CONCLUSIONS
1. In the absence of more convincing precedents too much reliance should not be placed on excess condemnation as a method of distributing the cost of public improvements. Where the maximum physical benefit from an improvement can be secured under the present restricted power of eminent domain, excess taking should not be resorted to except in rare cases where it would involve few expensive buildings and where the land value is so low that the inevitable tendency is upward. Rather than introduce excess taking for the purpose chiefly of recouping the city’s investment, the highest possible return should be sought by the American method of special assessment, already proved an eminently successful method of distributing the cost of the acquisition of land for public purposes.
2. But the use of excess taking to protect the value, both economic and esthetic, of a business thoroughfare, park, or parkway is sometimes essential to the full success of a great improvement. Only by its use in some cases can the full advantage of an improved thoroughfare be secured by providing abutting lots of size and shape adapted for suitable structures. Only by selling surplus land under restrictions can the city most effectively control the fringe along the widened thoroughfare. Whether its use results in a net financial profit or not is a secondary consideration if it accomplishes a necessary result more completely and efficiently than can otherwise be done.