37 
Another proposal, made by William Slayton, calls for the establish- 
ment of State chartered, public development corporations with the 
authority to acquire land, prepare plans, install community facilities, 
and dispose of land by lease or sale to private developers. The power 
of eminent domain is included in the powers granted to such a de- 
velopment corporation. Slayton points out that “the public develop- 
ment corporation must, be able to control land development and the 
appreciation of land values should accrue to the public—not to the 
private landowner merely because he happened to own land at the 
time of adjacent development.” %® 
It has already been noted that a substantial portion of the capital 
investments made within a metropolitan area results from decisions 
of individuals functioning as consumers or corporate officials.” Any 
realistic system of incentives and development controls must take 
the private decisionmaking process into account. Land banks, 
mortgage guarantees, and other types of incentives-controls systems 
have been suggested. A variety of such mechanisms will be con- 
sidered in chapter IV. 
One of the most viable incentive-control systems for encouraging 
orderly development within the private sector is State investment 
in new community development. Investments in transportation, 
health, education, and welfare are all part of a State investment pro- 
eram. A public investment program focused on new community de- 
velopment would be aimed at economic development as it relates to 
social and political objectives. The creation of totally new communi- 
ties would permit large-scale social and economic planning as well as 
the establishment of the “proper relationships among land uses” from 
the earliest stages of development.!® Not only the commitment to on- 
going guidance of development but also the inclusion of a mix of 
social classes and commercial-industrial activities would differentiate 
new communities from more familiar suburban sprawl.’® At present, 
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development authorizes 
FHA loans for land purchase and development subject to the require- 
ment that new communities house low income people and conform 
to metropolitan development plans.2? New Legislation is currently 
under consideration that would provide further subsidies for public 
agencies (as well as private investors) interested in developing new 
communities.” 
Footnote 14—Continued 
the value of the land for uses actually being made of it at the time they are being imposed, the owner is 
permitted to draw on his guarantee for damages; to the extent that such controls depress the value of the 
property for other than existing uses—depress or eliminate the development worth—the owner may draw 
on his guarantee through an administratively supervised public sale of his property; the guarantee 
established for any property in the area is reduced by each payment of damages or compensation. Thus 
the damages and compensation payable by the community cannot exceed the guarantee established for 
each tract. What this means, in effect, is that development values not existing on the date when open 
space controls are imposed are not compensated. (“New Techniques for Shaping Urban Expansion,” 
ASPO Planning Advisory Service, Information Report 1960, July 1962, pp. 16-17.) 
15 William L. Slayton, “The Development of Needed Metropolitan Policies: Policies for Metropolitan 
Development,’’ paper presented at the second annual conference on urban regionalism (Kent: Kent State 
eae Center for Urban Regionalism, 1966), 
id. 
17 For further elaboration and statistics on this point see William L. C. Wheaton, “‘Public and Private 
Agents of Change’’ in ‘‘Urban Expansion, Problems and Needs,”’ op. cit., p. 65. 
18 See for example, Daniel R. Mandelker, ‘(A Legal Strategy for Urban Development,” in Sam Bass 
Warner, Jr. (ed.), “Planning for a Nation of Cities’? (Cambridge, MIT Press), 1966, p. 213. 
19 See ‘Alternative to Urban Sprawl: Legal Guidelines for Governmental Action,” prepared for the 
National Commission on Urban Problems, Research Report No. 15 by Fred Bosselman. 
20 Title IV, Housing Act of 1968. 
21 The Nixon administration is currently preparing legislation that would amend title IV of the 1968 
Housing Act to allow public development corporations to apply for money presently restricted under 
title IV to private developers. Money would be made available for the planning of new communities, in 
addition to the funds available for land and development. : : 
