 
 far as located on public property; and 
 transit lines and other public utilities, 
 both on public and on private prop- 
 erty, in so far as the permit for them 
 is issued by the city. A precedent for 
 the inclusion of most if not all of these 
 features will be found in legislation in 
 this country." Some statutes go fur- 
 ther, embracing all "public improve- 
 ments";* but this would seem to be 
 both too broad and too indefinite. 
 
 The same care that must be exer- 
 cised in deciding what features of city 
 construction shall be referred to the 
 commission is needed in determining 
 in what detail these selected features 
 shall be so referred. Certainly it should 
 pass upon the "location" of these fea- 
 tures, which should include change of 
 location, enlargement, alteration, dis- 
 continuance, etc.; and upon the width 
 and grade of highways; and upon the 
 plotting of subdivisions of private land: 
 
 -Building lines or set backs are a part of the 
 official map of New York City. Laws. 1917. 
 ch. 631-632 (called "Court Yards Abutting 
 Streets"). 
 
 3This statement is based upon the examina- 
 tion of the statutes for the preparation and 
 adoption of plans or maps and the appoint- 
 ment of planning commissions cited in the notes 
 and tables of this article; to which the reader 
 desiring to verify it is referred. 
 
 ■♦Minnesota. 1919. ch. 292. 
 
i8 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 for all of which there is precedent in 
 this country. 
 
 In some laws the commission is di- 
 rected to pass on the "design"^ of fea- 
 tures with regard to which it is given 
 jurisdiction. This is giving the com- 
 mission duties proper for an art com- 
 mission to perform, and is wise only 
 when such a course is advisable. 
 
 Art Connyiissions 
 
 In several statutes- the planning 
 commission is also the art commission 
 of the city. Except in small cities 'or 
 towns, where it may be difficult to find 
 suitable men in sufficient numbers to 
 serve on the two bodies, the wisdom 
 of this course is doubtful. To prove 
 this assertion fully it would be neces- 
 sary to define the duties of art com- 
 missions, which, for lack of space, can- 
 not be done adequately here. Briefly, 
 the main duties of such commissions 
 are two in number: they should guide 
 the city in its own work and defend it 
 from the mistaken generosity or ego- 
 tism of donors, in order that it may not 
 be defaced but adorned in its growth. 
 It is true that beauty is and must be an 
 integral part of construction and not 
 an afterthought; it is true that beauty 
 and fitness for the purposes for which 
 the structure or other improvement is 
 intended cannot be divorced, or either 
 one of them considered separate from 
 location. Nevertheless the type of man 
 who is fitted to serve on an art com- 
 mission and on a planning commission 
 are widely different, and better results 
 will be obtained where it Is possible to 
 keep the two commissions co-operating 
 but separate. 
 
 Miscellaneous Poivers 
 
 In the various planning laws and 
 ordinances commissions are given a va- 
 
 ^As. for instance, in the Wisconsin statute, 
 already referred to. 
 
 2As. for instance, the law for the planning of 
 third-class cities, etc.. in New Jersey, printed in 
 full in Appendix B, Text of Selected Statutes. 
 
 rlety of specific and limited powers and 
 entrusted with a number of duties, 
 some more or less closely related to 
 planning and others having no par- 
 ticular connection with it. The disad- 
 vantages of combining planning and 
 art commissions have already been 
 pointed out. The union of the plan- 
 ning and park boards, as provided for 
 in some laws, ^ is open to the same ob- 
 jection. The planning of the details of 
 parks, and their use and maintenance, 
 is a task which should be entrusted if 
 possible to specialists. Under some 
 laws the commission Is given full pow- 
 er In the selection and condemnation 
 of land for certain public purposes, 
 such as parks.* This, to the extent that 
 it makes the commission practically the 
 board of public works or the council of 
 the city, is open to the same objections 
 that have been urged to other provi- 
 sions having such a result. Without 
 citing all the powers of this nature con- 
 ferred upon planning commissions in 
 the various laws and ordinances,^ It 
 may be said in general that in so far as 
 possible the duties of the commission 
 should be limited to planning. 
 
 Zoning 
 
 The duty of preparing and to some 
 extent administering the zoning regula- 
 tions of cities is of late more and more 
 entrusted to planning commissions. 
 This Is planning work which such com- 
 missions are well fitted to do. Such a 
 policy tends to unify all branches of 
 planning. To what extent the policy 
 is feasible and how It should be carried 
 out and how aided by the work of 
 other authorities cannot be developed 
 
 %Iass. Acts 1915, ch. 165; ordinance. City of 
 Schenectady. New York, approved December 9. 
 1912; Connecticut Special Laws 1913. no. 351, 
 sec. ID. 
 
 ■^Detroit Charter, ch. X, sec. 7 (f); Akron, 
 Ohio, Charter, sec. 102. 
 
 ^See Detroit Charter, ch. X, sec. 7 (C); 
 Connecticut Special Laws 1907, no. 61, sec. 5; 
 Minnesota 1919, ch. 292, sec. 3. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 19 
 
 here. Fortunately the subject has just 
 been treated most ably and fully in the 
 "Zoning" supplement to this magazine 
 already referred to. 
 
 METROPOLITAN PLANNING 
 
 It is a common thing for a city in its 
 growth to overflow into the territory 
 outside its legal limits. Before this 
 occurs it is essential to the best inter- 
 ests of all concerned that this outlying 
 territory, destined in fact if not in law 
 to become a part of the city, should be 
 laid out in conformity with the plan 
 of the city, and to that end it is most 
 desirable that both should be under 
 some common planning authority. This 
 can be brought about completely by a 
 reasonable extension of the city's legal 
 limits, or to some extent by giving the 
 city the power to approve plans for the 
 plotting of extensions or other subdivi- 
 sions outside and within a certain dis- 
 tance of the city's boundaries. When 
 this outside territory is already more or 
 less thickly populated, and organized 
 into local governments, there is still 
 the possibility and the need of making 
 common plans for the further develop- 
 ment of what is sociologically one great 
 city divided by artificial jurisdictional 
 lines. In this case the city boundaries 
 may still be 'enlarged to take in these 
 communities but there are many ob- 
 jections to the extension of the plan- 
 ning jurisdiction of the city over local 
 communities which have no voice in 
 the city's government. A third alter- 
 native is the creation of a metropolitan 
 planning district, with a planning com- 
 mission, in which all the local govern- 
 ments are represented, at its head. In 
 this way planning is done as a unit; 
 but in other matters the local com- 
 munities govern themselves, unless, in- 
 deed, there are other activities which 
 these communities find it expedient to 
 exercise in common. There is prece- 
 
 dent for such commissions in this coun- 
 try.^ 
 
 INTERSTATE METROPOLITAN PLANNING 
 
 Where the metropolitan district con- 
 sists of many cities and towns, as for 
 instance the districts around Boston, 
 Philadelphia or New York, it is too 
 late to prevent the complexity and con- 
 fusion which already exist, and also 
 more obviously necessary, as wxU as 
 difficult, to mitigate their effects and 
 prevent their increase by metropolitan 
 planning. Where the district is in two 
 states the legal difficulty of creating a 
 common authority would not seem to 
 be insuperable. A common policy in 
 the planning of the water front and 
 tributary territory under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the one hundred and five mu- 
 nicipalities and the other local govern- 
 ments in the states of New York and 
 New Jersey, that make up the port of 
 New York and the territory properly 
 associated with it in port development, 
 has led these states, by compact be- 
 tween them, ratified by the United 
 States government, to create a Port of 
 New York Authority ; which is now en- 
 gaged in making the plans for the work 
 which it is its task, when made, to car- 
 ry out." 
 
 REGIONAL PLANNING 
 
 A city is not complete in itself, but 
 dependent upon the resources of the 
 district in which it is situated, just as 
 that district is dependent upon the city 
 where its interests focus. Quite as im- 
 portant as city planning is the planning 
 of entire regions, with their resources, 
 and the distribution of population and 
 industry with due relation to these re- 
 sources. There is as yet no provision 
 for the enforcement of any such plan. 
 
 ^In Pennsylvania. The statute is given in 
 full on p. 686. 
 
 -See Planning Commissions, New Jersey, and 
 Xe\v York in Appendix A. Tables of Statutes, 
 Interstate Planning Commission, in Text of Se- 
 lected Statutes, and Metropolitan Planning in 
 Appendix C, Bibliography. 
 
20 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 If made, it would be advisory, and as 
 such, nevertheless, of great value. 
 There is no legal reason why the na- 
 tion, or state, or any local government 
 within the state, should not make re- 
 gional plans for the information of its 
 citizens. 
 
 • COUNTY PLANNING 
 
 A county, if its characteristics are 
 those of a metropolitan district, may, 
 and if properly organized for the pur- 
 pose should, be empowered to do met- 
 ropolitan planning. In so far as it is 
 not such a district, there is every rea- 
 son why it should do regional plan- 
 ning. Many features of the county, 
 such as parks, main roads, sewerage 
 and streams, could with advantage be 
 regulated for the common good of all 
 its inhabitants. The county could also 
 encourage local planning within it, and 
 the formation of local planning com- 
 missions for the purpose. There are 
 already two such planning commissions 
 
 Un New Jersey and New York; Appendix A, 
 Tables of Statutes. 
 
 -This power is exercised by the officer or de- 
 partment having supervision in the particular 
 province, over local government. 
 
 •''Under the Commission of Conservation, cre- 
 ated by 8-9 Edward VII, ch. 27 (1909); 9-10 
 Edward VII. ch. 42 (1910); and 3-4 George \'. 
 ch. 12 (1913 ). Canada. 
 
 *See appendix A, Tables of Statutes and Ap- 
 pendix B, Text of Selected Statutes. 
 
 '''The proposal in question, which had the sup- 
 port of many associations and individuals inter- 
 ested in housing and planning, was embodied in 
 a "Bill to create a Bureau of Housing and Liv- 
 ing Conditions in the Department of Labor.'" 
 introduced in the National House of Representa- 
 
 in this country, with advisory power.' 
 
 ST.\TE PLANNING 
 
 In a number of European countries 
 the supervision of the planning of local 
 governments, the supplementing and 
 harmonizing of their plans, and to some 
 extent regional planning, are functions 
 of the central, or of the state govern- 
 ment. This function has also been as- 
 sumed by a number of the provinces 
 of Canada- and, to the extent of ex- 
 perimentation, investigation and ad- 
 vice, by the dominion government' 
 In this country one of our states has 
 also created a state planning authority 
 with advisory powers, and bodies with 
 somewhat similar powers exist in other 
 states.^ The creation of such a depart- 
 ment of our national government has 
 also been proposed.^ State and nation- 
 al planning, nowhere developed as it 
 should be, is more noticeably lacking 
 in the United States, and more needed, 
 perhaps, than in any other country. 
 
 tives (66th Cong., ist sess., July 8, 1919, no. 
 7014) by Congressman Tinkham of Massachu- 
 setts, which failed of passage. That town plan- 
 ning was intended to be included in its scope is 
 indicated by the speech of its introducer (Cong. 
 Record, vol. 58, p. 8913, July 12. 1919). Ob- 
 \-iously planning is the proper method of im- 
 proving housing and living conditions. The 
 Republican national platform, also has come 
 out in favor of making available to the people 
 the valuable housing and town planning infor- 
 mation which the national government has col- 
 lected during the war and keeping it up to 
 date; there has now been created, in the De- 
 partment of Commerce, a Division of Building 
 and Housing, to which two Advisory Commit- 
 tees, on Building Codes, and on Zoning, have 
 been appointed. 
 
 I. APPROVAL OF PL.\TS A PREREQUISITE 
 TO RECORD OF DEEDS 
 
 Note — Except as otherwise speci- 
 fied, the statute applies only to land 
 within the city. Where It applies to 
 land outside, and within a certain dis- 
 tance of the exterior limit of the citv. 
 
 Appendix A 
 
 TABLE OF STATUTES 
 
 that distance Is given. In a few cases 
 the statute makes it unlawful to sell 
 the land unless its requirements are 
 fulfilled. These statutes are starred. 
 
 In all these tables, the reference is to 
 the Session Laws unless otherwise 
 stated. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 21 
 
 Arizona. 1921. ch. 27. 
 
 California. 1915. ch. 756. p. 1512; now Gen- 
 eral Laws, Act 2065, Sec. 4. 
 
 Connecticut. Hartford. 15 Special Laws, p. 
 661 (1909, No. 74.) 
 
 Georgi.'V. Fulton County and City oj Atlanta. 
 *I92I, p. 216 (appro\'ed August 10) and an 
 identical act, *i92i, p. 219 (approved Au- 
 gust 15), (6 miles outside Atlanta.) 
 
 Illi.vois. 192 1, p. 260; being Smith's Revised 
 Statutes. 1921, ch. 24, sec. 72 (i^ miles); 
 Counties, 1921. p. 385; being Smith's Re- 
 vised Statutes, 1921, ch. 34, sec. 25. 
 
 Lndiaxa. 1921, p. 561 (5 miles); being Burns, 
 1921 Suppt.. sec. 8657. 
 
 Kansas. 192 i, ch. 99. 139. 
 
 Louisiana. Constitution and Statutes. 1920, 
 IL 1269. being .\ct 160 of 1918, p. 271 
 (Sec. 125), (3 miles.) 
 
 Massachusetts. General Laws, 192 1, ch. 41, 
 sees. 73-81. 
 
 Minnesota. 1919. ch. 292, p. 300. 
 
 Missouri. *i92i, p. 509 (approved March 
 30.) 
 
 Nebraska. 191 7, ch. 87 (3 miles.) 
 
 New Jersey. P. L. 191 2, p. 436. amended 
 1913. p. 119. now Comp. Stat, ist suppt. 
 1911-15) p. 413. sees. 25-27. 
 
 New York. 191 3. ch. 699, adding Art. 12-A 
 to the General Municipal Law; New York 
 City, 1916. ch. 513, amending charter, sec. 
 1540; Rochester, 1921, ch. 524; Syracuse, 
 191 3. ch. 370 (3 miles.) 
 
