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12-31-57 -3- use, and potentialities. 'chile there are some areas of the town which. may have been badly treated or developed without forethought, my inventory of our remaining natural resources indicates that, for the moment, they are greater in number than perhaps is realized. It should be our ob- jectives to maintain, improve, and prevent waste of these resources to insure a distribution among our townspeople of the benefits which come from these resources, and to protect these resources for future generations. Street System One of Lexington's greatest immediate needs is the prep- aration, of a major street plan. Among the reasons this is so are the facts that the town's existing street system encourages lotting and buildin§ along all the streets leaving what might be called; backland" unused, that access is becoming increasingly difficult to much of this remaining land suitable for real estate development, and that the secondary street system, until very recently, was being planned piecemeal by land subdividers and not by the Planning Board. As I mentioned last year when discussing subdivision plans in my annual report, a major portion of my time in administering the subdivision control law has been devoted to studies relating developers' proposals for ' subdividing land to neighborhood and major street plan concepts. I would like to emphasize one of the points mentioned in that report, adoption of these studies as Board recommendations and compliance by the land developers has meant that other parts of the long-range development plan for Lexington have been effectuated. A preliminary major street plan has been completed. The term preliminary is used for the reason. that adjustments probably will have to be made after the State Department of Public Works reaches final decisions in regard to the re- location and re -design of Routes 2 and 3. I have dis- cussed the plan in detail with representatives of said de- partment. As you will .recall, the plan. has also been used as a basis for a joint conference of the Selectmen, Plan- ning Board and Associate Commissioner of the Department in, regard to a number of problems of concern to Lexington. In the meantime the preliminary plan is serving as a frame of reference for detailed studies of street intersections and the obtaining of options for points of access for new streets. Recognizing that it would take too long to give a de- tailed report of the studies made, facts obtained, and recommendations made in the street plan, following are some ' of the points of paramount interest found therein. These points are presented with the realization that without the use of diagrams, charts, maps, etc., it is difficult to