Cooperation between jurisdictions.-Several provisions of the urban planning assistance program encourage cooperation between jurisdictions and joint planning projects. The State planning agencies are charged with responsibility for providing, supervising, and coordinating planning services whenever the services are provided by or through their agency. Applications are required to include a statement showing that their work programs have been reviewed and commented on by State planning agencies when the applicant is a metropolitan or regional planning agency. Applications for assistance to small communities are required to include a similar statement by a metropolitan, regional, or county planning agency when the small community lies within the area served by such a planning agency.30 In order to receive urban planning grants directly from the Federal Government, a metropolitan area must have an areawide planning agency. Where there is a metropolitan planning organization lacking official status, the State planning agency if it has the authority may serve as the applicant on behalf of the metropolitan organization. Sections 701 (c) and (d) of the act make the establishment and development of metropolitan and regional planning organizations a major objective of the urban planning assistance program. Intergovernmental coordination of all related planned activities among the State and local governmental agencies concerned is also required by section 701 (d). In addition, section 701 (a) requires that "The Administrator shall encourage cooperation in preparing and carrying out plans among all interested municipalities, political subdivisions, public agencies, and other parties in order to achieve coordinated development of entire areas.'

Section 701 (f) gives "The consent of Congress***to any two or more States to enter into agreements or compacts, not in conflict with any law of the United States, for cooperative efforts and mutual assistance in the comprehensive planning for the physical growth and development of interstate, metropolitan, or other urban areas, and to establish such agencies, joint or otherwise, as they may deem desirable for making effective such agreements and compacts."

EFFECTS ON STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL PLANNING PROCESSES

Functional planning.-Functional plans may be prepared as parts of an overall comprehensive development plan. Transportation planning is specifically mentioned in this regard in the legislation. Such plans must be coordinated with all departments or subdivisions of the government concerned, and among State and local governmental agencies concerned, as well as with the comprehensive plan.

31

Comprehensive planning.-In accordance with section 701 (d), the "Urban Planning Program Guide" requires that "Planning activities aided by a grant must be related to a comprehensive development plan for the area being assisted. Generally, communities of under 50,000 population will be expected to prepare an initial plan within 2 to 4 years. Metropolitan areas, urban regions, and statewide areas might require 4 to 8 years, with the preparation spread over several projects. The schedule for preparation of the initial comprehensive

30 U.S. Urban Renewal Administration, "Urban Planning Program Guide," sec. 3-3. a Housing Act of 1954, as amended, sec. 701 (d).

development plan for a planning area must be shown in the initial application for a grant for the area." 32

Relation between planning and action programs.-Applications for local planning studies under this program must normally be reviewed either by a State, metropolitan, or regional planning agency or a combination in order to satisfy the intergovernmental requirement of the law as interpreted by the Administrator. This helps assure that the local plans will be consistent with whatever broader plans exist, either of the functional or comprehensive development types. The planning agencies involved must be making "reasonable progress" in capital improvement programing, intragovernmental coordination and intergovernmental coordination among offices or agencies concerned, and supporting regulatory and administrative measures. 33

Section 701 (a) directs HHFA to encourage cooperation among all parties concerned in carrying out plans aided by this program. To back this up, administrative regulations require that "The Planning Agency shall establish a 'checkpoint' procedure to obtain a review and recommendations on preliminary drafts of planning proposals by the chief executive of the locality and the local legislative body and by local, State, and Federal agencies concerned with particular aspects of the area's comprehensive development plan. The State highway department, the school board, water and sewer authorities, and the county engineer's offices are important examples of the kinds of agency that should make a review of preliminary drafts of planning proposals." A written report "summarizing the proceedings and recommendations received from reviewing agencies and officials" must be submitted to the supervisor, State agency, or the HHFA regional office in the case of metropolitan or regional planning agencies receiving direct Federal aid. "The report shall be submitted before final drafts of planning proposals are prepared." 34

Federal review of planning. State and local plans prepared under this program are reviewed by the Federal Government mainly to assure proper scope, coordinating procedures, and legal compliance with the grant contract, rather than for merit of the plan itself. The State, metropolitan, regional, and local planning agencies are relied upon to judge the quality of plans in most cases. However, the Administrator's responsibility to judge "reasonable progress in the development of the elements of comprehensive planning" allows a qualitative jugment and could lead to a refusal of further paung grants untii there was some evidence of progress.