 Ohio. General Code, 1910, sec. 4346 (3 miles.) 
 
 Oregon. 1919, ch. 311. 
 
 Pennsylvania. 1911. June 10; P. L. 872; be- 
 ing Pa. St. 1920 (Penn. Statutes complete 
 to 1920, West Publishing Co.), sees. 3723- 
 3727; amended 1921, May 17; P. L. 841. 
 1913. July 16: P. L. 752. sec. 3. being Pa. 
 St. 1920. sec. 4381 (3 miles.) 
 
 \'irginia. 191 8. ch. 419 (15 miles.) 
 
 Wisconsin. 1909, ch. 162, amended 1917, ch. 
 404; now Statutes. 1921. sec. 62. 23 subd. 
 (2) (i^ miles.) 
 
 II. 
 
 CITY PLAN 
 
 Laws for the appointment of Plan- 
 ning Commissions (for which see Ta- 
 ble HI) usually authorize the prepara- 
 tion, and in some cases the adoption of 
 a plan, as do also the following statutes. 
 Connecticut. Revised Statutes. 1918, sees. 
 
 388, 390, 1921, ch. 30. 
 Maryland. Baltimore. See ''Code of Public 
 
 Local Laws of Maryland," sees. 84-86, art. 
 
 4, title. "City of Baltimore," sub-title. 
 
 '"Charter." 
 Michigan. 1921. No. 348, amended 1921, 2nd 
 
 Extra Session, No. 5. 
 New York. New York City. Charter (4th ed. 
 
 1918, Ash), ch. X. title 4 (sees. 438-449): 
 
 Buffalo, Charter, sec. 365, added by laws. 
 
 1922, ch. 411. 
 Pennsylvania. 1891. May 16; P. L. 75; sec. 
 
 12 amended 1913. July 22; P. L. 902 to be 
 
 found in Pa. St. 1920, sec. 19476; sec. 9 
 amended 192 1, May 17; P. L. 844; repealed 
 with relation to boroughs by sec. i of art. 
 I of ch. XIII of Act of 1915, May 14; P. 
 L. 312. Townships, first class, See Pa. St. 
 1920. sec. 7072. Boroughs, ib. sees. 1861- 
 1866. State highways, 192 1, Apr. 6; P. L. 
 107. Philadelphia. See Pa. St. 1920, sees. 
 19417-19418. See also a modification of 
 the law with relation to parks and park- 
 ways in the cities of the first class (Phila- 
 delphia) 1915, June 7, P. L. 894, being Pa. 
 St. 1920, sees. 3 1 87-3 1 89, which, however, 
 is generally regarded as contrary to cer- 
 tain special provisions of the Constitution 
 of Pennsylvania. See Opinions of City So- 
 licitor of Philadelphia, p. 98 in Philadelphia 
 Ordinances and City Solicitors' Opinions, 
 1920. See also S\iuster v. Phila., 239 Pa. 
 St. 468 (191 3.) 
 
 III. PLAN COMMISSIONS 
 
 Lender some Statutes, Plan Commis- 
 sions are also Art Commissions. These 
 statutes in this table are starred. The 
 Commissions are City Commissions, 
 unless otherwise noted. 
 
 There are numerous special laws, 
 charter enactments, and home rule con- 
 stitutional and statutory provisions, 
 under which the adoption of plans and 
 the appointment of planning commis- 
 sions are authorized, and in many cases 
 have occurred, which are not men- 
 tioned in this table. Commissions 
 merely with advisory powers usually 
 may be and often have been appointed 
 without express statutory authority. 
 
 In some statutes the commission is 
 given more or less express authority 
 with regard to zoning. These statutes 
 are marked with a dagger (t). In some 
 zoning statutes such authority is given 
 city planning commissions. These 
 statutes are given in this table, marked 
 with a double dagger {%). 
 
 California. ^1915. ch. 428, p. 708 now Gen- 
 eral Laws, Act 2389]. The statute applies 
 only to fifth and sixth class cities. \Iany 
 of the cities oj classes I to IV have charter 
 provisions authorizing the appointment of 
 City Planning Commissions: and they all 
 have the power to adopt home rule charter^ 
 which shall include such a power. See also 
 1915. p. 1514 (Capital City Planning Com- 
 mission) now General Laws, .Act 3805. 
 + 1917, ch. 734. p. 1419: now General Laws. 
 Act 431. 
 
22 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 Connecticut. Many cities and towns have 
 provisions in their charters or are em- 
 powered by ?pecial statutes to appoint 
 commissions; as. for instance, Hartford, 15 
 Special Laws, p. 43 (1907 No. 61) amended 
 
 15 Special Laws. p. 634 (1909 No. 34) sec. 
 6 and p. 661 (No. 74), where the first per- 
 manent official commission in this country 
 was created; also A^ew Haven, 16 Special 
 Laws, p. 897 (191 3 No. 243): Xrzc London, 
 
 16 ib. p. 103s (1913 No. 351.) Especially 
 interesting are Windsor, 17 Special Laws, p. 
 827 (1917 No. 133) and Bloomiield, 17 
 Special Laws, p. 831 (1917 No. 134). with 
 relation to which see p. of this pamphlet. 
 Any town, city or borough in this state is 
 now empowered to create such a commis- 
 sion. 1 92 1, ch. 30. See also Revised Stat- 
 utes, 191 8, sees. 391-396. 
 
 Georgia, Atlanta. Xigii. p. 665. 
 
 Illinois. "''1921, p. 260, being Smith's Revised 
 Statutes, ch. 24, sees. 71-73. 
 
 Indiana. *t92i, p. 561, being Burns, 1921 
 Suppt., sees. 86s7-e-86s7-p.ti92i, p. 660, 
 being Burns, 1921 Suppt., sees. 86ssa- 
 86s 5 g- 
 
 Kansas, ist Class cities over 200,000. 1921, 
 ch. 99; ti92i, ch. 100. 
 
 Kentucky. 1922. 
 
 Massachusetts. General Laws, 1921, ch. 41, 
 sees. 70-72, 73-81; ch. 45, sec. 2. 
 
 Michigan. 1921, No. 348, amended 1921. 2nd 
 extra session. No. 5 (f). (Home Rule). 
 1^1921, No. 207. Detroit. *ttCharter, ch. 
 X (1919.) 
 
 Minnesota. First Class Cities. }i92i. ch. 217, 
 p. 267. *'^tCertain First Class Cities. 1919, 
 ch. 292, p. 300. Under Art IV, Sec. 36 of 
 the Constitution, cities and villages are also 
 given the right to frame and amend their 
 own charters, and therefore to adopt plans 
 and appoint planning commissions. 
 
 Missouri. Cities, 200,000-600,000. ti92i, p. 
 177. 
 
 Nebraska. "1915. ch. 213; amended 1919, ch. 
 185. Metropolitan Cities. ^1919, ch. 185. 
 
 New Jersey. First Class Cities. P. L. 191 1, 
 p. 103, ch. 71, ti9i7, p. 94, ch. 54. *P. L. 
 1913, p. 112, ch. 72. First and Second 
 Class Cities. tP. L. 1918, p. 338, ch. 146, 
 ti920, p. 436, ch. 229, ti920, p. 496. ch. 
 274. ti922, p. 309, ch. 181. Second Class 
 Cities. *P. L. 1913, p. 281, ch. 170. Third 
 and Fourth Class Cities, Boroughs, etc., 
 *P. L. 1915, p. 350, ch. 188, amended P. L. 
 1916, p. 377, ch. 175; P. L. 1920, p. 414. ch. 
 216; P. L. 1921, p. 695. ch. 218. ti92i, 
 p. 816, ch. 276. Boroughs, tP. L., 1922, p. 
 691, ch. 279. Counties. P. L. 1918, p. 
 567, ch. 185. Art XVI. Port Authority, 
 P. L. 1921, pp. 412. 423, chs. 151, 152; P. 
 L. 1922, p. 25, ch. 9 (approved Feb. 2Sth.) 
 The plan was approved by the U. S. Con- 
 gress, Aug. 23, 1921. See also P. L. 1922, 
 p. 191, ch. 104. 
 
 New York. 1913, ch. 699, being art 12-A of 
 General Municipal Law, amended 1920, ch. 
 377; 1921, ch. 464. Syracuse, 1920, ch. 
 447; amended by 1922, ch. 544. Rochester, 
 1917, ch. 505. JFestchester County, 1915, 
 ch. 109; Toiuns in JFestchester County, 
 1922, ch. 322, adding subd. 18 to sec. 142-a, 
 Town Law. Port Authority, 1921, chs. 154, 
 203; 1922, ch. 43. The plan was approved 
 by the U. S. Congress August 23, 1921. 
 
 Ohio. *Laws 106 v. 455 (1915) being *Code, 
 sees. 4366, 1-6; amended ti9i9, 108 v. 
 II 75, adding to Code, sees. 4366-7 to 4366- 
 12. Cleveland. *Charter, sec. 77. Munici- 
 palities are also by home rule provisions, 
 authorized to frame their own charters, 
 and thus obtain power to adopt maps, ap- 
 point planning commissions, etc. 
 
 Oregon. Portland. *I9I9, ch. 311, now *Laws 
 1920, sees. 3862-3872; +1919, ch. 300, now 
 Laws 1920, sees. 3873-3878. 
 
 Pennsylvania. First Class Cities. 1919, June 
 25, P. L. 581, sec. 10, being Pa. St. 1920, 
 sec. 2985. Second Class Cities. 191 1, 
 June 10; P. L. 872, being Pa. St. 1920, 
 sees. 3723-3727 amended 1921, May 17; 
 P. L. 841. 1^1919, June 21, P. L. 570. being 
 Pa. St., sees. 3893-3896. Third Class Cities. 
 1913, July 16; P. L. 752, being Pa. St. 
 1920, sees. 4379-4384. Metropolitan Dis- 
 trict, 191 3, May 23; P. L. 339 (repealed in 
 191 5, abolishing the Commission.) 
 
 South Carolina. Spartanburg. "1921, No. 
 417. 
 
 Vermont. 1921, No. 107. 
 
 Wisconsin. *i909. ch. 162, amended 1917. ch. 
 404. now Statutes, 1921, sec. 62, 23 subd. 
 (i)-(3). Cities. ^1917, ch. 404, being 
 Statutes, 1921, sec. 62. 23 subd. 5, 6. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ART COMMISSIONS 
 
 Except as otherwise noted, the com- 
 missions created by the laws given be- 
 low are municipal commissions. To 
 this list should be added the laws cre- 
 ating commissions with both planning 
 and art regulation powers, for which 
 see table III ante} 
 
 Alabama. State and Local. General Acts, 
 
 1919, p. 880 (No. 636.) 
 Arkansas. State. Dieest, 1921, ch. 21 (sec. 
 
 839.) 
 Connecticut. State, General Statutes, 1918, 
 
 ch. 114, sees. 2186-2192. New Haven, 14 
 
 Special Laws, p. 728 (1905, No. 294.) 
 District of Columbia. See United States. 
 
 iThe text of a number of art commission laws 
 and statutes will be found in Laws relating to 
 Art Conunissions, printed for the Art Commis- 
 sion of the City of New York, May, 1914. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 23 
 
 Illinois. State. 1909, p. 96; now Smith's Re- 
 vised Statutes. 1921, ch. 127, sec. 6, 50. 
 Municipal. 1899, p. 89; amended 1915, p. 
 260; now Smith's Revised Statutes, 1921, 
 ch. 24, sec. 622-629; Chicago, Code (Cal- 
 laghan and Co., 1911), sees. 121-122. 
 
 Massachusetts. State. General Laws, 1921, 
 ch. 6, sees. 19-20. Cities and Towns, ib. 
 ch. 41, sees. 82-84. Boston, 1898, ch. 410. 
 
 Minnesota. General Statutes. 191 3, sec. 161 1. 
 
 New York. Cities of First and Second Class, 
 1900, ch. 327, sees. 120, 122, being Gen- 
 eral City Law, former Art. 8, renumbered 
 (1911, ch. 718) Art. XI-A (sees. 165-167.) 
 New York City, Charter, sees. 633-639. 
 Mount Vernon, 1909. ch. 552. 
 
 Ohio. General Code, 1910, sees. 4343-4345. 
 
 Pennsylvania. State and Local. 1919, May 
 i; P. L. 103, being Pa. St. 1920, West 
 Publ. Co., sees. 17571-17578. First class 
 Cities, 1919, June 25; P. L. 581, Art. II, 
 sec. II, being Pa. St. 1920, sees. 2986-2991. 
 Second Class Cities, 191 1, May 12; P. L. 
 291, being Pa. St. 1920, sees. 3720-3722. 
 
 United St.a.tes, D. C. and National. Act of 
 May 17, 1900, 36 Stat. L. 371, ch. 243. 
 
 Virginia. State. Code, 1919, ch. 31 (sec. 
 
 581-585.) 
 Wisconsin. Cities of First Class (Milwaukee), 
 
 1911, ch. 318, amended by 1915, ch. 217. 
 
 V. STATE PLANNING 
 
 A State planning department has 
 been established in Pennsylvania, un- 
 der 1919, April 4, P. L. 45. The Im- 
 migration and Housing Commission of 
 California (1917, ch. 740, p. 15 14, now 
 General Laws, Act 1589, sec. 15-17) 
 and the Department of Public Welfare 
 of Massachusetts (General Laws, 192 1, 
 ch. 121, Sees. 23, 26, 27, formerly the 
 Homestead Commission) collect and 
 disseminate planning information. In 
 Massachusetts there is also Federation 
 of Planning Boards. For an account 
 of the planning activities of the Na- 
 tional Government, see p. , note. 
 
 x\pPENDIX B 
 
 TEXT OF SELECTED STATUTES 
 
 I. CITY AND STATE PLANS 
 
 I. Pennsylvania General Plan Act^ 
 
 Sec 9. Every municipal corporation shall 
 have power to open, widen, straighten or extend 
 streets or alleys or parts thereof within its limits 
 and to vacate street or alleys or parts thereof 
 . . The widening or staightening ordinances 
 shall fix the new line or lines and may require 
 that thereafter no owner or builder shall erect 
 any new building or rebuild or alter the front 
 of any building already erected without making 
 it conform to the new lines in which case the 
 land owners" right of action shall accrue only 
 when the said municipal corporation actually 
 enters on and occupies the land within the said 
 Hnes or the said building is located or relocated 
 to conform to said lines. . . . 
 
