Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-17
R0.CHY y
Area Seeks Ways to Keep Open Spaces

Just before World War II, Maryland
park officials bought hundreds Of acres of
land in Rock Creek Valley for as low as
SITS an acre. A few months ago, to provide
a small community park in Montgomery
County, they bought vacant 10-acre tract
for $500 an acre.
These figures illustrate one of the most
neglected, but most important aspects of the
Washington areas phenomenal metropoli-
tan expansion-the problems caused by the
disappearance of open spaces as urban de-
velopment pushes farther and farther into
the suburbs.
What are these problems? We can place
them into two categories:
. AS new communities grow in the suburbs,
demands build up slowly for parks, play
grounds, school sites, airportS and other
public facilities. But by the time the de-
mandS reach the point where the COM
munities are ready to act, urbanization has
made land so expensive that local govern
ments can't afford to buy it for these
facilities.
without advance set-asides of open
spaces, communities tend to join in a solid
sprawl, covering every foot of developable
some parts of the metropolitan region a
formless mass of subdivisions, lacking the
amenities which have made the suburbs such
attractive places to live in the past. Such
overcrowding of land, planners warn, may
well lead to the slum and blight conditions
which have ruined many neighborhoods in
the central city.
Today, officials all'over the Washington
Metropolitan Area-the metro" as we call
it in this series-are awakening to the need
for drastic steps to do something about open
spaces. In this article, we will discuss the
present status of our open spaces, why new
approaches are needed, and what some of
them are likely to be.
To begin, let's define more closely what
we're talking about. Open spaces are clear
areas which separate concentrations of
urban development. They may be golf
courses or cemeteries, parks or farms. They
may be strips of grass and trees along high
ways or Fairgrounds beside schools. They
may be owned publicly or privately. Some
Of these open spaces exist now; others will
lave to be made available when growth
makes them necessary.
The question plaguing officials today is
low to keep some of the existing open spaces.
nd how to acquire the new ones. It's a
ifficult and frustrating problem because
pen space land must be set aside long
afore there is an apparent need for it.
suburban county, for example, might
ave the opportunity now to acquire at low
ost farm in a rural area which is virtually
ertain to be heavily developed 10 years
rom now. The farm would be perfect for
lrge community park. Even at bargain
rices, however, the land costs money. And
| the fight for tax dollars, immediate needs
ually triumph.
There are graphic examples in metro
AShington of the fact that there is no
Institute for advance action on open space
nd. Rock Creek Park with its 1,725 acres
If woods, trails and recreation areas, all
nestled in the heart of the city, is the largest
open space of it's kind in the world. It exists
only because a few men had the foresight
70 years ago to fight for Federal funds to
buy It, Its present value is incalculable;
5viously, it never could be duplicated today
In 1928 another big local step toward
pen space preservation was taken when
Congress passed the Capper- Cramton Act,
which did three things: 1t committed the
Federal Government to help buy land in
Maryland and Virginia for the George
Washington Memorial parkway help buy
park land in the stream valleys of the
zuburbs and buy new parks in the District
Against programs like these, current
efforts to provide open spaces seem pitifully
small, especially in view of prospects that
urban expansion will double the metro size
within few decades and multiply the need
for open spaces.
Current efforts of the suburban juris-
dictions are centered mainly on machinery
for the advance purchase Of open spaces
While this is the surest way to preserve land
planners contend that it is not feasible to
buy all the open spaces that are needed
They urge that metro officials look to new
types of legal action, many of them highly
controversial, to preserve open spaces which
remain in private ownership. Later, we will
discuss some of these proposals. First, let's
see where we stand now.