Policy Statements

What will be APA PA’s Unconventional Shale Gas Development Strategy and Policy? See a report from the Shale Energy Committee of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association

Shale-Energy-Committee-Policy-Report-Final-051616

Issue

Pennsylvania’s transportation system is one of our most significant assets economically and socially. It is diverse: An extensive web of highways, freight and passenger railroads, ports, mass transit systems and airports spread across the Commonwealth.

Pennsylvania’s transportation infrastructure is in poor condition and worsening every day. Almost half of our bridges and major roads are structurally deficient, functionally obsolete or simply in bad condition. The economic vitality of the Commonwealth is sapped by the loss of business and tourism that follows.

During the 15-year period ending in 1997, Pennsylvanians developed raw land at a pace that ranked it 12th in the nation. At the same time, we were only 45th in population growth. As we’ve spread out, our air quality has decreased as vehicle miles driven and emissions increased. As we’ve concentrated scarce funds and limited energy on new construction, the existing transportation infrastructure has been decaying into a very real safety and usability issue.

The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA recognizes the importance of a fully functional transportation system and the critical linkage between transportation and economic viability.

Vision

We see an efficient and strong transportation system, respectful of the environment, assuring access to all citizens, with functional connectivity between modes and an assured funding source.

Supported Actions

• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports establishing a common vision among state agencies, local government and business, and communicate a statewide agenda for transportation and land use through the State Planning Board.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges PennDOT lead an effort to integrate the movement of goods within the transportation system of the Commonwealth.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports efforts to improve inter-modal connections, including automobile, transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, multi-modal transportation centers, and park and ride facilities.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges reuse of “brownfields” and previously developed sites in urban and suburban communities to lessen the need for new transportation infrastructure.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges government and business leaders to greatly enlarge opportunities for telecommuting, car pooling, compressed work schedules and other means by which to reduce commuting from home to work.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports amending the Commonwealth’s constitution to permit gas tax funds, indexed to inflation, to fund all modes of transportation, not just road and bridge improvements.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges the Commonwealth to consider giving counties the responsibility for apportioning transportation funds across the full array of modes as long as this is done within the parameters of the statewide vision.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports continued emphasis by state, regional, county and local governments to encourage public involvement in transportation planning as well as implementation of technology to ease these communications.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges expanded intergovernmental coordination for planning and transportation associated decision-making, linking planning with programming and performance horizontally at the appropriate local, county or regional levels, and vertically with state agencies.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports state, regional, county and local encouragement of transit- and pedestrian-oriented land use, and mixed-use development that reduces vehicular trips. The General Assembly should change the Municipalities Planning Code enabling local governments to exert a greater influence on development through zoning and design standards.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports state government management systems, including measures and standards to monitor performance, and to select and rank improvements, using safety as the top priority.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges government at all levels to insist upon improved accessibility to vehicular alternatives such as well-maintained sidewalks for pedestrians and paved shoulders or wider curb lanes for bicyclists, buggies, scooters and other similar means of transportation.

Issue

Unhealthy activities continue to plague the Commonwealth.

Significant progress has been made in air and water pollution but ozone and suspended particulate matter are still too high. Emissions of toxic substances into air and water remain high – air quality decreased by increased vehicle emissions as we travel longer distances to work. Greenhouse gas emissions rise seemingly inexorably. Human health problems increase, especially respiratory disorders, while obesity and diabetes rates rise partly because exercising falls off.

Population growth and the ubiquity of packaged items have created unprecedented amounts of trash to store or recycle. Our per capita waste production is increasing and we lead the nation in the amount trash received from other states.

Polluted sites are being cleaned up steadily, recycling rates have improved. However, the costs of disposing of municipal solid waste continue to rise in the face of concerns about air and groundwater pollution, opposition to facility locations, as well as Federal and state regulations.

Many streams are in poor condition and, while the amount of forested land is increasing, farmland is decreasing.

Vision

Realize a Pennsylvania in which intra- and inter-state partnerships, featuring broad public participation, foster cooperation between governments at all levels to coordinate local, county, regional and statewide planning that identifies the best management practices and safest solutions to pollution prevention or control.

Supported Actions

• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports managing solid wastes in a hierarchy that emphasizes reduction first; then recycling; compaction or composting; energy recovery; and, as a last resort, safely depositing in landfills.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Land Recycling Program that seeks to reclaim and redevelop abandoned industrial and commercial sites, and urges all local and regional governments to direct resources towards “brownfield” redevelopment.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports “growing greener” initiatives, regionally or statewide, that use bonds to raise funds for the restoration and conservation of our sensitive environmental areas.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports, at all appropriate governmental levels, laws requiring source reduction and providing incentives for the use of reusable products and refillable packaging.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports resource recovery programs that produce soil additives or mulch from yard debris and organic waste.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports mandatory public education programs on waste minimization, reuse, recycling and resource recovery.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourage revisions to comprehensive plans, zoning ordinance and subdivision and land development regulations that make the location of waste management facilities feasible and acceptable using clear and objective standards.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports and encourages telecommuting, car pooling, compressed work weeks, walking and bicycling by providing incentives and appropriate means by which to do so.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports improved monitoring of community water systems, including testing for all possible harmful substances.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports government efforts to support the search for renewable sources of energy.

