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Municipal Consulting Program |
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Purpose
The primary purpose of the "Municipal Consulting Program" is to provide a vehicle for achieving county/municipal plan consistency. Regional plans will be built one municipality at a time through the joint determination of growth area boundaries and rural designations. The primary goal is to define growth area sizes and boundaries through capacity analyses which will determine the amount and location of land needed to accommodate future growth needs. Through a series of meetings in individual municipalities, interim lines will be finalized, including delineation of growth areas and rural areas.
Objectives
The specific objectives of the consulting process are as follows:
1. A joint delineation of growth area boundaries (Primary, Secondary, and Future).
2. A joint delineation of rural areas, including resource lands, villages (with village growth area boundaries if appropriate), and agricultural lands.
3. County amendment of Growth
Management Plan (Map 8) to incorporate jointly agreed upon changes,
and to change interim lines to established lines as
4. Municipal adoption/amendment of comprehensive plans to reflect jointly agreed upon changes as appropriate.
Benefits to Municipalities
Participation in the "Municipal Consulting Program" will provide the following benefits to municipalities:
1. A free technical review of local plans and ordinances.
2. A process to achieve consistency between municipal and county plans, as required by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
3. Potential
priority in State funding decisions, since projects consistent with
local and regional or county plans are usually given greater
consideration, and
4. A land use framework will be provided which could lead to more uniformity of development controls within a region, less zoning and subdivision inconsistencies
between adjacent municipalities, and
therefore more predictable and reliable land use planning. Public
facilities, transportation, and open space planning efforts
The Process
There are two processes that are currently employed to achieve the joint delineation of land use designations and the adoption/amendment of plans that are consistent with the County Comprehensive Plan. The first process involves County participation in meetings regarding consultant prepared updates of municipal/multi-municipal comprehensive plans. Through this process, the staff of the York County Planning Commission will attend work sessions and provide information and input from a regional and County Comprehensive Plan perspective. This process works well because it allows the County to work with municipalities, provides a better view of the type and amount of growth expected, and provides for consistency throughout the entire plan.
The second process involves the County working with municipalities to establish a growth boundary. The primary role of the County is to direct and facilitate the meetings, provide pertinent discussion materials, and seek consensus on growth area boundaries and rural designations. At the end of these processes, the County will make appropriate changes to the Growth Management Plan (Map 8), and, if requested, will provide technical assistance in drafting changes to municipal plans. In order to ensure a complete review of municipal conditions and needs, the following types of information will be generated for discussion at the municipal meetings:
Existing Conditions Development Constraints Land Use Floodplains/wetlands Existing public water and sewer service areas Steep slopes Approved subdivisions Poor soils Transportation network Parks/open space areas Zoning Prime soils/preserved farms Community facilities Woodlands Regional zoning inconsistencies Wellhead protection areas
Capacity Analysis Population projections Future land use needs Vacant land analysis, buildable land acreage Public sewer/water capacities, phasing considerations
The role of municipalities includes participation in the meetings to jointly define growth and rural area designations separated by a growth boundary, and ultimately, the adoption/amendment of local comprehensive plans to reflect the agreed upon changes as appropriate. Municipalities will also be encouraged to begin the process of reviewing their land use ordinances to ensure consistency with the adopted/amended local comprehensive plan.
Growth Management Map (MAP 8)
As municipalities adopt/amend comprehensive plans that are consistent with the York County Comprehensive Plan, the growth and/or rural areas agreed upon in these plans will be incorporated into the Growth Management Map. This map depicts established and interim primary, secondary, and future growth areas, established and interim rural areas, and priority areas. The established growth and rural areas are those that have been jointly agreed upon and interim areas are taken from the Interim Growth Boundary Map (Map 6). Priority areas are taken from a study completed by the Planning Commission entitled A Strategy for Agricultural Land Preservation and are based on municipalities that have quality soils (Class 1 and 2), large parcels, and are adjacent to areas designated for growth. Areas designated as priority areas include Dover Township, Jackson Township, Heidelberg Township, North Codorus Township, Shrewsbury Township, Hopewell Township, and Peach Bottom Township. These areas provide a focus for the Plan, however the Planning Commission is interested in working with any municipality that is undertaking a planning process and/or desires to include growth and rural areas within their comprehensive plan. Again, the Growth Management Map is meant to be a work in progress and will change as municipalities work with the County to determine the final designation of growth and/or rural areas. See Growth Management Map
Back to the County / Long Range Planning Department
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