SCENIC ROADS AND PARKWAYS 247 



define the most appropriate areas for its future growth, and ( b ) regu- 

 late the location and the sequence of residential subdivisions, then 

 that community is in a good position to do two further things. First, 

 it can exercise some rational control over its rate of growth, and so 

 over the increasing cost of new services. Second, having provided 

 areas for growth, then and only then can it define appropriate 

 areas for permanent open space. The first is a prime concern in most 

 growing communities, but the techniques used have generally been 

 clumsy. (See Albrecht Realty Co. v. New Castle, 8 New York Mis- 

 cellaneous 2d 255, 167 New York Supplement 2d 843 (1957).) 

 Acreage zoning is often misused for this purpose, apparently usually 

 unsuccessfully. 



Under a more rational approach, subdivision control could be 

 used explicitly for this purpose, or a special zoning scheme devised. 

 A recent detailed review of a well-known scheme in Clarkstown, 

 Rockland County, N.Y., indicated that it worked reasonably well. 

 (Upheld in Josephs v. Clarkstown, 24 New York Miscellaneous 2d 

 366, 198 New York Supplement 2d 695 (1960). I was the legal 

 draftsman of this ordinance. ) 



A different kind of problem arises in very rural areas. As noted in 

 the same panel, land needed and used for cropland is shrinking in 

 many areas; and so abandoned land is on the increase. So far as 

 I know, no one has focused attention on the appropriate proper 

 future use for such abandoned land. If nothing is done, such land 

 will gradually revert to brush and choke-cherry, at least for a long 

 transitional period; and there will be a clear and present danger of 

 cheap commercial development scattering all over the place. Neither 

 will add much to natural beauty. Zoning is unlikely to work in this 

 situation, in the absence of a sensible and realistic land-use policy. 



JAMES W. WILSON. In our preoccupation with large-scale scenic 

 road and parkway projects, let us not forget the potential in things 

 as small and simple as flowers from seeds. 



The green of trees, shrubs, and grass is pleasing and restful but 

 the eye delights in occasional spots of color that relieve the green 

 landscape. 



Scenic roads and parkways offer many sites for planting large 

 drifts of flowers which will reseed and become naturalized. Turn- 

 outs, meadows, road cuts which are too steep or too rocky to mow, 

 rest stops, campsites, stream banks, and fence rows are a few ob- 

 vious choices. 



