The land development plan prepared by Metro is a savings plan for Winnipeg. It makes provision for future services at lower cost, assures citizens that the neighborhood he chooses will follow a planned pattern, prevents the city from oozing into an expensive sprawl.

Here is an example of the economies and well-being in store in a cross section of Charleswood, in an area between Roblin and Eldridge, and the Charleswood-Tuxedo boundary to Haney.

The area is designated 1st Residential Density, the lowest on the scale, allowing one to six units or four to 23 persons per acre. To the south is vacant land also designated the same category and beyond agricultural residential reserve (to be used as residential when required).

The location of future local commercial developments, parks and schools are designated. A person choosing this area will know beforehand that he can be sure of not being close to commerce or industry and that at least in the foreseeable future won't be in a densely populated area.

He will know that it will be a predominantly single-family area, that commercial development will be limited to an existing strip on Roblin Blvd.

Citizens will save on their future tax bill because a site for a school, needed in five years (and discussed with the local school board) has already been chosen on vacant land.

Along Haney, a major thoroughfare is shown on the development plan, which will proceed over a new bridge over Moray St. to St. James. Approaches on both sides have been reserved for the bridge will be built in another 10 years at the present rate of growth.

The plan serves notice to those who locate in the area that a major thoroughfare and bridge will be built. And the allocation of land for this project will save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. In contrast to this economical planniig, the acquisition of land for the thoroughfare, underpass and approaches for the new St. James bridge amounted to nearly $2 million.

To safeguard the future of Charleswood, one of the fastest growing areas of the city, an extensive area south of Wilkes Ave., now zoned industrial, has been specified agricultural residential reserve.

A compact area is less expensive to maintain and service. That is why the plan takes firm control of urban sprawl. For example, Metro refused to permit subdivision of 1,200 acres for residential construction of Fort Whyte. It would have had to provide roads and services over two unproductive miles to the area.

Metro won't allow one municipality to extend its water line four miles beyond the built-up area. This would encourage expensive ribbon development, allowed to mushroom in past years. These are the districts where road maintenance, snow removal, transit, garbage removal become expensive for the sparse ara they serve — areas which may have to do without sewer or water systems.

An example of how urban sprawl can be costly to the community is one suburban area where 630 homes were allowed to develop uncontrolled in once purely agricultural area. The transit deficit on the route is $13,000, a loss assessed to the taxpayers at large.

The plan forbids the continuation of strip commercial developments along both sides of traffic routes. This development retards traffic and generates parking problems. Metro calls for shopping centre type developments to encourage communal parking facilities and to provide a package type unit which would fit in a residential neighborhood.

One of the big weapons in the hands of Metro against harmful urban sprawl is its jurisdiction over the "additional zone," a strip five miles in depth circling the metropolitan boundary. Metro will discourage any leap-frogging into this area and intends to zone most of it for open land use.

The additional zone consists of farms, market gardens, parks, public and private golf courses and these will constitute the green belt around Winnipeg.