35

EVALUATION OF ORGANIZATION AND PLANNING REQUIREMENTS

Functional planning of virtually all types affecting urban development is eligible for grant assistance under the urban planning program, if undertaken within the framework and at the scale of comprehensive planning. This includes planning for a transportation system, community facilities of all types, and the location of industrial, commercial, residential, recreational, and other land uses. These are

32 U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency, "Urban Planning Program Guide," pp. 1-2. Housing Act of 1954, as amended, sec. 701 (d).

84 U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency, "Urban Planning Program Guide," sec. 1, ch. 4, pp. 1-2. Housing Act of 1954, as amended, sec. 701(d).

plans for general systems; they determine overall patterns of location, intensity, and interrelationships. Detailed engineering studies, construction specifications, and design of facilities are beyond the scope of the urban planning program. Thus there can be a logical division of labor between general system planning and detailed engineering and design planning for individual facilities, while recognizing the need for coordination between them.36

Consideration might be given to directing a greater proportion of Federal grants for general system planning in urban development, whether single function or comprehensive, through the urban planning assistance program. Grants for single function planning at the general system level, administered by other Federal agencies, should be kept to a minimum and coordinated with 701 urban planning grants along the lines of highway planning funds. It may be necessary to increase planning funds under the 701 urban planning assistance program in order to prepare the way, without undue delay, for detailed engineering and design planning and construction grants made by the other Federal agencies.

The present eligibility requirements for agencies seeking urban planning assistance exclude counties and cities with populations greater than 50,000, which are not classified as metropolitan areas in and of themselves. Many such counties and cities are undergoing rapid urbanization, and they need assistance for local planning even though there may be some planning assistance in their areas for metropolitan planning agencies.

DOCUMENTATION

Norman P. Mason, HHFA Administrator, Frederick H. Mueller, Secretary of Commerce. "Joint Policy and Procedural Statements on Improved Coordination of Highway and General Urban Planning." Washington, November 1960.

Luther H. Hodges, Secretary of Commerce, and Robert C. Weaver, Housing and Home Finance Agency Administrator. "Urban Transportation: Joint Report to the President," March 28, 1962.

U.S. Urban Renewal Administration, "Urban Planning Program Guide," Policies and Procedures for Federal Assistance Under the Urban Planning Program. Washington, U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency, August 1963.

U.S. Urban Renewal Administration, "The Urban Planning Assistance Program," Fact Sheet on the Program of Federal Assistance for Comprehensive Planning in Metropolitan and Other Areas. Washington, U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency, February 1962.

U.S. Urban Renewal Administration, "Comprehensive Urban Transportation Planning." Washington: U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency, July 7, 1961. U.S. Urban Renewal Administration. "Planning Assistance for Cities, Other Municipalities, and Counties in Redevelopment Areas." Washington, U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency, April 30, 1962.

30 Advances for public works planning are available for facilities planning under the provisions of sec. 702 of the Housing Act of 1954, as amended, and other Federal assistance for this purpose is available under the terms of several programs for specific types of facilities.

F. OPEN SPACE LAND ACQUISITION

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

The open space land program provides matching grants, up to 30 percent of cost, to assist State and local governments in taking prompt action to preserve open space land. Open space land is defined in the law as any land which has value for "park and recreational purposes, conservation of land, and other natural resources, or historic or scenic purposes." The program is authorized under title VII of the Housing Act of 1961 (42 U.S.C.A. 1500), and is administered by the Urban Renewal Administration, Housing and Home Finance Agency. Grants obligated in fiscal year 1963 amounted to about $14.7 million.

