urban planning

urban planning Sec. 419. Section 701 of the Housing Act of 1954 is amended to read as follows: “urban planning “Sec. 701. (a) In order to assist State and local governments in solving planning problems resulting from increasing concentration of population in metropolitan and other urban areas, including smaller communities, to facilitate comprehensive planning for urban development by State and local governments on a continuing basis, and to encourage State and local governments to establish and develop planning staffs, the Administrator is authorized to make planning grants to— “(1) State planning agencies, or (in States where no such planning agency exists) to agencies or instrumentalities of State government designated by the Governor of the State and acceptable to the Administrator as capable of carrying out the planning functions contemplated by this section, for the provision of planning assistance to (A) cities, other municipalities, and counties having a population of less than 50,000 according to the latest decennial census, (B) any group of adjacent communities, either incorporated or unincorporated, having a total population of less than 50,000 according to the latest decennial census and having common or related urban planning problems resulting from rapid urbanization, and (C) cities, other municipalities, and counties referred to in paragraph (3) of this subsection and areas referred to in paragraph (4) of this subsection; “(2) official State, metropolitan, and regional planning agencies empowered under State or local laws or interstate compact to per-form metropolitan or regional planning; “(3) cities, other municipalities, and counties which have suffered substantial damage as a result of a catastrophe which the President, pursuant to section 2(a) of ‘An Act to authorize Federal assistance to States and local governments in major dis-asters, and for other purposes’, has determined to be a major • disaster; “(4) to official governmental planning agencies for areas where rapid urbanization has resulted or is expected to result from the establishment or rapid and substantial expansion of a Federal installation; and “(5) State planning agencies for State and interstate comprehensive planning (as defined in subsection (d)) and for research and coordination activity related thereto. Planning assisted under this section shall, to the maximum extent feasible, cover entire urban areas having common or related urban development problems. “(b) A grant made under this section shall not exceed 50 per centum of the estimated cost of the work for which the grant is made. All grants made under this section shall be subject to terms and conditions prescribed by the Administrator. No portion of any grant made under this section shall be used for the preparation of plans for specific public works. The Administrator is authorized, notwithstanding the provisions of section 3648 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, to make advances or progress payments on account of any planning grant made under this section. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated not exceeding $20,000,000 to carry out the purposes of this section, and any amounts so appropriated shall remain available until expended. 73 Stat. 679 “(c) The Administrator is authorized, in areas embracing several municipalities or other political subdivisions, to encourage planning on a unified metropolitan basis and to provide technical assistance for such planning and the solution of problems relating thereto. “(d) It is the further intent of this section to encourage comprehensive planning for States, cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and urban regions and the establishment and development of the organizational units needed therefor. In extending financial assistance under this section, the Administrator may require such assurances as he deems adequate that the appropriate State and local agencies are making reasonable progress in the development of the elements of comprehensive planning. Comprehensive planning, as used in this section, includes the following, to the extent directly related to urban needs: (1) preparation, as a guide for long-range development, of general physical plans with respect to the pattern and intensity of land use and the provision of public facilities, together with long-range fiscal plans for such development; (2) programing of capital improvements based on a determination of relative urgency, together with definitive financing plans for the improvements to be constructed in the earlier years or the program ; (3) coordination of all related plans of the departments or subdivisions of the government concerned; (4) intergovernmental coordination of all related planned activities among the State and local governmental agencies concerned; and (5) preparation of regulatory and administrative measures in support of the foregoing. “(e) In the exercise of his function of encouraging comprehensive planning by the States, the Administrator shall consult with those officials of the Federal Government responsible for the administration of programs of Federal assistance to the States and municipalities for various categories of public facilities.”