 Sec 12. Every municipality shall have a 
 general plan of its streets and alleys, parks and 
 playgrounds, including those which have been 
 or may be laid out, but not opened: which plan 
 shall be filed in the office of the engineer or 
 other proper office of the municipality, and all 
 subdivisions of property thereafter made shall 
 conform thereto. The location of streets or 
 alleys, or parts thereof, or parks or playgrounds. 
 laid out and confirmed by authority of coun- 
 cils, shall not afterwards be altered without the 
 consent of councils; and no map or plot of 
 streets or alleys or parks or playgrounds, shall 
 be entered or recorded in any public office of 
 the county in which said municipality is situated 
 until approved by councils. No person shall 
 hereafter be entitled to recover any damages 
 ^ 1921. No. 59, amended, 1913, No. 430, and 
 1921, No. 295; see also 1871, No. 1258 (p. 1553, 
 which applies only to Philadelphia.) 
 
 for the taking for public use of any buildings or 
 improvements of any kind which may be placed 
 or constructed upon or within the lines of any 
 located street or alley, or park or playground, 
 after the same shall have been located or or- 
 dained by councils. 
 
 2. Pennsylvania State Highway Act^ 
 
 Sec. 8. The State Highway Commissioner 
 shall also have power, with the approval of the 
 Governor, to establish the width and lines of 
 any State Highway before or after the construc- 
 tion, reconstruction, or improvement of the 
 same, not, however, exceeding the maximum 
 width fixed by law for public roads. Whenever 
 the State Highway Commissioner shall establish 
 the width and lines of any such State Highway, 
 he shall cause a description and plan thereof 
 to be made, showing the center line of said 
 highway and the established width thereof, and 
 shall attach thereto his acknowledgement. 
 Thereupon such description, plan, and acknowl- 
 edgement shall be recorded in the office of the 
 recorder of deeds of the proper county in a sep- 
 arate book kept for such purposes, which shall 
 be furnished to the recorder of deeds by the 
 county commissioners at the expense of the 
 county. 
 
 No owner or occupier of lands, buildings, or 
 improvements shall erect any building or make 
 any improvements within the limits of any 
 State Highway the width and lines of which 
 have been established and recorded as provided 
 in this section, and, if any such erection or im- 
 provement shall be made, no allowance shall be 
 had therefor by the assessment of damages. 
 
 1 1921, No. 62. amending 1911. No. 468. 
 
24 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 3. Pemisyhafiia State Planning Bu- 
 reau^ 
 
 Sec. I. Be it enacted, etc., That the Secre- 
 tary of Internal Affairs shall establish in the 
 said Department of Internal Affairs a Bureau of 
 Municipalities. The said bureau shall gather, 
 classify, index, make available, and disseminate 
 data, statistical information, and advice that 
 may be helpful in improving the methods of ad- 
 ministration and municipal development in the 
 several municipalities of the commonwealth; and 
 shall maintain, for the benefit of the municipal- 
 ities, a publicity service to install or assist in the 
 installation and establishment of modern sys- 
 tems of accounting in the various municipalities 
 of the state, and in order to promote a compre- 
 hensive plan or series of plans for the probable 
 future requirements of cities, boroughs or town- 
 ships of the commonwealth, either separately or 
 jointly, in respect to a system of traffic thor- 
 oughfares and other highways or main high- 
 ways, transportation of every sort, suitably co- 
 ordinated sites for public buildings, parks, park- 
 ways, playgrounds, and other public uses, the 
 preservation of natural and historic features, and 
 any and all public improvements tending to the 
 advantage of municipalities or townships af- 
 fected, tending to their advantage as a place of 
 business and residence, and to either make or 
 secure or assist in making or securing the nec- 
 essary surveys, plans, and information. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Secretary of Internal Affairs is 
 hereby authorized to employ a Chief of Bureau 
 of Municipalities, who. in his judgment shall be 
 qualified to perform the duties herein described. 
 He is also authorized to employ such engineer- 
 ing, accounting, clerical, stenographic, and other 
 expert service, relating to the gathering of in- 
 formation, its distribution and publication and 
 other duties incident to the purpose of the bu- 
 reau, or transfer to such duties in this bureau as 
 he may find advisable the vvork and services of 
 other bureaus or of others employed in the De- 
 partment. The salaries of the employees ap- 
 pointed under the provisions of this act shall be 
 fixed by the Secretary of Internal Affairs, and 
 shall be paid from the funds appropriated to the 
 said Department of Internal AfTairs. 
 
 _ Sec 3. It is hereby made the duty of every 
 city._ borough, township, or county official, to 
 furnish such information as may be requested bv 
 the Chief of_ the Bureau of Municipalities or his 
 duly authorized deputy. 
 
 Sec. 4. The act. approved the first day of 
 June, one thousand nine hundred and fifteen 
 (Pamphlet Laws, six hundred and eighty-nine), 
 entitled "An act creating a division of Municipal 
 Statistics and Information in the Department 
 of Labor and Industry, and fixing the compen- 
 sation of officers and employes therein." as 
 amended by the act of July nineteenth, nineteen 
 hundred and seventeen (Pamphlet Laws, one 
 thousand one hundred and eleven) is hereby 
 repealed. 
 
 ' 1919, No. 34. 
 
 Sec. 5. This act shall become effective on 
 the sixth day of Ma\-, Anno Domini nineteen 
 hundred and nineteen. 
 
 Approved April 4, 1919. 
 
 II. MUNICIP.'\L COMMISSIONS 
 
 I. Minnesota Planning Act- 
 
 Sec. I. City planning department for Min- 
 neapolis; commission and membership. That an 
 additional executive department in the govern- 
 ment of cities of the first class not organized 
 under section 36 of article IV of the state con- 
 stitution shall be created to be known as the 
 ■"city planning department"' which shall be in 
 charge of a city planning commission, consisting 
 of nine persons. One shall be the mayor of the 
 niunicipality; the cit\' council, the school board, 
 the park board and the county board of the 
 county in which the nmnicipality is situated 
 shall each select one of its own members, as a 
 member of the commission, in January of each 
 odd numbered year; and four legal voters of the 
 municipality not members of any of the above 
 bodies or boards shall be appointed by the 
 mayor with consent of the city council of the 
 municipalit}. The first appointments shall be 
 made as soon as practicable after the passage of 
 this act. 
 
 The appointed members of the commission 
 shall serve for four years. The first members 
 first appointed by the mayor shall so classify 
 themselves by lot that one of the number shall 
 go out of ofhce at the end of January of the odd 
 year next after their appointment: one at the 
 end of one year thereafter, and one at the end of 
 two 3'ears thereafter; and shall certify the result 
 of the classification to the city clerk. Vacancies 
 for any unexpired term shall be filled by ap- 
 pointment as in the first instance. 
 
 The members of the commission shall serve 
 without compensation, but the commission may 
 with the consent of the city council employ 
 engineers or other persons and incur such other 
 expenses as are deemed necessary'. 
 
 The commission shall make and alter rules 
 and regulations for its own organization and 
 procedure. It shall make an annual report to 
 the city council. 
 
 The term "city council" means the principal 
 go\'erning body of the municipality. 
 
 Sec. 2. Powers of commission. The city 
 planning commission shall have power, except 
 as otherwise provided by law: 
 
 1. To acquire or prepare a comprehensive 
 city plan for the future physical development: 
 and improvement of the city, based primarily 
 upon public utility, convenience and general 
 welfare, which plan shall be known and desig- 
 nated as the official city plan. 
 
 2. To prepare and recommend to the proper 
 officers of the municipality, specific plans for 
 public improvements consistent vvith the com- 
 prehensive plan for the city. 
 
 - 1919. ch. 292. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 3. To recoininend to the city council of the 
 municipality, ordinances regulating the height, 
 location and ground areas of buildings and 
 structures, and ordinances providing for the 
 division of the city into districts or zones based 
 upon the height, ground areas and use of all 
 buildings and structures. 
 
 Sec. 3. City council may grant certain 
 pozvers. 'I'he city council of the municipality 
 may pass ordinances authorizing the city plan- 
 ning department to administer and enforce 
 ordinances relative to city planning. 
 
 Sec. 4. Commission to approve public im- 
 provements contemplated. No public improve- 
 jnents shall be authorized to be constructed in 
 the municipality until the location and design 
 of the same have been approved by the city 
 planning commission, provided in case of dis- 
 approval the commission shall communicate its 
 reasons to the city council, or other governing 
 body which has control of the construction of 
 the proposed improvement; and the majority 
 vote of such body shall be sufficient to over-rule 
 such disapproval. If the reasons for disapproval 
 are not given to the city council or other gov- 
 erning body within thirty days after the plans 
 for the public improvements are submitted to 
 the city planning commission, said plan shall be 
 deemed to be approved by the city planning 
 commission, provided that the term ""public im- 
 provement" shall as herein used include "works 
 of art" as defined in chapter 154, General Laws 
 1901. 
 
 Sec. 5. Plans, plats, etc., to be submitted to 
 commission, jar approval or rejection. All 
 plans, plats, or replats. of land hereafter laid 
 out in building lots and streets, alleys or other 
 portions of the same intended to be dedicated to 
 public use, or for the use of purchasers or owners 
 of lots fronting thereon, or adjacent thereto, and 
 located within the city limits, shall be submitted 
 to the city planning commission for its ap- 
 proval; and it shall be unlawful to receive or 
 record such plans in any public office unless the 
 same shall bear thereon, by endorsement or 
 otherwise, the approval of the city planning 
 commission. The disapproval of such plan, plats 
 or replats, by the city planning commission, 
 shall be deemed a refusal by the city of the 
 proposed dedication shown thereon. The ap- 
 proval of the commission shall be deemed an 
 acceptance by the city of the proposed dedica- 
 tion; but shall not impose any duty upon the 
 city concerning the maintenance or improve- 
 ments of any such dedicated parts, until the 
 proper authorities of the city shall have made 
 actual appropriations of the same by entry, use 
 or improvements. 
 
 The duty of the city planning commission in 
 accepting or rejecting a plat shall be deemed 
 legislative and discretionary and not adminis- 
 trative. 
 
 Sec. 6. This act shall take effect and be in 
 force from and after the date of its pas.sage and 
 appro\'al. 
 
 Approved .April 17. 1919. 
 
 2. New Jersey Plan and Art Commis- 
 sion Act^ 
 
 1. This act ma\' be referred to as the ""Mu- 
 nicipal Plan and .-\rt Commission Act." It shall 
 apply to all third class cities, fourth class cities, 
 boroughs, towns, townships and incorporated 
 villages of this State (and only to those) which 
 shall accept the provisions of this act as herein- 
 after staled. 
 
 2. Any municipality mentioned in section one 
 of this act may be a majority vote of the mayor 
 and common council, or other similar governing 
 body of whatsoever name called, authorize the 
 appointment of a municipal plan and art com- 
 mission for such municipality. Such commis- 
 sion shall consist of six men, all of whom shall 
 reside in said municipality, and one of whom 
 may be a member of the common council or 
 other similar governing body of the municipal- 
 ity. The commissioners shall be appointed by 
 the mayor or other head of the municipality, 
 with the advice and consent of the council or 
 other similar governing body, as the case may 
 be. Each commissioner shall be appointed for 
 a term of six years, except that when the com- 
 mission shall be first created, one commissioner 
 shall be appointed for a term of six years, one 
 for a term of five years, one for a term of four 
 years, one for a term of three years, one for a 
 term of two years and one for a term of one 
 year, except also, in case of any vacancy oc- 
 curring in said commission, the vacancy shall be 
 filled for the balance of the unexpired term in 
 each instance as it arises; to the end that such 
 commission shall be maintained as a continuing 
 body with normally one commissioner to be 
 nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the 
 council in each year. In every municipality in 
 which a municipal plan and art commission 
 shall be appointed under the provisions of this 
 act, the mayor or other executive head of such 
 municipality shall also be ex-officio a member of 
 such commission during his term of office. 
 
 3. After January first, one thousand nine 
 hundred and sixteen, in ev^ery municipality 
 mentioned in section one of this act which shall 
 not ha\-e constituted a municipal plan and art 
 commission in the manner prescribed in section 
 two of this act, legal voters residing therein in 
 number equaling or exceeding twenty per centum 
 of the \-otes cast in the last preceding election 
 for municipal officers may, by petition addressed 
 to the clerk of the county in which such munic- 
 ipality is located, call an election of the legal 
 voters of such municipality to vote on the ques- 
 tion as to whether such municipality shall have 
 a municipal plan and art commission under the 
 provisions of this act. Such petition, with the 
 execution thereof pro\'en by the oath of one or 
 more witnesses, shall be filed with said county 
 clerk. The election shall be held at the same 
 time as the next succeeding election of members 
 of the General Assembly of the State of New 
 Jersey, following the filing of said petition and 
 by the same election officers. The ballot shall 
 read as follows: 
 
 ' 1915. ch. 188, as amended, 1920, ch. 216, 
 and supplemented, 1916, ch. 175. 
 
26 
 
 xN'ATlOXAL MLWICIPAL REMEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 
 For the appointment of a Munici- 
 pal Plan and Art Commission to 
 serve without pa>-. 
 
