Photo of smart planning efforts by county and municipal leaders in PIke County, PA.

June 6, 2017

Smart Planning and Partnerships

Smart planning at the county and municipal levels benefits everyone: residents, visitors, businesses, municipalities, and government agencies. But it is often a challenge to fund the work that is essential to good planning.

Pike County’s Scenic Rural Character Preservation program (SRCP) has dedicated $517,868 for 19 planning projects, benefitting nine municipalities.

In addition, SRCP funds have helped to leverage $580,000 in additional state grants, increasing the amount of funding coming into Pike County for planning projects.

In early 2006, the SRCP Board developed a Municipal Planning Initiatives Manual. It was approved by the Commissioners in Fall 2006 and distributed to all 13 Pike County municipalities. The Manual contains guidelines to access SRCP funds to undertake the development or update of municipal comprehensive and/or open space plans or the update of land use ordinances such as subdivision and land development, zoning, stormwater or floodplain ordinances.

In 2007, the Board created a second manual, the SRCP Program Manual, which provides funding guidelines for conservation easements and acquisitions as well as the continuation of Municipal Planning Initiatives.

Utilizing these tools, Pike County municipalities such as Blooming Grove, Delaware, Greene, Lackawaxen, Matamoras, Palmyra, Porter, Shohola and Westfall have received funding for a variety of planning initiatives. Funds also allow for support of other important county projects, such as a Natural Heritage Inventory, Groundwater Level Monitoring and Act 167 Stormwater Plan.

The initial SRCP program was limited to a period of 10 years. That time frame has now passed. To help maintain the high quality of life that we all enjoy in Pike County, we’d like to hear what you think about continuing local conservation, planning and land protection efforts.

Please share your thoughts by completing this brief survey.