Subdivision Exactions and Congestion Externalities

Abstract

THE rapid growth of suburban communities in recent years has led to increased congestion and greater physical burdens upon the public facilities of those communities. The purpose of this paper is to examine these problems in the specific case of public parks and recreation areas and to demonstrate that the full complexity of the issues has not yet been grasped even by those legislatures and courts that have considered the problem of congestion externalities. We begin with a simple model of congestion externalities and public recreational facilities, and then review the judicial approach to statutes attempting to mitigate these effects. Finally, we present a model for internalizing the principal effects of suburban growth upon public recreational areas, and offer some guidelines for an efficient legislative solution to these difficult problems.