OCR Text |
Show authority to all Federal land managing agencies for all types of rights-of-way. Urban Expansion and New Cities Recommendation 97: A new statutory framework should be enacted to make public lands available for the expansion of existing communities and for the development of new cities and towns. The Nation's population is expected to increase by nearly 100 million persons by the year 2000. By far the largest part of the increase will occur in the urban areas.11 With the prospect of this rapid growth of our population, the Commission has considered the role the public lands might play in meeting the increasing demands for land for urban uses over the next 11 Robert R. Nathan Associates, Projections of the Consumption of Commodities Producible on the Public Lands of the United States 1980-2000, Ch. II. PLLRC Study Report, 1970. several decades. These demands are likely to be satisfied both by the expansion of existing communities and the creation of wholly new towns and cities.12 The primary authorizations under which land has site Laws 13 which provide for withdrawal, location, use and disposal of public lands for townsites. However, most of these are older laws that have become obsolete, as evidenced by the fact that under them less than 600 acres were disposed of during the 1958-1967 period. Congress has enacted two more recent laws which make land available for community expansion. National forest land is available for townsites under the Act of July 31, 1958,14 to countries, cities, or other local government subdivisions upon satisfactory 12 An analysis, made from several viewpoints, of the possible future role of public lands in the establishment of new cities is contained in Daniel W. Cook and Urban America, Inc., Probable Future Demands on the Public Lands for New Cities and Urban Expansion. PLLRC Study Report, 1970. 13 43 U.S.C. §§711-731 (1964). " 16 U.S.C. § 78a (1964). PUBLIC LANDS ARE NEEDED FOR THE EXPANSION OF SOME COMMUNITIES AND TOWNS BLM Forest Service 226 |