 
 Against the appointment of a 
 Municipal Plan and Art Commis- 
 sion to serve without pay. 
 
 and shall be printed on and as a part of the 
 regular official ballot. If a cross mark shall be 
 placed in the square opposite the words "For 
 the appointment of a Municipal Plan and Art 
 Commission, to serve without pa\-," the vote 
 shall be recorded as in favor of the proposition. 
 If a cross mark shall be placed in the square 
 opposite the words "Against the appointment 
 of a Municipal Plan and Art Commission, to 
 serve without pay," the vote shall be regarded 
 as against the proposition. The result of such 
 election shall be declared by a certificate or 
 certificates signed by the election officers con- 
 ducting such election and within three days 
 after such election, such certificate or certificates 
 shall be filed with said county clerk, and a 
 duplicate of such certificate or certificates shall 
 within said three days also be filed with the 
 mayor or other head of the governing body of 
 the municipality. If the majority of the votes 
 cast at any election on the question of appoint- 
 ing a commission under the provisions of this 
 act shall be in favor of the appointment of a 
 municipal plan and art commission, such mu- 
 nicipal plan and art commission shall be ap- 
 pointed by the mayor or other head of the mu- 
 nicipality, with the advice and consent of the 
 council or other similar body in such munici- 
 pality, within sixty days after the date of such 
 election. 
 
 4. Between December fifteenth and Decem- 
 ber thirty-first in each year, everv such com- 
 mission appointed under the provisions of this 
 act shall prepare and deliver to the mayor and 
 council or other head of the municipality in 
 which such commission exists, an itemized state- 
 ment of the amount of money, if any, estimated 
 to be necessary for the work of said commission 
 for the coming calendar year from January first 
 to December thirty-first inclusive, which state- 
 ment shall be for the information of the mayor 
 and council or other go\'erning body of the mu- 
 nicipality, which governing body in its discre- 
 tion may appropriate in the same manner as 
 other appropriations are made, the amount of 
 such estimate or any portion thereof, and the 
 amount so appropriated shall be assessed, levied 
 and collected in the same manner as moneys 
 appropriated for other purpo.ses in such munici- 
 pality shall be assessed, levied and collected. 
 
 5. All questions concernine the location or 
 acceptance of any public place, playground, 
 parkway, street, avenue, hishway. common, 
 boulevard, square, park, or of the desi'.m, accept- 
 ance or location of any bridae, viaduct, street or 
 park fixtures or structures, or any public build- 
 
 ing (including public library) or works of art, 
 proposed to be erected either wholly or partly 
 b}' public or private funds, for the benefit of the 
 public in such municipality, shall be referred to 
 such commission by the mayor and council or 
 other similar governing body of such munici- 
 pality for consideration and report before final 
 action shall be taken thereon by the mayor and 
 council or other similar governing body. If no 
 report shall be made by said commission within 
 sixty days after the receipt of such reference by 
 the commission, the mayor and council or other 
 similar governing body, may proceed without a 
 report, as if this law had not been enacted. If 
 a report shall be made by the commission, ac- 
 tion by the mayor and council or other similar 
 governing body in harmony with the recom- 
 mendations of such report, may be taken by a 
 majority vote, but no action by the mayor and 
 council or other similar governing body ad- 
 \-erse to the recommendations of such report 
 shall be valid, unless such action shall be taken 
 by a two-thirds vote of the mayor and council 
 or other similar governing body. 
 
 The term ''works of art" as used in this sec- 
 tion, shall apply to and include all monuments, 
 fountains, mural decorations, sculptures, and all 
 structures of a permanent character intended 
 for ornament or commemoration. 
 
 This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 Approved April 6, 191 5. 
 
 The above act has been amended by 
 adding the following:^ 
 
 1. When any municipal plan and art com- 
 mission appointed under the terms of the act to 
 which this is a supplement determines in its 
 judgment that it is advisable and for the best 
 interests of the city, borough or other munici- 
 pality in which it is appointed, to prepare plans 
 for the systematic and further development and 
 betterment of such municipality, it shall then be 
 the duty of such municipal plan and art com- 
 mission to prepare such plans, and in doing so 
 the said municipal plan and art commission may 
 consider and investigate any subject matter 
 tending to the development and betterment of 
 such municipality and make such recommenda- 
 tions as it may deem advisable concerning its 
 government and for any purpose make or cause 
 to be made surveys, plans or maps. It shall 
 have the power and authority to employ experts 
 and clerks and to pay for their services, and to 
 pay for such other expenses as such commission 
 may lawfully incur under the powers hereby 
 granted, including the necessary disbursements 
 incurred by its members in the performance of 
 their duties as members of said commission, 
 pro\-ided such disbursements shall have been 
 authorized by such commission; and further 
 provided, that the total amount so expended 
 for all purposes in any one year shall not ex- 
 ceed the appropriation for such year as hereto- 
 fore provided. 
 
 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 Approved March 17. 1916. 
 
 1 1916. ch. 175. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 27 
 
 3. Nezv York Planning Acf^ 
 
 Sec. I. The general municipal law Is hereby 
 amended by adding thereto a new article to be 
 numbered tweh'e-a, to be entitled city and vil- 
 lage planning commissions, and to read as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Article 12-a 
 
 City and Village Planning Commission 
 Sec. 234. Creation, Appointment and Qual- 
 ifications. 
 
 235. Officers, Expenses and Assistance. 
 
 236. General Powers. 
 
 237. Maps and Recommendations. 
 
 238. Private Streets. 
 
 239. Rules. 
 
 239-a. Construction of Article. 
 
 Sec. 234. Creation, appointment and quali- 
 fications. Each city and incorporated village is 
 hereby authorized and empowered to create a 
 commission to be known as the city or village 
 planning commission. Such commission shall 
 be so created in incorporated villages by resolu- 
 tion of the trustees, in cities by ordinance of the 
 common council, except that in cities of the 
 first class, having more than a million inhabi- 
 tants, it shall be by resolution of the board of 
 estimate and apportionment or other similar 
 local authority. In cities of the first class such 
 commission shall consist of not more than eleven, 
 in cities of the second class of not more than 
 nine, in cities of the third class and incorporated 
 villages of not more than seven members. Such 
 ordinance or resolution shall specify the public 
 officer or body of said municipality that shall 
 appoint such commissioners, and shall provide 
 that the appointment of as nearly as possible 
 one-third of them shall be for a term of one 
 year, one-third for a term of two years, and 
 one-third for a term of three years and that at 
 the expiration of such terms, the terms of office 
 of their successors shall be three years; so that 
 the term of office of one-thir3 of such commis- 
 sioners, as nearly as possible, shall expire each 
 year. All appointments to fill vacancies shall 
 be for the unexpired term. Not more than one- 
 third of the members of said commission shall 
 hold any other public office in said city or vil- 
 lage. In. a county containing a population of 
 over three hundred thousand, and adjoining a 
 city of the first class, one of the members of 
 such commission may reside outside of such 
 village. 
 
 Sec. 235. Officers, Expenses and Assistance. 
 The commission shall elect annually a chairman 
 from its own members. It shall have the power 
 and authority to employ experts, clerks, and a 
 secretar}', and to pay for their services and such 
 other expenses as may be necessary and proper, 
 not exceeding in all the annual appropriation 
 that may be made by said city or village for said 
 commission. The body creating the commission 
 shall by ordinance or resolution provide what 
 compensation, if any, each of such commissioners 
 shall receive for his services as such commis- 
 sioner. Each city and incorporated village is 
 
 ^ 1913, ch. 699. Amended, 1920, ch. 377. 
 
 hereby authorized and empowered to make such 
 appropriation as it may see fit for such expenses 
 and compensation, such appropriations to be 
 made by those officers or bodies in such city or 
 village having charge of the appropriation of the 
 public funds. 
 
 Sec. 236. General Powers. The body creat- 
 ing such planning commission may, at any time 
 by ordinance or resolution, provide that the 
 following matters, or any one or more of them, 
 shall be referred for report thereon, to such 
 commission by the board, commission, commis- 
 sioner or other public officer or officers of said 
 city or village which is the final authority there- 
 on before final action thereon by such authority: 
 the adoption of any map or plan of .said city or 
 incorporated village, or part thereof, including 
 drainage and sewer or water system plans or 
 maps, and plans or maps for any public water 
 front, or marginal street, or public structure 
 upon, in or in connection with such front or 
 street, or for any dredging, filling or fixing of 
 lines with relation to said front; any change of 
 any such maps or plans; the location of any 
 public structure upon, in or In connection with, 
 or fixing lines with relation to said front; the 
 location of any public building, bridge, statue 
 or monument, highway, park, parkway, square, 
 playground or recreation ground, or public open 
 place of said city or village. In default of any 
 such ordinance or resolution all of said matters 
 shall be so referred to said planning commission. 
 
 The body creating such planning commission 
 may, at any time, by ordinance or resolution, 
 fix the time within which such planning com- 
 mission shall report upon any matter or_ class 
 of matters to be referred to it, with or without 
 the further provision that in default of report 
 within the time so fixed, the planning commis- 
 sion shall forfeit the right further to suspend 
 action, as aforesaid with regard to the particular 
 matter upon which It has so defaulted. In 
 default of. any such ordinance or resolution, no 
 such action shall be taken until such report ' is 
 so received, and no adoption, change, fixlng_ or 
 location as aforesaid by said final authority, 
 prior thereto, shall be valid. No ordinance or 
 resolution shall deprive said planning commis- 
 sion of its right or relieve it of Its duty, to re- 
 port, at such time as it deems proper upon any 
 matter at any time referred to it. 
 
 This section shall not be construed as Intend- 
 ed to limit or Impair the power of any art com- 
 mission, park commission or commissioner, now 
 or hereafter existing by virtue of any provision 
 of law, to refuse consent to the acceptance by 
 any municipality of the gift of any work of art 
 to said municipality, without reference of the 
 matter, by reason of Its _ proposed _ location or 
 otherwise,' to said planning commission. Nor 
 shall this section be construed as intended to 
 limit or impair any other power of any such art 
 commission or affect the same, except In so far 
 as It provides for reference or report, or both, 
 on any matter before final action thereon by 
 said art commission. 
 
 Sec. 237. Maps and Recommendations. Such 
 planning commission may cause to be made 
 
28 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 a map or maps of said city or village or any 
 portion thereof, or of any land outside the limits 
 of said city or village so near or so related there- 
 to that in the opinion of said planning commis- 
 sion it should be so mapped. Such plans may 
 show not only such matters as by law have been 
 or may be referred to the planning commission, 
 but also any and all matters and things with 
 relation to the plan of said city or village which 
 to said planning commission seem necessary and 
 proper. Including recommendations and changes 
 suggested by it and an\- report at any time 
 made, may include any of the above. Such 
 planning commission may obtain expert assist- 
 ance in the making of any such maps or reports, 
 or in the investigations necessary and proper 
 with relation thereto. 
 
 Sec. 238. Private Streets. The body creat- 
 ing such planning commission may at any time, 
 by ordinance or resolution pro\'ide that no plan, 
 plot or description, showing the layout of any 
 highway or street upon private property, or of 
 building lots in connection with or in relation to 
 such highway or street shall, within the limits 
 of any municipality ha\'ing a planning commis- 
 sion, as aforesaid, be received for record in the 
 office of the clerk of the county where such real 
 property is situated, until a copy of said plan, 
 plot or description has been filed with said com- 
 mission and it has certified, with relation there- 
 to, its approval thereof. Such certificate shall 
 be recorded as a part of the record of said orig- 
 inal instrument containing said plan, plot or de- 
 scription. No such street or highwa\' which has 
 not received the approval of the planning com- 
 mission shall be accepted by said city or village 
 until the matter has been referred to such com- 
 mission under the provision of section two hun- 
 dred and thirty-six of this article. But if any 
 such street is plotted or laid out in accordance 
 with the map of said municipality, adopted ac- 
 cording to law, then it shall not be necessary to 
 file such copy, or obtain or record .«uch cer- 
 tificate. 
 
 Sec. 239. Rules. Such commission may make 
 rules not contrary to law, to govern its action 
 in carrying out the provisions of this article. 
 
 Sec. 239-a. Construction of Article. This 
 article shall be construed as the grant of addi- 
 tional power and authority to cities and incor- 
 porated villages, and not as intended to limit or 
 impair any existing power or authority of any 
 city or village. 
 
 Any city or incorporated village in order to 
 appoint a planning commission under this article 
 shall recite, in the ordinance or resolution so 
 creating the commission, the fact that it is 
 created under this article. 
 
 Sec. 2. This act shall take effect immedi- 
 ately. 
 
 4. The Neiv York City Art Commis- 
 sion Law 
 
 Art Commission. Charter, Title 2 
 Sec. 633. Art commission; how constituted. 
 634. Members of commission, how cho- 
 sen; vacancies. 
 
 63s. 
 636. 
 
 637. 
 
 638. 
 639- 
 
 Officers. 
 
 Offices to be provided; expenses, 
 how met. 
 
 All works of art to be submitted 
 to and approved by the com- 
 mission. 
 
 Time for decision limited. 
 
 Removal or relocation of works 
 of art; duty of commission. 
 
 Art Commission; How Constituted 
 
 Sec. 633. There shall be an Art Commission 
 of the City of New York, composed as follows: 
 
 1. The mayor of the city of New York, ex- 
 officio. 
 
 2. The president of the Metropolitan Muse- 
 um of Art, ex-officio. 
 
 3. The president of the New ^'ork Public 
 Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations), 
 ex-officio. 
 
 4. The president of the Brooklyn Institute of 
 Arts and Sciences, ex-officio. 
 
 One painter, one sculptor and one architect, 
 all residents of the city of New York; and three 
 other residents of said city, none of whom shall 
 be a painter, sculptor or architect or member of 
 any other profession in the fine arts. All of the 
 six last mentioned shall be appointed by the 
 mayor from a list, of not less than three times 
 the number to be appointed, proposed by the 
 fine arts federation of New York. In all 
 matters of which such commission takes cog- 
 nizance pertaining to work under the special 
 charge of a commissioner or department, the 
 commissioner having such special charge shall 
 act as a member of the commission. Each of 
 the aforesaid presidents may appoint a trustee 
 of the institution or corporation of which he is 
 president to serve in his place as ex-officio mem- 
 ber of said commission. Such appointment 
 shall be in writing and shall be revocable at any 
 time by such president. It shall terminate 
 whenever he ceases to be president. Until the 
 appointment be so revoked or terminated, any 
 trustee so appointed shall be an ex-officio mem- 
 ber of said commission with like powers and 
 duties as the president who has appointed him. 
 
