Towns cooperate on planning

A new trend in Pennsylvania

By TOM KANE

HAWLEY, PA ¾ A workshop was held on May 31 on a subject that is catching on in Pike and Wayne counties: the development of a multi-municipal comprehensive plan.

A number of townships are beginning to develop or are considering developing such a plan. Damascus is leading the way along with Oregon and Manchester townships. Lackawaxen and Shohola townships have held their first meeting to get started, and a group of municipalities around Honesdale have planned to meet to discuss the matter.

The workshop was aimed at Pennsylvania and New York municipal officials.

The Pike County Planning Department, the Visioning Committee of the Upper Delaware River Corridor and 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania organized the workshop. Numerous other planning and conservation organizations also participated.

“Our role is to aid you by offering technical assistance and, where possible, funding in order to encourage you to go the cooperative route and not isolate yourselves from your neighbors,” said Neil Kinsey of the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). “Many of your problems as you face development are being experienced by those next to you, so why not work with them on solutions?”

Comprehensive, multi-municipal plan defined

A comprehensive plan is defined as a guide that a municipality uses to identify the goals, policies and standards that determine the direction of future growth. The multi-municipal plan encourages them to develop one plan that serves both municipalities and gives them advantages they would not otherwise have.

“The multi plan is not to help your neighbors,” Kinsey said, “but to help yourselves. Townships who do this are better off. By yourselves, it’s going to be a struggle especially as development occurs.”

Advantages are many. “One is that you get funding from the state to develop a comp plan, which is usually expensive,” Kinsey said. It has been estimated that a comprehensive plan can cost from $60,000 to $100,000, depending on the plan’s complexity.

“Watersheds make multi-municipal plans necessary for real solutions,” said Marianne Scott of 10,000 Friends. “Water has no boundaries. Land uses affect water and as development increases, problems with the flow of water will increase.”

Another advantage is that all uses do not have to be supplied in each township. If one township has a quarry, the other township would not have to provide one. If one township has an adult bookstore, the other township would not have to allow one.

Funding is more available

“Lots of funding resources are available if you want to develop, or you already have developed, a multi-municipal plan,” said Ed LeClear of the PA Governor’s Center for Local Government Services. “Come to us for one-stop-shopping, offering technical assistance and funding.”

Alan Sorensen, president of Planit Main Street, offered a New York perspective, outlining how the Town of Mamakating formed a multi plan with two villages within its borders—Wurtsboro and Bloomingburg. Other examples in New York are the development of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway along Route 97 in which towns are inter-cooperating, and the Hudson River Valley Greenway, which enlisted over 90 percent of the river towns in a cooperative plan.

“Over 30 percent of Pennsylvania townships have adopted such a plan or are working on developing one,” Kinsey said. “Why not join the movement?”

Advantages to cooperating communities

Twelve municipalities in Susquehanna County, called the Northern Tier Coalition, have benefited from a multi-municipal comp plan that they adopted two years ago.

“The biggest and most obvious advantage is that they have priority when it comes to funding over other townships,” said Dom Templeton, planning director for Susquehanna County. “Recently, DEP gave them a grant for a leaf composting project they will all share in. They also are beginning to share things like equipment and snowplowing assignments.”