COORDINATION WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The

Section 702 (e) of the Housing Act of 1961 requires HHFA to consult with the Department of the Interior in establishing the "general policies to be followed in reviewing applications for grants.' Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in the Department of the Interior was first established in 1962 by Executive order of the President and was given a statutory basis by Congress in 1963 (Public Law 88-29). Its purpose is to coordinate all Federal activities and aid programs in the field of outdoor recreation.

EFFECTS ON THE ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENTS IN AREAS RECEIVING AID

Types of units affected. The law allows grants to be made to "States and local public bodies acceptable to the Administrator as capable of carrying out the provisions of this title." The open space "Fact Sheet" further defines the acceptable applicants as "Any State, regional, metropolitan, county, municipal, or other public body established by State law, or local law or by interstate compact or agreement which has the authority to acquire title to open space land, to contract with the Federal Government, and to pay the non-Federal share of the cost."

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Area of jurisdiction.-Grants are limited to the acquisition of land located in urban areas. The law defines an urban area as consisting of an area which is urban in character plus the surrounding area which forms an economic and socially related region.

Cooperation between jurisdictions.-The program encourages local units of government to join together, for open space acquisition, by offering an extra 10 percent grant to agencies with authority to acquire open space for the urban area as a whole or to agencies which exercise responsibilities for a substantial part (60 percent) of the area

Housing Act of 1961, sec. 702(a).

U.S. Urban Renewal Administration, "The Open Space Land Program," Fact Sheet (Washington: U.S. Housing and Finance Agency, August 1962), p. 3.

"pursuant to an interstate or other intergovernmental compact or or agreement." 39 The maximum grant for agencies which cannot meet either of these conditions is only 20 percent of the acquisition cost.

EFFECTS ON STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL PLANNING PROCESSES

Functional planning.-One purpose of the act is to help provide open space land "in accordance with plans for the allocation of such land," "40 and section 703 (a) requires the Administrator to make grants only if he finds that the land to be acquired for open space use is important to the execution of a comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan should cover the entire urban area; but in the absence of a plan for the entire urban area, grants may be approved on the basis of a comprehensive plan for the jurisdiction in which the open space land is located.

Comprehensive planning.-Section 703 (a) of the Housing Act of 1961 requires that there be not only an urban development plan but also a comprehensive planning process. Unlike the flexibility permitted in the comprehensive plan requirements, the planning process must cover the entire urban area. The planning process may be carried on either by a single agency, itself engaged in planning, or through an acceptably organized arrangement by which planning programs in an urban area are coordinated.

Relation between planning and action programs.-Administrative regulations require that proposed acquisitions for which Federal assistance is sought be reviewed (but not necessarily approved) by the local agency responsible for the program of comprehensive planning. Under the provisions of the intergovernmental agreements for open space land acquisition, executed since the passage of title VII of the Housing Act of 1961, all proposed open space acquisitions by agreement signatories, whether federally aided or not, must be reviewed and commented on by an appropriate coordinating body. These reviews and comments must be made in terms of the areawide open space plans and policies developed in the area, and the signatories agree to be guided by the reviews and comments made. These administrative requirements are designed to effect a closer relationship between the local planning activities and land acquisition programs, and to help insure that the proposed acquisition "is essential to the proper long-range development and welfare of the *** urban areas" as required by the act."1

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In order to be eligible for open space grants, the act further requires "that local governing bodies are preserving a maximum of open space land with a minimum of cost through the use of existing public land; the use of special tax, zoning, and subdivision provisions; and the continuation of appropriate private use of open space land through acquisition and leaseback, the acquisition of restrictive easements, and other available means." 42

Federal review of planning. As long as the scope of comprehensive urban planning efforts, their rate of progress, and the coordinating