Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-03-25
Dispersal Unpopular Suburbs Which Feel s. Already Much Land

lof taxation and causes the COM
munities to suffer?"
He advocated the use of the Bull
Run battlefield area, which is a
national park.
Within two or three miles of
there" he told the committee, sis
a natural gas line where you could
get fuel xxx. Ample water supply
could be obtained from Bull Run.
There is divided highway. Route
i211 x x x is programmed now for
widening by the State Highway
Department.
The Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors Endorsed the idea of
dispersal in principle. The board
made certain reservations, how
ever, in a bid for Federal financial
aid to meet the attendant prob
lens.
Other Virginia Installations.
Besides the Bull Run park, Gov
eminent installations in Northern
Virginia include the Pentagon,
the Navy Annex, the National Air
port, the Prince William Forest
Park G5,000 acres, Fort Belvoir
| lover 10000 acres), Fort Myer,
Vint Hill Farms near Warrenton
and the Quantico Marine Base
$4,000 acres. The Marine base
is SO large that you could put all
of Arlington, Alexandria and Falls
Church into a part of it.
! Not all of these installations are
in the dispersal zone but their ex-
istence poses peculiar problems
for the whole area. Likewise, the
Maryland Counties which would be
affected directly by dispersed
buildings feel the impact of near
by installations beyond their boun-
diaries. Among these are Fort
Meade, which sprawls over 1867
acres in Anne Arundel County,
Immediately next to Prince
Georges. There are many other
Government plants in Anne Arun-
del, Calvert Charles and St. Marys
Counties.
Whenever there has been dis
cusSion of using any of these
-'ederally- owned properties, how
ever. officials of the agencies in
volved have commended they need
the land under their control.
Some merit in dispersal is seen
by Blair Lee. III, of Silver Spring
former vice chairman of the Mary
land-National Capital Park and
Planning Commission. Though
Joung in years, Mr.. Lee is a
eteran planner and experienced
n civic affairs. He says the prob
EN- of dispersal must be ap-
preached realistically.
If dispersal is the price of safe
and orderly expansion of the
Government" he has said, then
we will pay that price cheerfully
But do want to impress you
with the fact that when we sag
we are for the program it is moi
a Chamber of Commerce propo.
Sition We are not asking fol-
, it. We will take it cheerfully but
it is not going to do us much
good"
!, The merits of dispersal, from
Mr.. Lees point of view, are pro
visions for the development O
good roads. At the present, it i
| proposed to spend about $50 mil
, lion for Federal highways to tn,
dispersed Offices.
> Montgomery County is in Sc
rious need of some super-high,
, ways" he said. 1--WE have nothins
to compare with the fine network
around the Pentagon, or tn.
beautiful Shirley Highway in Vir.
ginia. Unfortunately. nothing ap.
pears in sight for us for years
The nearest suggestion of 8
good expressway is the Nationa
.. Pike from Frederick to Washing.
ton, but at the rate things are
going there's no telling wher
Montgomery will feel the bene.
/ fits"
Mr.. Lee said planners must face
the fact that Washington is sat
urated" and that. if more office
space is needed, it will have to be
placed outside the District. That
being the case, he sees no alterna-
tive to dispersal.