Area Planning and Development commissions began in Georgia in 1947 with Atlanta's Metropolitan Planning Commission; other commissions were formed after 1961. The functions of the commissions are to provide a means for area towns and counties to collectively consider economic development programs, to serve as an area clearinghouse of planning information, and to encourage area wide cooperation in developing highways, recreation facilities, tourism, and industrial development. The commissions provide technical studies which apply the goals and techniques of urban planning to rural counties and towns which generally have a population of less than 5,000. The studies also provide important sketches on the growth of a community and its fringe areas of settlement. In 1954, the U.S. Congress amended the Housing Act of 1949 and authorized each county or city of less than 50,000 population to receive federal grants to finance community planning studies administered by a state planning division within the Department of Industry and Trade in 1957. The division became independent in July, 1972 and the agency was brought under the Department of Community Development as the office of Regional Planning. Each Commission prepares some, if not all, of the following types of studies: (1) Base Map, (2) Existing Land Use Plan or Survey and Analysis, (3) Economic Base and Population Study, (4) Neighborhood Analyses, (5) Future Land Use Plan, (6) Community Facilities Plan, (7) Major Thoroughfare Plan, (8) Public Improvements Program, (9) Central Business District Plan, (10) Recommended zoning Ordinance, and(11) Recommended Subdivision Regulations. See also Atlanta Regional Commission, RGSGSERIES 264-1-5.