 Members of Commission; How Chosen; Va- 
 cancies 
 
 Sec 634. The painter, sculptor and archi- 
 tect, members of the commission, shall choose 
 by lot one, two, and three year terms of office; 
 the three other appointed members of the com- 
 mission shall also choose by lot one, two and 
 three year terms of office, and the appointment 
 of their successors, after the expiration of the 
 first year of this commission, shall be for a term 
 of three years. All appointments to fill va- 
 cancies shall be for the unexpired term. In 
 case any vacancy shall occur in the commission. 
 by reason of death, resignation, incapacity, re- 
 fusal to serve, or otherwise, the vacancy shall 
 be filled by appointment, as provided in section 
 six hundred and thirty-three of this act. In 
 case the Fine .^rts Federation shall fail to pre- 
 sent a list of nominees as aforesaid within three 
 months from the time when any appointment is 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 29 
 
 to be made, the mayor shall appoint without 
 
 such nomination. 
 
 Officers 
 
 Sec. 635. The commission shall serve with- 
 out compensation as such, and shall elect a pres- 
 ident, vice-president and secretary from its own 
 members, whose terms of office shall be for one 
 year and until their successors are elected and 
 have qualified. The commission shall have 
 power to adopt its own rules of procedure. Five 
 commissioners shall constitute a quorum. 
 Offices to be Provided; Expenses, How Met 
 
 Sec. 636. Suitable offices shall be provided 
 for the commission by the board of estimate and 
 apportionment. The expenses of the commission 
 shall be paid by the city; and the amount of 
 the same shall be fixed annually by the board of 
 estimate and apportionment and the board of 
 aldermen. 
 
 All Works of Art to be Submitted to and Ap- 
 proved by the Commission 
 Sec. 637. Hereafter no work of art shall be- 
 come the property of the city of New York, by 
 purchase, gift or otherwise, unless such work of 
 art or a design of the same, together with the 
 proposed location of such work of art, shall first 
 have been submitted to and approved by the 
 commission; nor shall such work of art until 
 approved be contracted for, erected or placed in 
 or upon, or allowed to extend over or upon any 
 street, avenue, square, common, park, public 
 building, or other public place belonging to the 
 city. The commission may, when they deem 
 proper, also require a complete model of the 
 proposed work of art to be submitted. The 
 term "work of art" as used in this title shall 
 apply to and include all paintings, mural dec- 
 orations, stained glass, statutes, bas-reliefs or 
 other sculptures; monuments, fountains, arches, 
 or other structures of a permanent character in- 
 tended for ornament or commemoration. No 
 existing work of art in the possession of the city 
 shall be removed, relocated or altered in any 
 way without the similar approval of the com- 
 mission, except as provided In section six hun- 
 dred and thirty-nine of this act. The commis- 
 sion shall act In a similar capacity, with similar 
 powers. In respect to the designs of buildings, 
 bridges, approaches, gates, fences, lamps or other 
 structures erected or to be erected upon land 
 belonging to the city, and in respect to the lines, 
 grades and plotting of public ways and grounds 
 and In respect of arches, bridges, structures and 
 approaches which are the property of any cor- 
 poration or private Individual, and which shall 
 extend over or upon any street, avenue, high- 
 way, park or public place belonging to the city, 
 and said commission shall so act and Its ap- 
 proval shall be required for every such struc- 
 ture which shall hereafter be erected or con- 
 tracted for; except that In case of any such 
 structure which shall hereafter be erected or con- 
 tracted for at a total expense not exceeding two 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the approval 
 of said commission shall not be required, if the 
 mayor or the board of aldermen shall request 
 said commission not to act. But this section 
 
 shall not be construed as Intended to impair the 
 power of the park board to refuse its consent to 
 the erection or acceptance of public monuments 
 or memorials or other works of any sort within 
 any park, square or public place in the city. 
 Time for Decision Limited 
 
 Sec. 638. If the commission shall fail to de- 
 cide upon any matter submitted to It within 
 sixty days after such submission, its decision 
 shall be deemed unnecessary. 
 
 Removal or Relocation of IForks of Art; Duty 
 
 of Commission 
 
 Sec. 639. In case the immediate removal or 
 relocation of any existing work of art shall be 
 deemed necessary by the mayor, the commission 
 shall within forty-eight hours after notice from 
 him approve or disapprove of such removal or 
 relocation, and in case of their failure to so act 
 within fort}'-eIght hours after the receipt of such 
 notice, they shall be deemed to have approved 
 the same. 
 
 5. Ohio. Planning Provisions of 
 Charter and Ordinances of Cleve- 
 land 
 
 Charter of City of Cleveland 
 Sec. 77. There shall be a city plan commis- 
 sion to be appointed by the mayor with power 
 to contrBl, In the manner provided by ordinance, 
 the design and location of works of art which 
 are, or may become, the property of the city; 
 the plan, design and location of public buildings, 
 harbors, bridges, viaducts, street fixtures and 
 other structures and appurtenances; the removal, 
 relocation and alteration of any such works be- 
 longing to the city; the location, extension and 
 platting of streets, parks and other public places, 
 and of new areas; and the preparation of plans 
 for the future physical development and im- 
 provement of the city. 
 
 Ordinance of City of Cleveland 
 Sec. 4. Hereafter no public building, har- 
 bor, bridge, viaduct, street fixture, or other 
 structure or appurtenance shall be located, con- 
 structed, erected, renewed, relocated, or altered 
 until and unless such plan, deslsn or location 
 shall have been submitted to and approved by 
 the commission; and no such work when com- 
 pleted shall be accepted by the city until and 
 unless it shall have been approved by the com- 
 mission as provided In sec. 77 of the City 
 Charter. 
 
 6. Pennsylvania. Planning Act for 
 
 Third Class Cities'^ 
 
 Sec. 5. All plans, plots, or replots of lands 
 laid out in building lots, and the streets, alleys, 
 or other portions of the same Intended to be 
 dedlqated to public use, or for the use of pur- 
 chasers or owners of lots fronting thereon or 
 adjacent thereto, and located within the city 
 limits of a city of the third class or for a dis- 
 tance of three miles outside thereof,^ shall be 
 submitted to the city planning commission and 
 
30 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 approved by il before it shall be recorded. And 
 it shall be unlawful to receive or record such 
 plan in any public office unless the same shall 
 bear thereon, by endorsement or otherwise, the 
 approval of the city planning commission. The 
 disapproval of any such plans by the city plan- 
 ning commission shall be deemed a refusal of 
 the proposed dedication shown thereon. The 
 approval of the commission shall be deemed an 
 acceptance of the proposed dedication; but shall 
 not impose any duty upon the city concerning 
 the maintenance or improvement of any such 
 dedicated parts, until the proper authorities of 
 the city shall have made actual appropriation 
 of the same by entry, use, or improvement. No 
 sewer, water, or gas-main, or pipes, or other 
 improvement, shall be voted or made within the 
 area under the jurisdiction of said commission, 
 for the use of any such purchasers or owners; 
 nor shall any permit for connection with or 
 other use of any such improvement existing, or 
 for any other reason made, be given to any such 
 purchasers or owners until such plan is so ap- 
 proved. Where the jurisdictional limit of three 
 miles outside of the city limits, as provided in 
 this section, may conflict with the zone of sim- 
 ilar character connected with another city of the 
 third class, the jurisdiction of said commission 
 shall extend only to the point equidistant be- 
 tween the city limits and the limits of said mu- 
 nicipality. ^ 
 Approved the i6th day of July, A. D. 191 3. 
 
 1 1 1, 
 
 METROPOLIT.^N COMMISSIONS 
 
 Sec. I. The governor, by and with the con- 
 sent of the council, shall appoint three persons, 
 and the mayor of Boston shall appoint two per- 
 sons, who shall constitute a board to be known 
 as the Metropolitan Planning Board. The 
 members of said board shall hold office for 
 terms of five years each beginning with the first 
 Monday in May in the year nineteen hundred 
 and twelve. Upon the expiration of the terms 
 of the members so first appointed the governor 
 shall appoint three members, one to serve for 
 five years, one for three years and one for one 
 year, and the mayor shall appoint two members, 
 one to serve for four years and one for two 
 years. Thereafter the respective appointments 
 by the governor and mayor shall be for terms 
 of five years. The governor shall appoint the 
 chairman of the said board. 
 
 ^ 191 3, No. 406. 
 
 ^In 191 1, Massachusetts (.Acts and Resolves, 
 ch. 84) caused an investigation to be made as 
 to the desirability of appointing a planning 
 commission for the Metropolitan District of 
 Boston and its vicinity, a report of which was 
 made to the legislature of the state in 191 2 
 (House Report No. 1615.) That report rec- 
 ommended the appointment of such a commis- 
 sion and transmitted with its report a draft of 
 an act (never passed) for that purpose, as 
 above. 
 
 Sec. 2. The jurisdiction and powers of said 
 board shall extend to and may be exercised in 
 the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Ever- 
 ett, Lynn, Maiden, Medford, Melrose, Newton. 
 Quincy, Somerville, Waltham, and Woburn, and 
 in the towns of Arlington, Belmont, Braintree, 
 Brookline, Canton, Cohasset, Dedham. Dover, 
 Hingham, Hull, Milton, Nahant, Needham, 
 Revere, Saugus. Stoneham, Swampscott, Wake- 
 field, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, 
 Weymouth, Winchester, and Winthrop, and the 
 said cities and towns together with any others 
 that may be included by subsequent legislation 
 shall constitute the metropolitan district within 
 the meaning of this act. 
 
 Sec. 3. Except as hereinafter expressly pro- 
 vided nothing in this act shall be construed as 
 aiTecting the powers now vested by law in any 
 public authority. 
 
 Sec. 4. Duties and powers of the said board: 
 
 A. It shall be the duty of the said board to 
 make or obtain surveys of the metropolitan 
 district as herein defined, and for the purpose 
 of making such surveys it shall have the right 
 to do all reasonable and necessary acts. 
 
 B. It shall be the duty of the said board to 
 make a comprehensive plan or series of plans for 
 the present and probable future requirements of 
 the metropolitan district in respect to a system 
 of traffic thoroughfares and other main high- 
 ways, transportation facilities of every sort 
 suitably co-ordinated, sites for public buildings, 
 parks, playgrounds and other public uses, and 
 any and all public improvements tending to the 
 advantage of the metropolitan district as a place 
 of business and of residence. 
 
 C. It shall be the duty of the said board to 
 study and, in its discretion, it may recommend 
 such legislation applicable to the metropolitan 
 district as will facilitate the prevention and 
 relief of congestion of population and of traffic, 
 the better control of fire hazard, the better dis- 
 tribution of areas and of buildings for the pur- 
 poses of residence, manufacturing, trade and 
 transportation, the preservation of the natural 
 and historic features of the district, the beauti- 
 fying thereof, the co-ordination of transporta- 
 tion facilities, the best method of financing and 
 assessing the cost of public improvements or 
 any other matter relating to a co-ordinated ci\'ic 
 development within the said metropolitan dis- 
 trict. 
 
 D. It shall be the duty of the said board to 
 examine and make public reports upon all plans 
 directly affecting the metropolitan district or 
 more than one city or town therein made under 
 authority of law. and for the purpose of such 
 examination it shall be the duty of any existing 
 public authority before making any contract or 
 agreement for the execution of plans of character 
 aforesaid for any public improvements within 
 the metropolitan district to inform the Metro- 
 politan Planning Board as to such plans and 
 give the said board reasonable opportunity for 
 examining the same. The said reports may 
 specifically approve or disapprove of said plans 
 in whole or in part as the said board may by its 
 examination determine, and shall state the rea- 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 31 
 
 sons for such approval or disapproval. Wher- 
 ever it is possible and desirable to effect a co- 
 ordination of the plans for improvements within 
 the said metropolitan district of two or more 
 agencies, whether now existing or hereafter cre- 
 ated and with local or general jurisdiction, it 
 shall be the duty of the said board to seek to 
 effect such a co-ordination. 
 
 E. If in the opinion of the said board any 
 plan for a public improvement proposed for 
 execution by the legally constituted authority in 
 any county, city or town within the district 
 conflicts with some existing or proposed public 
 improvement of metropolitan character the 
 board shall so inform the executive of the said 
 county, city or town, whereupon the said coun- 
 ty, city or town may abandon the proposed im- 
 provement, or shall execute the same in accord- 
 ance with the plan of the said Metropolitan 
 Planning Board, or shall postpone action upon 
 the question of execution for not less than one 
 year, after which such lawful action may be 
 taken as the said county, city or town through 
 its legally constituted authority may deem ex- 
 pedient. 
 
 F. The said board shall have the power when 
 so requested by the authorities of any county, 
 city or town within the said metropolitan dis- 
 trict to furnish assistance for the making of 
 plans or specifications or the supervision of the 
 execution of public works at the cost of such 
 assistance or supervision, 
 
 G. The board may place the question of the 
 execution of any given metropolitan improve- 
 ment within the limits of the metropolitan dis- 
 trict before the government of each political 
 unit in which such improvement is physically 
 situated and before any succeeding government 
 in its discretion. It shall present estimates of 
 cost with any plans for improvements whene\-e]; 
 the question of execution is placed before public 
 authorities. Every proposed improvement or 
 any part thereof when accepted by the govern- 
 ment of the municipal unit in which it is situ- 
 ated, or by any other constituted authority hav- 
 ing power to make such improvement, or part 
 thereof, shall be executed by such government 
 or authority whether now existing or hereafter 
 created. 
 