Issue

We must develop astutely. We must recognize the connection between natural resources and economic prosperity, between orderly growth and quality of life, and make investments that encourage development where it is appropriate and discourage discontinuous non-agricultural growth outside of existing or planned municipal service areas.

The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA believes that development and preservation are two sides of the same coin. They should always be considered together and balanced on the scales of planning. Non-agricultural expansion into our farm and forest land, drains the lifeblood from our older communities, destroys our rural economies and changes the landscape that has made Pennsylvania special. The value of that open space amounts to billions of dollars a year in tourism, agriculture, timber production, hunting and fishing, and other outdoor recreation. The unnecessary loss of open space harms the economy and the tax base.

Growth management aims to achieve a balance between environmental quality and the cost-effective development of our communities. Planned development protects the character and integrity of local communities, including their design, sense of place and culture. It assists all to realize their community and economic development potential as well as the revitalization of depressed areas. Planning facilitates providing for affordable house, a variety and mix of housing to meet a range of needs affordable to all income levels. And, it does this while still protecting air quality, environmentally sensitive lands, productive agricultural areas, recreation, historical and cultural resources, and water quantity and quality.

Vision

Communities and regions realizing their potential for development and preservation in equitable measure: economic and social growth, physical and cultural preservation, urban renewal and agribusiness enrichment.

Supported Actions

• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the enrichment of the State Planning Board giving it the responsibility and staff to oversee statewide planning, enabling it to provide a well qualified resource available to state agencies, local governments, school districts and others, and providing a forum by which to address vital planning issues confronting all Pennsylvanians.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges establishment of a process by which to ensure that changes to state planning codes are made systematically and uniformly as the result of formal processes involving all stakeholders.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports designating local governments as the primary authorities for planning and managing land use within and between their jurisdictions according to uniform statewide procedural standards. Developments of regional impact should require joint local and county approval.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports voluntary and consistent comprehensive planning among state, regional, county and local government, school districts and other planning bodies, and required plan coordination horizontally and vertically among all stakeholders, using structured, open, accessible, timely and efficient procedures.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports and encourages growth that is coordinated with the provision of necessary infrastructure supported by capital improvement programs and budgets and tax base sharing.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports increased efforts to reclaim blighted urban areas, brownfields everywhere they exist and the concurrent building of affordable housing on these and other appropriate lands.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports integrating local planning results into county and state plans, regulations and permitting.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the purchase of conservation easements to protect prime agricultural soils and working forests, and urges the Commonwealth to increase funding in support of these programs.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges establishment of a system at the state level permanently recording land use regulation and decisions that will enable the most efficient and accurate dissemination of this information for use in research or as templates.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges comprehensive and innovative training and degree programs for all citizens and professionals engaged in the Commonwealth’s planning processes.

Issue

Per capita income in Pennsylvania has stayed even with the rest of the U.S., but we share the growing income disparity between the richest and poorest Pennsylvanians. Many citizens do not earn enough money to cover their basic needs even as they work “fulltime.” Our Gross State Product has risen more slowly than the U.S. Gross National Product since the mid-nineties.

Employment lags behind the national average, and the largest growth rate has been in the service industries, which generally pay lower wages than the manufacturing jobs we are losing. Our crime rate is level while the rest of the country’s decline. We have an increase in the rate of juvenile arrest for violent crimes. The average age of Pennsylvanians is rising as our young people leave for better prospects elsewhere.

We tend to forget that agribusiness is the commonwealth’s number one industry, one that earns billions of income dollars per year, as we allow thousands of productive, tax generating, acres to be converted to tax-eating, residential and commercial property. Typically, rural counties receive about 25% of the total DCED program dollars, the rest going to urban counties (according to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania).

There are linkages between economic and community development that need to be recognized and used in development planning and management. It is a joint endeavor that also involves business and government cooperation both horizontally and vertically from hamlet to Harrisburg. We are a commonwealth of diverse social, economic and political cultures. Even our immensity and geographic variety create differences that cry out for rigorous and consistent community and economic development planning and management in every community regardless of size, and in local, county, regional and statewide alignments.

Vision

An economic climate that secures and maintains for the Commonwealth a reputation as a good place to do business in a way that does not diminish the quality of life and commerce that makes Pennsylvania so attractive.

