43 
The governing board of the new community development district 
would be composed of members from several interest groups: munici- 
palities, other special districts, real estate developers, present land 
owners, citizens, State government and regional planning agencies. 
Each of these groups would be permitted to purchase stock in the 
development district. The new community development district 
would be empowered to plan, to acquire and control land, to contract 
with private developers for the development of the area, and to supply 
necessary governmental services. 
The immediate objective of the new community development dis- 
trict would be to channel and coordinate private and public develop- 
ment activities to insure the development of compact new communities. 
A further objective would be to assist in the preservation of open space 
by providing an ample supply of well-located land that is ready for 
development, thereby accommodating development pressures that 
might otherwise overwhelm the defenses erected to protect the open 
space.** 
The new community development district is a means of carrying 
out a staged development process in which development occurs in a 
limited number of areas at a given time, and most of the unbuilt land 
is reserved for later development or permanently retained as open 
space. Each new community development district would cover an 
area large enough for a new community, but small enough to permit 
detailed design of the whole community, efficient coordination of all 
development activities and completion of development within a span 
of several years.** 
Two kinds of actions would need to be taken to secure development 
of the new community by private enterprise. Owners of sizable tracts 
of land designated for development at lower and medium densities 
would be encouraged to submit application for planned unit zoning, 
and all remaining land in this category would be rezoned.*® Land des- 
ignated for interim development, and other land not developed within 
a reasonable time would be acquired by the development district for 
sale or lease to developers (subject to specific conditions as to the 
character and timing of development). 
34 Henry Bain, ‘The Development District: A Governmental Institution for the Better Organization of 
Urban Development Process in the Bi-County Region,’”’ prepared by the Washington Center for Metro- 
pohian Studies of the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 1968. 
1d. 
36 When the development plan for the district is completed, landowners and prospective developers should 
be given an opportunity to apply for planned-unit zoning in areas which are designated for development at 
the lower densities (single-family housing, row housing and small apartment groupings). Approval of such 
requests should be subject to strict criteria to assure that the planned-unit developments will fulfill the 
development plan, and should also be subject to the requirement that development proceed in accordance 
with a schedule. After ample opportunity has been provided for planned-unit proposals, the rest of the land 
in this category should be rezoned by asectional map amendment initiated by the agency. 
This pair of regulatory techniques provides a simple and effective means of securing private development 
of the large single-family residential areas of a new community. There is a great gain for all concerned, in 
terms of certainty and procedural simplicity, and a great strengthening of Government’s ability to secure 
development in accordance with plan. 
Initiative is first placed in the hands of the larger landowners and developers, who are in a position to 
perform detailed planning and design and to finance development at a sizable scale. The planned-unit zone 
gives them broad latitude in proposing new developments, while vesting in Government the power to 
control development features that affect the public interest. 
Initiative then passes to Government, which completes the rezoning in a systematic manner rather than 
awaiting applications from individual landowners, each intent on increasing the density of his tract. The 
sectional zoning map amendment initiated by a public agency is a convenient way to effect the regulatory 
action that is a prerequisite to development, in areas where numerous landowners would otherwise be put 
to the trouble and expense of individually filing applications for rezoning. This technique has the further 
advantage of placing initiative in the agency that is designing and coordinating development, instead of 
permitting it to remain indefinitely with the individual landowners who would be tempted to apply for more 
intensive zoning categories and thus necessitate time-consuming and costly administrative and judicial 
Tee easy” (Henry Bain, ‘“‘The Development District,” Washington Center for Metropolitan Studies, 
,» p. 68. 
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