 Sec. 5. The approval by the board of any 
 plan or plans accepted by municipal authorities 
 or boards of county commissioners or submitted 
 to said Metropolitan Planning Board as herein- 
 before provided, may in set terms designate and 
 classify the improvements therein shown or any 
 portion of them as ordinary or extraordinary 
 metropolitan Improvements. The cost of ordi- 
 nary metropolitan Improvements executed under 
 the provisions of this act shall be paid as fol- 
 lows: sixty-five per cent by the municipality or 
 municipalities in which the improvement is 
 physically situated; twenty-five per cent by the 
 remaining cities and towns constituting the said 
 district In proportions determined by the com- 
 mission appointed by the supreme judicial court 
 as hereinafter provided and ten per cent by the 
 commonwealth. The cost of extraordinary met- 
 ropolitan improvements executed under the pro- 
 
 visions of this act shall be paid as follows: such 
 proportion thereof, not exceeding sixty-five per 
 cent, as may be determined by the said com- 
 mission appointed by the supreme judicial court 
 as aforesaid, by the municipality or municipal- 
 ities in which the improvement is physically sit- 
 uated; such amount, not less than twenty-five 
 per cent thereof, as may be determined by the 
 aforesaid commission by the remaining cities and 
 towns constituting the said district, in propor- 
 tions determined as aforesaid and ten per cent 
 by the commonwealth. 
 
 Sec. 6. To meet the cost of the improve- 
 ments executed in accordance with the provi- 
 sions of this act. the treasurer and receiver gen- 
 eral shall upon application of the Metropolitan 
 Planning Board, Issue scrip or certificates of 
 debt in the name and on behalf of the common- 
 wealth and under its seal to the amount an- 
 nually necessary for five years from the date of 
 the first of such applications. In no one year 
 shall the proportion to be paid by the common- 
 wealth as its part in the expenses authorized by 
 section five of this act exceed five hundred thou- 
 sand dollars and the amount of scrip or certifi- 
 cates of debt issued In any one year as aforesaid 
 shall be limited accordingly. All loans issued by 
 the commonwealth in accordance herewith shall 
 be serial loans and shall be made payable in 
 annual instalments in the manner authorized by 
 section thirteen of chapter tjnenty-seven of the 
 Revised Laws as amended by section one of 
 chapter three hundred and forty-one of the acts 
 of the year nineteen hundred and eight. Such 
 scrip or certificates of debt shall be designated 
 on the face as the Metropolitan Planning Board 
 Loan, shall be countersigned by the governor, 
 and shall be deemed a pledge of the faith and 
 credit of the commonwealth, and the principal 
 and interest shall be paid at the times specified 
 therein In gold coin of the United States; and 
 said scrip or certificates of debt shall be sold and 
 disposed of at public auction or in such other 
 mode and at such times and prices, and In such 
 amounts and at such rates of Interest as the 
 governor and council shall deem best. Any 
 premium realized on the sale of said scrip or 
 certificates of debt shall be applied to the pay- 
 ment of the interest on said loan as it accrues. 
 
 Sec. 7. The supreme judicial court sitting in 
 equity shall In the year nineteen hundred and 
 twelve and every year thereafter on the applica- 
 tion of the Metropolitan Planning Board, or of 
 the attorney of any of the cities or towns in the 
 metropolitan district, and after notice to each 
 of said cities and towns, appoint three commis- 
 sioners, neither of whom shall be a resident of 
 any of said cities or towns, who shall, after such 
 notice and hearing as they shall deem just and 
 equitable, determine the proportions In which 
 each of said cities and towns shall pay money 
 into the treasur)' of the commonwealth for the 
 year following that in which the application is 
 made to meet the interest, serial loan require- 
 ments, expenses, including the expenses of ad- 
 ministration, and cost for such year. Said com- 
 missions shall make such apportionment on or 
 before the first day of March in each year. 
 
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 The said commissioners shall determine the sev- 
 eral amounts to be paid by the cities and towns 
 of the metropolitan district o.hcr than those 
 in which ordinary or extraordinary improve- 
 ments are situated to the aggregate amount of 
 twenty-five per cent of the tn'.A cost of im- 
 provements classified as ordinary. Jn the case 
 of improvements classified as extraordinary, they 
 shall also determine how far, if at all the pro- 
 portion of the total cost of such improvements 
 to be paid by the municipalities in which they 
 are physically situated shall be reduced below 
 sixty-five per cent and correspondingly increased 
 as regards some or all of the remaining munici- 
 palities comprising the metropolitan district. 
 The proportion to be ultimate!}" payable by the 
 commonwealth shall be ten per cent of the total 
 cost whether for ordinary or extraordinary im- 
 provements. The amounts severally to be paid 
 by the separate municipalities shall be appor- 
 tioned by the said commissioners on the basis of 
 benefit in each case and with due account of 
 population, valuation and any other thing which, 
 in the opinion of the said commission, should 
 affect the said proportional contributions: pro- 
 vided, however, that nothing herein shall be 
 construed to change the apportionment rf the 
 cost for public improvements to \\lui;h the com- 
 monwealth already contributes under existing 
 laws.^ 
 
 Sec. 8. Said board may appoint such office 
 and technical assistants as it seems necessary' 
 to carry out the purposes of this act. It shall 
 determine the duties and compensations of such 
 appointees and remove them at pleasure. It 
 shall be supplied with a suitable office or offices 
 for its work and for its maps, plans, documents 
 and records. The chairman of the said board 
 shall receive a salary of ten thousand dollars a 
 year and each of the other four mem.bers there- 
 of shall receive a salarv of one tlicusand dol- 
 lars a year. The salaries of the commissioners 
 and their appointees and the expenses of ad- 
 ministration shall be paid from the treasury of 
 the commonwealth and shall be thereafter as- 
 sessed ninety per cent thereof upon the cities 
 and towns of the metropolitan district as here- 
 in defined in proportions to be determined by a 
 commission appointed by the supreme judicial 
 court sitting In eo,uity as hereinbefore provided 
 and ten per cent by the commonwealth. On or 
 before the second Wednesday of Januar}^ in each 
 year said board shall make a report in print of 
 Its proceedings to the general court together 
 with a full statement of Its receipts and dis- 
 bursements, and the said board may make such 
 additional reports In print or otherwise from 
 time to time as it may deem expedient. 
 
 Sec. 9. The treasurer of the commonwealth 
 shall In the year nineteen hundred and twelve 
 and in each }'ear thereafter estimate, In accord- 
 
 ^A study of the apportionment of assessments 
 according to benefits, between the city as a 
 whole, the various boroughs of the city, and the 
 land owners, will reveal some analogy between 
 it and the apportionment here suggested. See 
 Charter, sec. 972-973 (in New York City.) 
 
 ance with the proportions determined and re- 
 turned as aforesaid, the several amounts required 
 during the year beginning with the first day of 
 January from the cities and towns aforesaid, to 
 meet said Interest, serial loan requirements, sal- 
 aries, expenses, including expenses of adminis- 
 tration and cost for each year, and deficiency, 
 if any, and shall include the amount required 
 from a city or town in, and make it a part of, 
 the sum to be paid by such city or town as its 
 annual state tax and the same shall be paid by 
 the city or town Into the treasury' of the com- 
 monwealth at the time required for the pay- 
 ment, and as a part of its state tax. 
 
 Sec. 10. This act shall take effect upon its 
 passage so far as it affects the appointment 
 of the members of the Metropolitan Planning 
 Board and In all other respects this act shall 
 take effect on the first day of , nineteen 
 
 hundred and twelve. 
 
 2. Pennsylvania^ 
 
 Where.^s, The establishment of Suburban 
 Metropolitan Planning Commissions having 
 jurisdiction over territory adjacent to cities of 
 the first class is desirable. In order to provide for 
 Its proper development by the co-operation of 
 the various local governmental units In matters 
 pertaining to their common welfare; and 
 
 Whereas, It Is desirable, that there should be 
 co-ordination of effort with Urban Metropolitan 
 Planning Commissions, relating to cities of the 
 first class themselves, wherever the same may 
 exist: 
 
 Sec. I. Be It enacted, etc.. That In order 
 to secure co-ordinated, comprehensive plans of 
 highways and roads, parks and parkways, and 
 all other means of inter-communlcation, water- 
 supply, sewerage and sewage disposal, collection 
 and disposal of garbage, housing, sanitation and 
 health, playgrounds, civic centers, and other 
 public improvements, as hereinafter provided 
 for, the districts surrounding and within twenty- 
 five miles of the limits of cities of the first class, 
 whether In one or more counties, and In order to 
 prevent waste by unnecessary duplication, the 
 areas included within twenty -five miles of the 
 limits of cities of the first class shall be denom- 
 inated the Suburban Metropolitan Districts of 
 cities of the first class of Pennsylvania. W'hen 
 any city, borough or township Is partly within 
 and partly without the twent\'-five mile limit, 
 the whole of such city, borough, or township 
 shall be regarded as within the Suburban Met- 
 ropolitan District. 
 
 Sec 2. There shall be an executive depart- 
 ment created for every Suburban Metropolitan 
 District, to be known as the Department of 
 Suburban Metropolitan Planning, which shall be 
 In charge of a Suburban Metropolitan Planning 
 Commission. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Suburban Metropolitan Plan- 
 ning Commission shall be appointed by the 
 Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, and shall 
 consist of fifteen members, who may or may not 
 hold other public office, whether for profit or 
 
 2 1913, No. 226. repealed In 1915. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 33 
 
 otherwise, of whom twelve shall be residents of 
 the district iiu'olved, and three shall be resi- 
 dents of the said city of the first class, five mem- 
 bers to be appointed to serve for one year, five 
 for two years, five for three years; then, there- 
 after, each appointment to be for three years. 
 
 An appointment to fill a casual vacancy shall 
 be for the unexpired portion of the term. Nine 
 shall constitute a quorum. 
 
 The Suburban Metropolitan Planning Com- 
 mission shall make and alter rules and regula- 
 tions for its own organization and procedure, 
 consistent with the laws of the Commonwealth. 
 From its own members it shall choose a chair- 
 man and vice-chairman. Each member shall 
 serve without compensation. On or before Jan- 
 uary tenth of each and every year, the com- 
 mission shall make to the mayor of each city, to 
 councils of each borough, to the commissioners 
 of each first class township, and to the super- 
 visors of each second class township, within the 
 Suburban Metropolitan District, to the mayor 
 of the said city of the first class, and to the 
 Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, a report 
 of Its transactions and recommendations. The 
 commission may employ a secretary, engineers, 
 and other experts and persons, whose salaries 
 and wages, as well as all the other necessary 
 expenses of the commission and members there- 
 of, shall be provided for as hereinafter set forth. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Suburban Metropolitan Plan- 
 ning Commission shall make, or cause to be 
 made, and laid before the respective govern- 
 mental authorities of the district, and, in Its 
 discretion, cause to be published, a map or maps 
 of the entire district, or any portion or por- 
 tions thereof, showing any or all systems of 
 transportation, highways and roads, parks, park- 
 ways, water-supply, sewerage and sewage dis- 
 posal, collection and disposal of garbage, hous- 
 ing, sanitation, playgrounds and civic centers, 
 or of other natural physical features of the dis- 
 trict; and it shall prepare plans for any new 
 or enlarged facilities for Intercommunication, 
 parks, parkways, water-supply systems, sewers, 
 sewage disposal, garbage disposal, land plottings 
 and housing arrangements, playgrounds and civ- 
 ic centers, or any other public Improvement 
 that will affect the character of the district as 
 a whole, or more than one political unit within 
 the district, or any widening, extension or re- 
 location of the same, or any change In the ex- 
 isting township or borough or city plans, by It 
 deemed advisable. And It shall make recom- 
 mendations to the respective governmental au- 
 thorities from time to time, concerning any such 
 matters or things aforesaid, for action by the 
 respective legislative, administrative, or gov- 
 ernmental bodies thereon; and In so doing have 
 regard for the present conditions and future 
 needs and growth of the district, and the dis- 
 tribution and relative location of all the prin- 
 cipal and other streets, and railways, waterways, 
 and all other means of public travel and busi- 
 ness communications, as well as the distribution 
 and relative location of all public buildings, pub- 
 lic grounds, and open spaces devoted to public 
 
 use, and the planning, subdivision and laying 
 out for urban uses of private grounds brought 
 into the market from time to time. 
 
 Sec. 5. Any city, borough, or township, 
 within any Suburban Metropolitan I3istrict, 
 may request the Suburban Metropolitan Plan- 
 ning Commission of that district to prepare 
 plans concerning any of the subjects set forth 
 In section four of this act; whereupon It shall 
 be the duty of the Commission to prepare such 
 plans with dispatch. 
 
 Sec 6. The Suburban Metropolitan Plan- 
 ning Conimission may make recommendations" 
 to any public authorities or any corporation or 
 Individual In said districts, with reference to the 
 location of any buildings and structures to be 
 constructed by them. 
 
 Sec 7. The plans so made and laid before 
 the respective governmental authorities by the 
 Suburban Metropolitan District Planning Com- 
 mission, according to sections four, five and six, 
 shall be considered by such respective authorities, 
 and followed by them In so far as shall be de- 
 termined by each authority: provided, however, 
 that the prov^lslons of this act shall not abridge 
 or in any way affect the provisions of an act, 
 entitled "An act creating a Department of 
 Health and defining its powers and duties,'' ap- 
 proved the twenty-seventh day of April, Anno 
 Domini, one thousand nine hundred and five; 
 or the provisions of an act, entitled '"An act 
 to preserve the purity of the waters of the 
 State for the protection of the public health," 
 approved the twenty-second day of April, one 
 thousand nine hundred and five. 
 
 Sec 8. On or before January tenth of each 
 and every year, the commission shall prepare an 
 estimate of Its expenses for the ensuing year, 
 setting forth with as much detail as Is practica- 
 ble the Items of which such estimate Is com- 
 posed; and shall cause the amount of Its ex- 
 penses so estimated, after deducting the cash on 
 hand and the unpaid assessments, to be assessed 
 against the cities, boroughs, and townships with- 
 in the district, in proportion to their respective 
 tax duplicates. The itemized estimate of ex- 
 penses and a statement of the rate of assess- 
 ment shall be spread upon the minutes of the 
 Commission, which shall be kept open at all 
 times for public Inspection. Each and every 
 assessment, when certified by the chairman and 
 secretar}^ of the commission, shall constitute a 
 charge on the treasury of the respective city, 
 borough, and township, and Its immediate pay- 
 ment shall be at once provided for. The com- 
 mission shall have power to secure payment of 
 the assessment by suits of mandamus, or other- 
 wise; provided, that the rate of assessment shall 
 not exceed one-tenth of one mill. 
 
