Wolf Creek COG Comprehensive Plan - Mercer County Regional ...

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Wolf Creek Slippery Rock Creek Council of Governments Mercer County Comprehensive Plan This document is the first comprehensive plan to include all of the Mercer County municipalities which are members of the Wolf Creek Slippery Rock Creek Council of Governments. The Council of Governments, or COG, is a voluntary cooperative association of the chief elected officials and staff of Grove City Borough and the townships of Pine, Liberty, Springfield, and Wolf Creek. In this document, each of the communities has attempted to look beyond their borders and examine future opportunities and issues, which will affect each. This document is also intended as a local amendment to be integrated into the Mercer County Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan: Basic Policy Document A comprehensive plan is an official municipal document. The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (PA MPC) regulates its preparation and contents. The plan itself serves several roles: • State agencies rely on the plan in making a variety of funding decisions, ranging from competitive grants to highway permits. • If the plan is adopted, any decision relative to public property such as extension of water/sewer lines, construction, demolition or sale of municipal or school district buildings/land, and adoption of land use ordinance amendments must be reviewed for consistency to the plan. (This review is non-binding, and conducted by the municipal planning commission.) • Zoning and subdivision and land development ordinances must be generally consistent with the comprehensive plan. Beyond the consistency requirement, the plan is important as a place to explain these laws in easy to understand terms. This helps citizens. It also can be very useful in a dispute between a developer and a community. The following table helps briefly understand both what a comprehensive plan is, as well as what it is not. Wolf Creek Slippery Rock Creek COG Comprehensive Plan Page 1
A Pennsylvania Comprehensive Plan Is . . . Is not . . . The official statement of where and how the community wants to see future growth and development. An ordinance that makes decisions about individual properties. The explanation of policies behind ordinances, funding policies, and general changes (construction, demolition, etc.) in public facilities. A measuring stick State agencies use to make funding or permitting decisions. A way to focus on major issues. A document that binds the community to unchangeable policies. A specific plan to build, design or locate any public or private facility. A document to deal with every possible issue in the future. The Wolf Creek Slippery Rock Creek Council of Governments Comprehensive Plan is somewhat special because it is a multi-municipal plan. Plans adopted by more than one municipality have greater power and status. The municipalities that adopt the Plan have the right to develop intergovernmental agreements. These agreements can be simple or complex, based on local needs. Intergovernmental agreements can be developed to share tax revenue between participants. Legal obligation to zone for all conceivable uses can be shared among several communities. State agencies grant inter-municipal plans more consideration. If an inter-municipal plan is offered as an amendment to the county comprehensive plan, it must generally be accepted. The Communities of the Wolf Creek COG Introduction to the Region The impetus of this multi-municipal planning process and document came from two sources. The Borough of Grove City was in the process of updating its old comprehensive plan. In fact, the borough had already begun work on its update. Simultaneously, Mercer County was beginning a ten-year update to the County plan. State assistance was sought from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development. The COG was awarded a Land Use Planning Assistance (LUPTAP) grant from the Commonwealth, and the Borough of Grove City agreed to integrate its plan into the overall COG process. Thus, this Plan hopes to accomplish the simple goal of a uniform blueprint for the future among all the local governments in this portion of Mercer County. Central to this intergovernmental planning process was broad-based input. Citizens were surveyed to determine their attitudes about local government priorities and activities. Thus, representatives of over one thousand households shared their vision for the future. Town hall meetings were conducted in every one of the participant municipalities (reports on the survey and Town Hall meetings are included in the appendices). After citizen input, a congress of local leaders was convened at the Grove City Area School District. This meeting brought together zoning hearing board members, planning Wolf Creek Slippery Rock Creek COG Comprehensive Plan Page 2
Page 1 and 2: Wolf Creek Slippery Rock Council of
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Page Number The C
Page 5: Tax Base, Public Services, and Land
Page 9 and 10: highway. Liberty Township had 1,276
Page 11 and 12: 1990. Springfield Township has over
Page 13 and 14: This diverse area includes small to
Page 15 and 16: overall goal or objective. At its w
Page 17 and 18: these facilities, services, and uti
Page 19 and 20: 4. To develop a land use patterns w
Page 21 and 22: D. Provide housing for all economic
Page 23 and 24: Economic Objectives 1. The township
Page 25 and 26: However, this is conservative, as p
Page 27 and 28: mobile home parks, which are all pr
Page 29 and 30: The C-2 District functions more lik
Page 31 and 32: KEY IDEAS 2. Avoiding mistakes made
Page 33 and 34: that surrounds the older settled pl
Page 35 and 36: Rural resource areas are where the
Page 37 and 38: investment. Pursuant to the desire
Page 39 and 40: Wolf Creek Township Land Use Plan W
Page 41 and 42: egional retailing. However, there a
Page 43 and 44: the number of residents working (as
Page 45 and 46: development, proper zoning, and, in
Page 47 and 48: • The space could be easily remod
Page 49 and 50: Conservation of Natural and Histori
Page 51 and 52: Schollard house on Schollard Road (
Page 53 and 54: strengthens the protection of farme
Page 55 and 56: Transportation and Community Facili
Page 57 and 58:
Department provides protection to t
Page 59 and 60:
east and west coasts of the United
Page 61 and 62:
The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
Page 63 and 64:
Create linear park corridors linkin
Page 65 and 66:
planning and will need to be furthe
Page 67 and 68:
Estimated Cost: Will vary, based on
Page 69 and 70:
Percentage of use by communities is
Page 71 and 72:
Housing Plan Housing plans are an o
Page 73 and 74:
2000, the township gained about 300
Page 75 and 76:
• Adopting a rental-licensing ord
Page 77 and 78:
Action Plan and Multi-Municipal Com
Page 79 and 80:
A sample implementation agreement i
Page 81 and 82:
In preparing a plan for area-wide a
Page 83 and 84:
accommodating a use on the list (pr
Page 85 and 86:
large development to the host commu
Page 87 and 88:
ests upon said improvement. The las
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