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Ajax will assume the status of a self-sustaining, self-governing municipality within a few years' time. There will be no immediate visible evidence of the change. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, formerly the sole authority, now becomes the principal landowner and ratepayer. It will now be possible to offer lots for sale to individual purchasers, and thereby gradually transfer a greater measure of responsibility to the Improvement District. GOVERNING CONDITIONS FOR PLANNING Preliminary planning studies were commenced in the summer of 1948. At this time the future status of Ajax had not been determined, but it was obvious that some time would elapse before any form of municipal authority could come into being. In the meantime, C.M.H.C. exercised complete control. This meant considerable freedom in planning, since we were dealing with a relatively undeveloped area in single ownership. But the planning of Ajax was by no means "planning from scratch". Our problem was to bring about a reasonable compromise between theoretical concepts and the practical limitations imposed by existing conditions. In the original plant there was a central nucleus, containing the dormitories, storage warehouses for raw materials, the steam plant, offices, and other facilities housing the necessary administration. The manufacturing process was carried on in four "lines" of operational buildings running north and south, which consisted of Picture: Aerial view of Ajax taken in the spring of 1948 from the north: the single houses built during World War II in the foreground, then highway and railway routes, with industrial, future commercial and residential areas (formerly used for ammunition storage), and Lake Ontario beyond. (Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation) Photo: Vue a vol d'oiseau d'Ajax, au printemps 1948, d'un point situe au nord. Les maisons unifamiliales con-struites durant la seconde Grande Guerre apparais-sent au premier plan; on voit ensuite la grande route, les voies ferrees, le quartier industriel, les futurs quartiers de commercial et d'habitation—enfin, le lac Ontario (S.C.H.L.)