 Approved the 23rd day of May, A. D. 1913, 
 
 IV. COUNTY COMMISSION 
 
 New Jersey^ 
 
 Sec. 1 601. Every board of chosen freehold- 
 ers shall have power to prepare and adopt a 
 
 ^Laws 1918, ch. 185, Art XVI. 
 
34 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 plan for the betterment and the systematic de- 
 velopment of the county, and shall have power 
 and authority to employ experts and to pay for 
 their services, and to pay such other expenses 
 as may be necessary for the making of such 
 plan. 
 
 Sec. 1602. Every board of chosen freehold- 
 ers may, by resolution, provide for the establish- 
 ment of a commission consisting of not more 
 than seven citizens of such county to act as 
 a county plan commission. Such commission, 
 if established, shall have all the power and au- 
 thority conferred upon boards of chosen free- 
 holders by this article, except that the said com- 
 mission may expend only such sums as may be 
 appropriated for such purpose by the board of 
 chosen freeholders. 
 
 Sec. 1603. Every board of chosen freeholders 
 adopting any such plan, or any county plan 
 commission appointed hereunder, shall endeavor 
 to cause all municipalities within the county, 
 and adjoining it. to co-operate in the laying out 
 of roads and boulevards and in the betterment 
 and the systematic dev^elopment of the county. 
 
 V. CAPITAL CITY COMMISSION 
 
 California^ 
 
 Sec. I. There shall be a state capital plan- 
 ning commission composed of the governor, and 
 state librarian, ex-offido members, and three 
 members to be appointed by the governor, at 
 least one of whom shall be a recognized expert 
 in the planning of cities and towns. Appointive 
 members of this commission shall serve without 
 pay and shall hold office in the first instance for 
 terms respectively for two years, four years, and 
 six years and until their successors have been 
 appointed and qualified. Their successors shall 
 serv'e for terms of six years each and appoint- 
 ment to fill a casual vacancy shall be only for 
 the unexpired portion of the term. Three shall 
 be a quorum. They may make and alter rules 
 and regulations for their own procedure con- 
 sistent with the laws of the state. They shall 
 consider all matters in ci.ty planning affecting 
 the future needs of the state and the relation of 
 the state plans to those of the capital city. 
 
 Sec. 2. They shall confer and advise with 
 the city planning body of the capital city con- 
 ■cerning all matters affecting the metropolitan 
 district in and about the said capital city and 
 for a distance within fifteen miles outside the 
 corporate limits of the said city. They shall 
 make recommendations to the governing bodies 
 of all political units within this area and to the 
 governor with regards to all matters of Interest 
 to the state In and concerning its capital city 
 with reference to its system of roads, boulevards 
 and thoroughfares, street railway systems, smoke 
 prevention, parks, parkways and playgrounds, 
 water supply, sewage and sewage disposal, col- 
 lection and disposal of garbage, civic centers, 
 or of other natural or artificial physical features 
 of the district, and of location proposed by it for 
 
 1 191S. P- ISH- 
 
 any new or enlarged thoroughfares, street rail- 
 way system, union depot, parks, parkways, play- 
 grounds, water supply systems, sewers, sewage 
 disposal plant, garbage disposal plant and civic 
 centers, or any other public improvement that 
 will affect the character of the district as a 
 whole, to political units within the district. It 
 may make recommendations to the state, city 
 or district governmental authorities, from time 
 to time concerning any such matters or things 
 aforesaid for action by the respective legislative, 
 administrative or governing bodies thereof. In 
 so doing they shall have regard for the present 
 conditions and future needs and growth of the 
 district, and the distribution and relative loca- 
 tion of all the principal and other streets and 
 railways, waterways, and all other means of 
 public travel and business communications, as 
 well as the distribution and relative location of 
 all public buildings, public grounds and open 
 spaces devoted to the public use, and the plan- 
 ning and laying out for urban uses of private 
 grounds brought into the market from time to 
 time. 
 
 Sec. 3. The state capital planning commis- 
 sion shall make an annual report to the governor 
 which the secretary of state shall cause to be 
 printed as a public document and copies of this 
 report shall be filed with each and every gov- 
 erning body in the district under supervision. 
 
 \\. INTERSTATE PLANNING COMMISSION 
 
 The Nezv York, New Jersey Compact 
 for Planning New York Harbor- 
 
 Whereas, In the year 1834 the States of New 
 York and New Jersey did enter Into agreement 
 fixing and determining the rights and obliga- 
 tions of the two states in and about the waters 
 between the two states, especially in and about 
 the bay of New York and the Hudson River; 
 and 
 
 Whereas, Since that time the commerce of 
 the port of New York has greatly developed 
 and increased and the territory in an around 
 the port has become commercially one center 
 or district; and 
 
 Whereas, It Is confidently believed that a 
 better co-ordination of the terminal, transporta- 
 tion and other facilities of commerce in, about 
 and through the port of New York, will result 
 In great economies, benefiting the Nation, as 
 well as the States of New York and New Jer- 
 sey; and 
 
 ^Adopted by Laws, New York, 1921, ch. 
 154, and New Jersey, 1921, ch. 15; ratified by 
 resolution of the Congress of the United States, 
 approved by the President. 
 
 The plan for the development of the port, 
 proposed by the Port Authority, was accepted 
 by the two States and ratified by Congress and 
 the President in 1922. 
 
 The original Compact will be found in Laws. 
 New York, 1834, ch. 8. New Jersey, 1834, p. 
 118; which was ratified bv the United States. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 35 
 
 Whereas, The future development of such 
 terminal transportation and other facilities of 
 commerce will require the expenditure of large 
 sums of mone>'. and the cordial co-operation of 
 the States of New York and New Jersey in the 
 encouragement of the investment of capital, and 
 in the formulation and execution of the nec- 
 essar\' physical plans; and 
 
 Whereas, Such result can best be accom- 
 plished through the co-operation of the two 
 states by and through a joint or common 
 agency. 
 
 Now, Therefore, The said States of New 
 Jersey and New York do supplement and amend 
 the existing agreement of 1834 in the following 
 u'espects : 
 
 Article I. They agree to and pledge, each 
 to the other, faithful co-operation in the future 
 planning and development of the port of New 
 York, holding in high trust for the benefit of 
 the Nation the special blessings and natural 
 advantages thereof. 
 
 Article II. To that end the two States do 
 agree that there shall be created and they do 
 hereby create a district to be known . as the 
 "Port of New York District" (for brevity here- 
 inafter referred to as "The District") which 
 shall embrace the territory bounded and de- 
 scribed as follows : ^ 
 
 The boundaries of said district may be 
 changed from time to time by the action of the 
 Legislature of either State concurred in b}' the 
 Legislature of the other. 
 
 Article IIL There is hereby created "The 
 Port of New York Authority" (for brevity 
 hereinafter referred to as the "Port Authority"). 
 which shall be a bod\' corporate and politic. 
 having the powers and jurisdiction hereinafter 
 enumerated, and such other and additional pow- 
 ers as shall be conferred upon it by the legis- 
 lature of either state concurred in by the legis- 
 lature of the other, or by act or acts of con- 
 gress, as hereinafter provided. 
 
 Article IY. The port authority shall con- 
 sist of six commissioners — three resident voters 
 from the state of New York, two of whom shall 
 be resident voters of the City of New York, 
 and three resident voters from the state of New 
 Jersey, two of whom shall be resident voters 
 within the New Jersey portion of the district, 
 the New York members to be chosen by the 
 state of New York and the New Jerse\' mem- 
 bers by the state of New Jersey, in the manner 
 and for the terms fixed and determined from 
 time to time by the Legislature of each State 
 respectively, except as herein provided. 
 
 Each commissioner may be removed or sus- 
 pended from office as provided by the law of 
 the state for which he shall be appointed. 
 
 Article V. The Commissioners shall for the 
 purpose of doing business, constitute a board 
 and may adopt suitable by-laws for its manage- 
 ment. 
 
 Article \T. The port authority shall con- 
 stitute a body, both corporate and politic, with 
 full power and authority to purchase, construct, 
 lease and or operate any terminal or transpor- 
 
 ^The boundaries of the district are omitted. 
 
 tation facility within said district; and to make 
 charges for the use thereof; and for any of such 
 purposes to own, hold, lease and/or operate 
 real or personal property, to borrow money and 
 secure the same by bonds or by mortgages upon 
 any property held or to be held by it. No 
 property now or hereafter vested in or held by 
 either state, or by any county, city, borough, 
 village, township or other municipality, shall be 
 taken by the port authority, without the au- 
 thority or consent of such State, county, city, 
 borough, village, township or other municipality, 
 nor shall anything herein impair or invalidate 
 in any way any bonded indebtedness of such 
 state, county, city, borough, village, township or 
 other municipality, nor impair the provisions 
 of law regulating the payment into sinking 
 funds of revenues derived from municipal prop- 
 erty, or dedicating the revenues derived from 
 any municipal property to a specific purpose. 
 
 The powers granted in this article shall not 
 be exercised by the port authority until the leg- 
 islatures of both states shall have approved of 
 a comprehensive plan of the development of the 
 port as hereinafter provided. 
 
 Article VIL The port authority shall have 
 such additional powers and duties as may here- 
 after be delegated to or imposed upon it from 
 time to time by the action of the legislature of 
 either state concurred in by the legislature of the 
 other. Unless and until otherwise provided, it 
 shall make an annual report to the legislature of 
 both states, setting forth in detail the operations 
 and transactions conducted by it pursuant to 
 this agreement and any legislation thereunder. 
 The port authority shall not pledge the credit of 
 either state except by and with the authority of 
 the legislature thereof. 
 
 Article VII L Unless and until otherwise 
 provided, all laws now or hereafter vesting juris- 
 diction or control in the public service commis- 
 sion, or the public utilities commission, or like 
 body, within each state respectively, shall apply 
 to railroads and to any transportation, terminal 
 or other facility owned, operated, leased or con- 
 structed by the port authority, with the same 
 force and effect as if such railroad or transporta- 
 tion, terminal or other facility were owned, 
 leased, operated or constructed by a private cor- 
 poration. 
 
 Article IX. Nothing contained in this agree- 
 ment shall impair the powers of any munici- 
 pality to develop or improve port and terminal 
 facilities. 
 
 Article X. The legislatures of the two 
 states, prior to the signing of this agreement, 
 or thereafter as soon as may be practicable, will 
 adopt a plan or plans for the comprehensive de- 
 velopment of the port of New York. 
 
 Article XL The port authority shall from 
 time to time make plans for the dev'elopment 
 of said district, supplementary to or amenda- 
 tory of any plan theretofore adopted, and when 
 such plans are duly approved by the legislatures 
 of the two states, they shall be binding upon 
 both states with the same force and effect as if 
 incorporated in this agreement. 
 
 Article XII. The port authority may from 
 
36 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 time to time make recommendations to the leg- 
 islatures of the two states or to the congress of 
 the United States, based upon study and analy- 
 sis, for the better conduct of the commerce pass- 
 ing in and through the port of New York, the 
 increase and improvement of transportation and 
 terminal facilities therein, and the more eco- 
 nomical and expeditious handling of such com- 
 merce. 
 
 Article XIII. The port authority may pe- 
 tition any Interstate Commerce Commission (or 
 like body), public service commission, public 
 utilities commission (or like body), or any other 
 federal, municipal, state or local authority, ad- 
 ministrative, judicial or legislative, having juris- 
 diction in the premises, after the adoption of 
 the comprehensive plan as provided for in Arti- 
 cle ten for the adoption and execution of any 
 physical improvement, change in method, rate of 
 transportation, system of handling freight, ware- 
 housing, docking, lightering or transfer of freight, 
 which, in the opinion of the port authority, may 
 be designed to improve or better the handling 
 of commerce in and through said district, or im- 
 prove terminal and transportation facilities 
 therein. It may intervene in any proceeding af- 
 fecting the commerce of the port. 
 
 Article XIV. The port authority shall elect 
 from its number a chairman, vice-chairman, and 
 may appoint such officers and employees as it 
 may require for the performance of its duties, 
 and shall fix and determine their qualifications 
 and duties. 
 
 Article XV. Unless and until the revenues 
 from operations conducted by the port authori- 
 ty are adequate to meet all expenditures, the 
 legislatures of the two states shall appropriate, 
 in equal amounts annually, for the salaries, of- 
 fice and other administrative expenses, such sum 
 or sums as shall be recommended by the port 
 authority and approved by the governors of the 
 two states, but each state obligates itself here- 
 under only to the extent of one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars in any one year. 
 
 Article XVI. Unless and until otherwise de- 
 termined by the action of the legislatures of the 
 two states, no action of the port authority shall 
 be binding unless taken at a meeting at which 
 at least two members from each state are pres- 
 ent and unless four votes are cast therefor, two 
 from each state. Each state reserves the right 
 hereafter to provide by law for the exercise of 
 a veto power by the governor thereof over any 
 action of any commissioner appointed therefrom. 
 
 Article XVII. Unless and until otherwise 
 determined by the action of the legislatures of 
 the two states, the port authority shall not in- 
 cur any obligations for salaries, office or other 
 administrative expenses, within the provisions 
 of Article fifteen prior to the making of appro- 
 priations adequate to meet the same. 
 
 Article^ XVIII. The port authority is here- 
 by authorized to make suitable rules and reg- 
 ulations not inconsistent with the constitution 
 of the United States or of either state, and sub- 
 ject to the exercise of the power of congress, for 
 the improvement of the conduct of navigation 
 and commerce, which, when concurred in or au- 
 
 thorized by the legislatures of both states, shall 
 be binding and eflective upon all persons and 
 corporations affected thereby. 
 
