490 PARKS 



experience of realty values suddenly rising, upon it becoming known that 

 a given property was being considered for a public park or other recreation 

 area. 



8. Acquisition of Park and Recreation Areas through Requiring a Given 

 Percentage of All Subdivisions of a Given Size to be Set Aside for Park or 

 Playground Purposes. 



Obviously the most sensible and economical way to acquire land for 

 children's playgrounds, neighborhood parks and neighborhood playfield- 

 parks is to secure it before the land is fully developed for residential pur- 

 poses. There were numerous examples of this method of reserving squares, 

 commons, plazas and similar spaces in the early plans of many American 

 cities, but subsequent generations failed to profit by the example of General 

 Oglethorpe, William Penn, General Sutter, Brigham Young and numerous 

 other early city planners and builders. 



Several attempts have been made in the state of Washington to secure 

 a law requiring subdividers to set aside a given percentage of subdivisions 

 of a given size, exclusive of streets and alleys, for park or playground pur- 

 poses. Such a bill was actually passed by the Washington legislature in 

 1907, but the governor vetoed it. Successive attempts to secure its passage 

 have failed. The substance of this bill is as follows: "No plat of land of 

 ten (or five) acres or more in area, any part of which is situated within or 

 less than five miles outward from the boundary line of any city of the first 

 or second class or within or less than one mile outward from the boundary 

 line of any city of the third class, which contains lots of less than one acre 

 in size, shall be filed or recorded by any public official, unless a plot or 

 plots of ground containing not less than one-tenth of the land in the plat, 

 after deducting streets and alleys, shall be dedicated to the public for use 

 as a park, common or playground, with the like effect that streets and 

 alleys are dedicated to the public." 



A similar bill was passed by the state of Montana in 1919. This law, 

 while allowing a measure of discretion, provides: "For the purpose of pro- 

 moting the public comfort, welfare, and safety, such plat and survey must 

 show that at least one-ninth of the platted area, exclusive of streets, etc., 

 is forever dedicated to the public for parks and playgrounds." 



The City of Bluefield, W T est Virginia, in its requirements for city plats 

 presented for approval by the City Planning Commission, includes the 

 following, adopted July 3, 1923: "Not less than five per cent of the area of 

 all plats shall be dedicated by the owner for parks and playground purposes 

 except in the case of a very small area." 



In a few other cities throughout the country there is a working agree- 



