Environmental Justice Overview & Pennsylvania's Draft Environmental Justice Policy After this session, participants will be able to: Define environmental justice, equity, and equality. Know some key precedents around the environmental justice movement nationally and in Pennsylvania. Learn the scientific basis of disproportionate impacts facing communities. Know about the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s Environmental   …

The One Water Approach and How It Benefits the Bay   Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), aka. the “One Water” approach, has been embraced by APA as a best practice. Clean water goals have a strong connection to the One Water approach. This webinar will present local planning jurisdictions that have taken a One Water   …

Off the Shelf and Into Action, Creating an Implementable Comprehensive Plan Ten years have passed since the implementable comprehensive plan approach was introduced. Interest continues to grow. RFPs from Pennsylvania communities regularly ask for an implementable plan. This webinar will provide a refresher on the implementable plan approach. It will describe how to create a   …

Smart Growth Tools for Protecting Water Resources   Water quality outcomes are directly tied to land use decisions made by local jurisdictions. This webinar would explore local land use scenarios that lead to triple-bottom-line (economic, social, environmental) results and pose questions on current land use trends watershed-wide that may threaten progress.   More information

Planning for Agriculture, Wind and Solar Policies in the United States promote expansion of renewable energy and protection of farmland. Sometimes these goals clash. This presentation reviews the land consumption issues, local opposition to renewable energy (NIMBYism) and competing state and local policies. The focus then turns on co-location, or how agriculture and renewable energy   …

Telling Your Story: Effective Strategies for Communication Successful public communication is more than surveys and opinion polls. It must also inform and educate, and that requires more than posting everything on your website. Even in a small community, that volume of data is overwhelming and can be frustrating to navigate. In this presentation, we will   …

Advancing Racial Equity through Land Use Planning According to US Census Data, disparity in income and housing among diverse racial and ethnic populations has occurred in the United States. Researchers have pointed out that many members of these specific populations have been adversely impacted by housing policies adopted in the first half of the 20th   …

Ethics Case of the Year : October 18th, 2022 — 12pm-1pm 1 CM: # 9258311 Join MAPC in case analyses of scenarios based upon both formal complaints and informal inquiries reviewed by the Ethics Officer and Ethics Committee in 2021. Speakers: Scott Duncanson, AICP, Senior Environmental Planner and Project Manager at Gannett Fleming, Inc., Lauren DeVore,   …

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022, 12PM-1PM Guns, Lawyers, & Land Use Webinar The Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms is implicated by local zoning and land use regulations. State and federal courts have decided an increasing number of cases that limit the scope of land use regulation on firearms. This presentation first provides and overview of   …

Pennsylvania Land Use Law Update: Appellate Cases from 2021-2022 Appellate Cases will be presented in traditional lecture format as well as interactively with hypotheticals to demonstrate how a recent case decided the outcome. Cases will range from traditional zoning approval cases (variances, special exceptions & conditional uses), zoning interpretation cases and validity challenges, to subdivision   …

Planning Ethics: What's New in 2022 and Elect Ethics Cases of the Year The AICP Code of Ethics was recently updated in 2021 with the updated code going into effect January 1, 2022. This session will present a summary of the updated AICP Code of Ethics followed by a review of several ethical scenarios/case studies.   …

POSTPONED Checking the Boxes with Green Infrastructure What are the impacts of trees? Maintenance costs, economic benefits, equity considerations, health factors, stormwater implications, regulatory challenges... This session will look at the multi-dimensionality of green infrastructure (not just trees!) and the long-term vision for risk reduction and health improvement with planner and municipal action opportunities woven   …

The Changes Taking Place in the Manufactured Housing Community Impacting Sustainability and Affordability and The Role of Planners There are approximately 1,600 manufactured home communities (MHCs - also known as “mobile home parks” or “land-lease communities”) in PA, home to thousands of working families, seniors, and ordinary Pennsylvanians. In the last 10 years, private-equity and   …

Planning for Clean Water: Chesapeake Bay Tributary Summaries and Data Dashboard Chesapeake Bay tools for accessing synthesis information for non-tidal and tidal water quality, restoration targeting, management practice implementation and planning for change in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Speaker, Breck Sullivan, is employed by the U.S. Geological Survey and works at the Chesapeake   …

Checking the Boxes with Green Infrastructure What are the impacts of trees? Maintenance costs, economic benefits, equity considerations, health factors, stormwater implications, regulatory challenges... This session will look at the multi-dimensionality of green infrastructure (not just trees!) and the long-term vision for risk reduction and health improvement with planner and municipal action opportunities woven throughout.   …

Planning for TOD – A Way to Transform your Community Transit-oriented development (TOD) capitalizes on public transit access by transforming underutilized spaces into walkable and sustainable communities, with a mix of land uses, a vibrant public realm, and excellent connectivity to transit amenities. The Montgomery County Planning Commission released a Model TOD Ordinance and Guidebook   …

Ethics Cases of the Year The AICP Code of Ethics was recently updated in 2021 with the updated code going into effect January 1, 2022. This session will present a summary of the updated AICP Code of Ethics followed by a review of several ethical scenarios/ case studies. The review of the updated AICP Code   …

Land Use Law Update This session will review opinions of the federal and Pennsylvania courts issued since the last APA PA annual conference and highlight developments in the law. The session will cover the adoption, administration, interpretation and enforcement of MPC-enabled ordinances; floodplain, stormwater and wetlands management; other state and federal statutes impacting land use   …

Are You Ready? A Framework for Identifying Climate Risks, Prioritizing Actions, and Securing Funding Anticipating, preparing for, and mitigating the impacts of climate change is critical to ensuring our communities continue to prosper and provide a high quality of life. This two-part session will first introduce a transferable methodology for assessing and visualizing the wide-ranging   …

You Didn’t Get the Grant: Now What? The Infrastructure Bill has presented us with once in a lifetime opportunity to pursue life-changing transportation improvements for the communities we serve. As a planner for Delaware County, philosophically we were ready to pursue the funding; but practically, we did not have the necessary expertise on hand to   …

Mid-Atlantic Planning Collaboration: Implications of Recent Clean Water Act Decision on Land Use Planning In May, 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. The Court’s ruling reduces the number of wetlands subject to the provisions of the Clean Water Act, while likely providing some more clarity as to covered wetlands.   …