 Article XIX. The two states shall provide 
 penalties for violations of any order, rule or reg- 
 ulation of the port authority, and for the man- 
 ner of enforcing the same. 
 
 Article XX. The territorial or boundary 
 lines established by the agreement of eighteen 
 hundred and thirty-four, or the jurisdiction of 
 the two states established thereby, shall not be 
 changed except as herein specifically modified. 
 
 Article XXI. Either state may by its leg- 
 islature withdraw from this agreement in the 
 event that a plan for the comprehensive devel- 
 opment of the port shall not have been adopted 
 by both states on or prior to July first, nineteen 
 hundred and twenty-three; and when such with- 
 drawal shall have been communicated to the 
 governor of the other state b\- the state so with- 
 drawing, this agreement shall be thereby abro- 
 gated. 
 
 Article XXII. Definitions, — The following 
 words as herein used shall have the following 
 meaning: "Transportation facility" shall include 
 railroads, steam or electric, motor truck or other 
 street or highway vehicles, tunnels, bridges, 
 boats, ferries, car-fioats, lighters, tugs, floating 
 elevators, barges, scows or harbor craft of any 
 kind, aircraft suitable for harbor service, and 
 ever}' kind of transportation facility now in use 
 or hereafter, designed for use for the transporta- 
 tion or carriage of persons or property. ''Ter- 
 minal facility" shall include wharves, piers, slips, 
 ferries, docks, dry docks, bulkheads, dock-walls, 
 basins, car-floats, float-bridges, grain or other 
 storage elevators, warehouses, cold storage, 
 tracks, yards, sheds, switches, connections, over- 
 head appliances, and every kind of terminal or 
 storage facility now in use or hereafter designed 
 for use for the handling, storage, loading or un- 
 loading of freight at steamship, railroad or 
 freight terminals. "Railroads" shall include 
 railways, extensions thereof, tunnels, subways, 
 bridges, elevated structures, tracks, poles, wires, 
 conduits, power houses, sub-stations, lines for 
 the transmission of power, car barns, shops, 
 yards, sidings, turn-outs, switches, stations and 
 approaches thereto, cars and motive equipment. 
 "Facility" shall include all works, buildings, 
 structures, appliances and appurtenances nec- 
 essary and convenient for the proper construc- 
 tion, equipment, maintenance and operation of 
 such facility or facilities or any one or more of 
 them. "Real property" shall include land under 
 water, as well as uplands, and all property either 
 now conmionly or legally defined as real prop- 
 erty or which may hereafter be so defined. 
 "Personal Property" shall include choses in ac- 
 tion and all other property now commonly or 
 legally defined as personal property or which 
 may hereafter be so defined. "To lease" shall 
 include to rent or to hire. "Rule and regula- 
 tion" until and unless otherwise determined by 
 the legislatures of both states, shall mean any 
 rule or regulation not inconsistent with the con- 
 stitution of the United States or of either state, 
 and. subject to the exercise of the power of 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 37 
 
 Congress, for the improvement of the conduct 
 of navitration and commerce within the district, 
 and shall include char;,'es, rates, rentals or toU.^ 
 fixed or established by the port authority; and 
 until otherwise determined as aforesaid, shall 
 not include matters relating to harbor or river 
 pollution. Wherever action by the legislature 
 of either state is herein referred to, it shall mean 
 an act of the legislature duly adopted in ac- 
 cordance with the provisions of the constitution 
 of the state. 
 
 Consent, approval or recommendation of mu- 
 nicipality; how giv'en. Whenever herein the 
 consent, approval or recommendation of a "mu- 
 nicipality" is required, the word "municipality" 
 shall be taken to include any city or incor- 
 porated village within the Port District, and in 
 
 addition in the State of New Jersey any bor- 
 ough, town, township or any municipality gov- 
 erned by an improvement commission within the 
 district. Such consent, approval or recom- 
 mendation whenever required in the case of the 
 city of New York shall be deemed to have been 
 given or made whenever the board of estimate 
 and apportionment of said city or any body 
 hereafter succeeding to its duties shall by ma- 
 jority vote pass a resolution expressing such 
 consent, approval or recommendation; and in 
 the case of any municipality now or hereafter 
 governed by a commission, whenever the com- 
 mission thereof shall by majority vote pass such 
 a resolution; and in all other cases whenever 
 the body authorized to grant consent to the use 
 of the streets and highways of such municipality 
 shall by a majority vote pass such a resolution. 
 
 Appendix C 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
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 Art commissions, city and state. Report of a 
 Committee appointed at a conference of 
 members of art commissions, in New York, 
 Dec, 1913. 23 pp. 
 
 The Difference between the Functions of the 
 City Art Commission and a City Plan 
 Commission, a discussion in Proceedings of 
 National City Planning Conference, vol. 
 IX, pp. 228-236. 
 
 Laws relating to art commissions, printed for 
 the Art Commission of the City of New 
 York, May, 1914, 53 pp. 
 
 Magee, William A. The Organization and 
 Functions of a City Planning Commission. 
 In Proceedings of National City Planning 
 Conference, vol. V, pp. 73-85, with discus- 
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 Massachusetts Federation of Planning Boards. 
 Bulletin No. i. May, 1916. 4 pp. Pt. I: 
 The functions of Massachusetts Planning 
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 Plan commission legislation. (City plan, Jan., 
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 Whitten, Robert H. The constitution and 
 powers of a city planning authority. (City 
 plan, June, 1915, v. 2, pp. 7-12.) 
 
 . The constitution and powers of a 
 
 city planning authority. {In Proceedings 
 of the 7th National Conference on City 
 Planning, 1915, pp. 135-143; Results of 
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 . Erection of Buildincs within the 
 
 Lines of Mapped Streets, published by the 
 City of New York, 191 7, pp. 7. 
 
 \\'illiams, Frank Backus. Some aspects of cit\' 
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 Proceedings of 7th National Conference on 
 City Planning, 1915, pp. 144-154.) 
 
 II. Plarming Particular Cities 
 
 Akron, O. Nolen, John. City plan for Akron, 
 prepared for Chamber of Commerce. Cam- 
 bridge, Mass., University Press, 1919, 91 
 pp. (Contains legal summary published in 
 full in pamphlet by Frank Backus Wil- 
 liams entitled "Akron and its planning 
 law," listed below. 
 
 ;-. Williams, Frank Backus. Akron 
 
 and its planning law. Akron, Chamber of 
 Commerce, 1919, 40 pp. 
 
 Bridgeport, Conn. Nolen, John. Better city 
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 with a report on legal methods of carrying 
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 for Bridgeport, by Frank Backus Williams. 
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 printers, 1916, 159 pp. 
 
 Chicago. Fisher, Weaker L. Legal aspects of 
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 East Orange, N. J. Legal situation. In City 
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 PP- 77-79- 
 
 Hamilton, 0. Bettman, Alfred. Legal powers 
 affecting the city plan for Hamilton, {hi 
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 ilton, O., 1920, pp. 60-64; 66.) 
 
 Hartford, Conn. Ford, Frederick L. The com- 
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 {In Proceedings of 2nd National Confer- 
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 Minneapolis. Rockwood, C. J. The legal prob- 
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 Minneapolis, 1917. pp. 211-221.) 
 
38 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW SUPPLEMENT 
 
 New York City. Committee on City Plan. 
 Development and present status of city 
 planning in New York City. Report to- 
 gether with papers presented at meeting of 
 Advisory Commission on City Plan, Dec. 
 17, 1914. 76 pp. 
 
 . Bassett, Edward M. A Survey of 
 
 the Legal Status of a Specific City in Rela- 
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 set, In Proceedings of National City Planning 
 Conference, vol. V, pp. 46-62. 
 
 III. Metropolitan Planning 
 
 Cohen, Julius H. Developing port facilities by 
 interstate compact and agencies; being re- 
 print of paper read before Section of Pub- 
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 . The New York harbor problem and 
 
 its legal aspects. (Cornell Law Quarterly, 
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 Massachusetts. Joint Board on Metropolitan 
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 State Printers, 191 1, 14S PP- (Mass. Gen- 
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 ularly known as "Big Four" reports: See 
 "Landscape Architecture," April, 1912, v. 
 2, pp. 114.) 
 
 Massachusetts. Metropolitan Improvements 
 Commission. Report, 1909. Boston, State 
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 Massachusetts. Metropolitan Plan Commission. 
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 61 pp. (Mass. General Court, 191 2, House 
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 New York. Port of New York Authority. Re- 
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 pp. 
 
 New York, New Jersey Port and Harbor De- 
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 comprehensive plan and recommendations. 
 Albany, J. B. Lyons Co., 1920, 495 pp. 
 
 Woobston, Howard B. Municipal zones; a study 
 of the legal powers of cities beyond their 
 incorporated limits. (National municipal 
 Review, July, 1914, v. 3, pp. 465-473.) 
 
 IV. General 
 
 Adams, Thomas. Municipal and real estate 
 finance In Canada; The need of town plan- 
 ning to arrest growing financial difficulties 
 in cities and towns. Canada, Commission 
 of Conservation, 192 1, 15 pp. 
 
 . The need of town planning legis- 
 lation and procedure for control of land as 
 a factor in house-building development. 
 (Journal of the American Institute of 
 Architects, Feb.-Mar., 191 8, v. 6, pp. 68- 
 70; I3S-I37-) 
 
 . Rural planning and development. 
 
 Canada, Commission of Conservation, 1917, 
 281 pp. 
 
 . Town planning In relation to land 
 
 taxation: cities should have agricultural 
 zones: examples of Canadian cities. (Na- 
 tional Municipal Review, March, 1919, v. 
 8, pp. 109-113.) 
 
 Aldridge, Henry R. The case for town plan- 
 ning: a practical manual for the use of 
 councillors, officers, and others engaged in 
 the preparation of town planning schemes. 
 London, Published by the National Hous- 
 ing and Town Planning Council, 1915. 
 679 pp. 
 
 . Compulsory town planning; paper 
 
 read before the Town Planning Institute. 
 (Garden Cities and Town Planning, Feb.. 
 1916, v. 6, pp. 25-32.) 
 
 Bassett, Edward M. Constitutional limitations 
 on city planning powers. {In Proceedings 
 of 9th National Conference on City Plan- 
 ning, 1917, pp. 199-214; also published by 
 the city of New York, 10 pp., 1917.) 
 
 . A survey of the legal status of a 
 
 city In relation to city planning. {In Pro- 
 ceedings of 5th National Conference on 
 City Planning, 1913, pp. 46-68.) 
 
 Clarke, J. J. The Housing problem; Its history, 
 growth, legislation and procedure. London. 
 Pitman, 1920, 544 pp. (Gives text of 
 Housing, Town Planning, etc.. Act, 1919 
 and Acquisition of Land (Assessment of 
 Compensation) Act, 1919. Table of stat- 
 utes, pp. 523-524. Bibliography, pp. 525- 
 529.) 
 
 Dowdall, H. C. Local development law. Lon- 
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 (Liverpool Corporation Acts, pp. 205-230.) 
 
 Eberstadt, Rudolf. Handbuch des Wohnun- 
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 of each section.) 
 
 Ford, George B. L'urbanisme en pratique, 
 precis del'urbanisme dans toute son ex- 
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 en Europe. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1920. 
 196 pp. (Collection ''Urbanisme," Serie C.) 
 
 Great Britain. Ministry of Health. Report of 
 the South Wales Regional Survey Commit- 
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 Lewis, Nelson P. The planning of the modern 
 city. New York, Wiley, 1916. ' 423 pp. 
 
 McBain, Howard L. American city progress 
 and the law. New York, Columbia Uni- 
 versity Press, 191 8. 269 pp. 
 
 . The law and the practice of mu- 
 nicipal home rule. New York, Columbia 
 University Press, 1916, 724 pp. 
 
 National Conference on City Planning. Pro- 
 ceedings, Issued annually, 1910-date, b\- 
 the Conference, except the first (1909). 
 which is U. S. Congress, 61 st, 2nd Session, 
 Senate doc. 422. 
 
THE LAW OF THE CITY PLAN 
 
 39 
 
 Nolen, John. New ideals in the planning of 
 cities, towns and villages. New York, 
 American City Bureau, 1919. 138 pp. 
 
 . City planning; a series of papers 
 
 by seventeen experts presenting the essen- 
 tial elements of a city plan, edited by John 
 Nolen. New York, Appleton, 1916. (Na- 
 tional Municipal League Series.) (Ch. 
 III. Public control of private real estate, 
 by Frank Backus Williams.) 
 
 Robinson, Charles M. City planning, with spe- 
 cial reference to the planning of streets and 
 lots. New York, Putnams, 1916. 344 pp. 
 
 Shurtleff, Flavel and Frederick Law Olmsted. 
 Carrying out the city plan. New York, 
 The Survey Associates, 1914. 349 pp. 
 (Russell Sage Foundation Publications.) 
 (Appendix, giving laws and decisions, pp. 
 211-334.) 
 
 Town planning in relation to land taxation: 
 proposed Alberta schemes. (In annual re- 
 port of Canada Commission of Conserva- 
 tion, 1919, v. 10, pp. 113-115.) 
 
 Unwin, Raymond. Town planning in practice; 
 an introduction to the art of designing cities 
 and suburbs. London, T. F. Unwin, 1909. 
 416 pp. 
 
 W'alpole, Mass. Town Planning Committee. 
 (Charles S. Bird, Chairman.) Town plan- 
 ning for small communities. New York, 
 D. Appleton and Co., 1917. 492 pp. (Na- 
 tional Municipal League Series.) 
 
 Williams, Frank Backus. The Law of City 
 Planning' and Zoning. New York, The 
 Macmillan Co., 1922. 
 
 Wood, Sir Kingsley. The law and practice 
 with regard to housing in England and 
 Wales. London, Henry Frowde, 192 1. 
 768 pp. (Gives text of statutes, with 
 notes, forms, etc.) 
 
 Zueblin, Charles. American municipal prog- 
 ress, new and revised edition. New York, 
 Macmillan, 1916, 522 pp. 
 
 See also II, above. 
 
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