The American Society of Planning Officials says that the boom in subdivision activity in the postwar years has made it more and more complex for localities to acquire enough school and park land to serve their growing populations.

In some areas, persuasion has succeeded in convincing subdividers to provide the needed school and recreation sites. In others, local officials have tried legal measures. Ordinarily, the laws—local or state—require subdividers to (1) reserve land, which the school authorities then buy; (2) dedicate land outright; or (3) pay a fee in lieu of dedication of land. The validity of some of these laws has been challenged in the courts and in some cases the challenger has won.

In a ''Planning Brief" in its current newsletter, the society describes some of the recent legal and persuasive methods used to get the land for schools and parks in New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, and Kentucky.

Town planning boards in New York can under law require fees or straight dedications of land from subdividers.

The Washington legislature has passed a law requiring "appropriate provision" in subdivisions for parks and playgrounds. But the state's attorney general in an opinion on what the law meant said that it did not require either donation by subdividers or holding of land for purchase. He said that a school grounds may be acquired only by use of eminent domain—taking of property for a public purpose on payment of just compensation.

In Massachusetts, the law specifically states that communities cannot require dedications or fees but must acquire the land by eminent domain. The Illinois attorney general said that before a community could charge a fee or demand a dedication, it would have to have authorization from the state legislature.

Although a number of California cities have been requiring dedications or fees for park and recreation purposes, a state senate committee has criticized this practice and recommended an amendment to the subdivision control law that would prohibit cities from doing it.

In Multnomah County, Ore., each subdivider now must pay $37.50 a lot, the sum to be used for purchase of park land.

In Louisville and Jefferson Counties, Ky., reservation of school sites is contingent on purchase by the school board, and subdividers are asked to provide space for playgrounds voluntarily.