ROADSIDE CONTROL 273 



At the present time, the team of engineers and landscape archi- 

 tects representing the Bureau of Public Roads and the National Park 

 Service is including recommendations for these information stations 

 for all 10 Mississippi Valley States in developing the Great River 

 Road. We believe this form of visitor information could have gen- 

 eral application on all Federal-aid highways and would provide a 

 form of advertising more useful and more palatable than billboards. 



The 1951 report referred to above is now being reprinted. It is 

 entitled "Parkway for the Mississippi." State or other public agen- 

 cies interested in a full description will soon be able to obtain copies 

 of the report by writing to : 



The Regional Engineer, Region 15 

 Bureau of Public Roads 

 North Glebe Road and Fairfax Drive 

 Arlington, Va. 



DOROTHY W. ERSKINE. In the fight to preserve open space 

 close to large cities, we desperately need some control or device 

 stronger than local agricultural zoning to protect and preserve farm- 

 land. We need a new kind of State or Federal open space preser- 

 vation zoning to implement better land use policies on both State 

 and Federal level. 



Why not authorize a study of the Greenbelt Act of 1947 of Eng- 

 land (or Denmark or Holland)? Passed by an act of Parliament, 

 this legislation has succeeded in England (where pressure of popu- 

 lation on the land and city growth equals ours) in creating 10 na- 

 tional parks, 3 wildlife sanctuaries and is in the process of surround- 

 ing every large city with a permanent greenbelt of farmland. (Lon- 

 don's greenbelt is 1 miles deep and exists now. Beyond the green- 

 belt, new growth is expressed in 20 new towns. ) 



In any case with greenbelt zoning the owner still retains title to 

 his land and pays local taxes but the farming use of the land cannot 

 be changed. The farmer can still sell his land (to another farmer) 

 for any profit he can make but he cannot sell it to build subdivisions 

 or a factory. All building permits must be reviewed by the local 

 planning body tc see that the permits conform to greenbelt use. 



When the Act was passed, money was appropriated to recompense 

 any owner of farmland who, in court action, could prove he had 

 suffered injury by the imposition of this greenbelt zoning. In Den- 

 mark, 1,000 people appealed to the courts and compensation (like 

 development rights) was paid. 



