THE FARM LANDSCAPE 289 



the middle class and intellectuals who are landowners themselves, 

 and in times past the first to defend the privileges of the landlord. 

 The revolt is fed by the excesses of shortsighted developers as they 

 move across the farmscape, and nourished by an American public 

 yearning for the open space that is increasingly seen only in Sierra 

 Club coffee-table gift books. 



The political implications of a democratic republic, whose people 

 live by law and guarantee their freedoms through the courts, is mani- 

 fested most dramatically when the people rebel at desecration of 

 natural beauty they assumed to be public property. They are learn- 

 ing that property owners are resisting this assumption. Citizen 

 groups who stand up to object are ruled out of order by planning 

 commissions and struck down by the courts. 



It is increasingly evident that if we are to permanently protect 

 America's "farmscape" from unrestricted urban eroding of the 

 countryside, we must take a new look at our traditional property 

 rights in order to retain our individual freedoms in a growing Nation. 



President Johnson expressed the need for action in the planning 

 arena quite well in his state of the Union message : 



We do not intend to live in the midst of abundance, isolated from 

 neighbors and nature, confined by blighted cities and bleak suburbs. 

 For over three centuries the beauty of America has sustained our spirit 

 and enlarged our vision. We must act now to protect this heritage. 



The now well-established concept of city zoning ordinances, tested 

 and found constitutional in our courts, must be expanded to include 

 the countryside and farmlands. 



Hawaii's unique land use legislation providing for zoning of all the 

 the land in the State, public and private, urban and farm, may well 

 set an example for the Nation to follow or adopt. The findings and 

 declaration of purpose as written in Hawaii's land use law, are very 

 appropriately applied, not only to protect agricultural enterprise, but 

 to effectively protect natural scenic resources as well. 



All the land in the State is zoned within four land use districts 

 urban, rural, agricultural, and conservation. 



The urban limits of each city and town is determined by the Land 

 Use Commission, the county zoning ordinances of the affected com- 

 munity prevailing within the urban district. 



Mixed farm and low density residential areas are placed in the 

 rural district. 