Supported Actions

• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages the Commonwealth’s efforts to proactively identify economic opportunities and entice commercial and industrial entities to Pennsylvania. We also urge that the process be open, fair and oriented to redeveloping areas already capable of receiving new businesses.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the modernization of the Commonwealth’s tax structure and regulatory procedures to produce a business-friendly environment that raises the quality of life of all Pennsylvanians.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges the State Planning Board to prepare a State Policy Plan with a vision for Pennsylvania that links community and economic development, defines appropriate roles for all state agencies within the plan, takes into account the impacts of a global economy, and fosters development that seeks to recognize, protect and promote community values on the one hand and eliminate barriers to economic development and job creation on the other.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges integrated comprehensive planning, economic development and environmental preservation collectively to synchronize implementation and management of Pennsylvania’s quality of life.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports comprehensive plans containing economic development components with accompanying support services and facilities. They should include local and regional economic analyses addressing community land use goals. The resulting ordinances should enhance the economic vitality of existing business and the potential of vacant land
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports state and county farmland and open-space preservation programs and urges growth in their rate of preservation.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges local governments to participate in preservation of valuable lands through municipal preservation programs such as the purchase of development easements. Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the establishment of local ordinances that enhance the economic viability and vitality of farms and farmers.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA recognizes it’s own obligation and role in development planning and supports such planning through education (at the annual Pennsylvania Chapter of APA conference, it’s newsletter and various symposia); through training opportunities provided throughout the Commonwealth; active support of course, certificate and degree programs offered by educational institutions dealing with development in its many forms; and by monitoring the actions of its members, reporting on noteworthy activities and periodically updating this policy statement as experience indicates.

Issue

While Pennsylvania’s growth rate is barely above the replacement level, the movement of people into our open space is gobbling up land at an unprecedented rate. Much of that land is sensitive or near sensitive lands and waters. The intent of our constitution, which guarantees the right to “pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment,” is besieged by thousands of bulldozers.
Put simply, we are putting too much stress on our critical environmental areas (CEAs).

Forests still cover vast areas of the Commonwealth and the number of trees is estimated to be increasing overall. However, in some parts of the state, fragmentation and invasive species in particular, are affecting the health of forests. In many areas, springs, seeps, wetlands, headwaters and steep slopes have been impaired by runoff, often agriculturally sourced, or improper uses of slopes such as clear cutting.

The flora and fauna that make Pennsylvania home are surrounded by manmade activities that change their habitat and impair their ability to survive. Imbalance ensues, the food chain is corrupted and eventually Pennsylvanians suffer. The over 5,000 abandoned pits and mines pose a safety hazard for many Pennsylvanians and must be reclaimed. Without action now, the deterioration of Pennsylvania’s ecosystems will become more pronounced, in some cases irreversible, the loss to our quality of life irremediable.

Land conservation provides a variety of public values such as rivers, lakes, springs, seepages and streams protection, groundwater quality and quantity security especially for drinking water, safeguarding critical natural areas and important wildlife habitat, and providing recreation and education.

Vision

We see a Pennsylvania in which the protection of valuable or sensitive land and water is a paramount factor in the process of growth, defended wherever possible but compromised as little as possible when disturbance is necessary.

Supported Actions

• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports a clear, simple and efficient system to identify critical environmental areas that includes a state-of-the art inventory of all CEAs that is easily and cheaply available to all, based upon a clearly defined classification system, differentiates between manmade and natural areas, and supports fair and uniform use regulations.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports clear rules identifying the relative value of CEAs and a mechanism to create new CEAs whenever existing CEAs are destroyed, a concept sometimes referred to as “no net loss.”
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages more direct participation by local governments in the regulation and management of CEAs, based upon a clearly defined inventory and classification system.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages the Commonwealth to develop innovative land use incentives preserving CEAs, which fully compensate landowners except in situations where the land has been purchased for speculation.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges the Commonwealth to take the lead in incentive programs encouraging sound land use sparing CEAs.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges greater funding to speed the reclamation effort facilitated by the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports simplification of the permit process to create one general permit covering municipal maintenance activities in and around waterways and other CEAs.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA urges governmental incentives, regulatory and monetary; to encourage productive but environmentally sensitive agriculture that protects open space and the use of renewable natural resources.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports a statewide goal changing the average ratio of land development to land preservation from three-acres-to-one to one-acre-to-one.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the Commonwealth’s Growing Greener initiatives and calls upon the General Assembly to give Pennsylvanians a greater voice in providing for them.
• The Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the Conservation Reserve Enhancement and the Conservation Reserve programs, incentives for key BMPs improving water quality, nutrient removal based BMP subsidies, and rotational grazing practices.

Issue

Many regions of the Commonwealth are experiencing either rapid growth or severe economic decline. Housing prices have risen dramatically for both home buyers and renters. Increasingly, affordable housing means old, dilapidated or abandoned stock in inner city or remote rural areas.

As the Department of Community and Economic Development has said in its Governor’s Center for Local Government Services 2001 publication entitled Reducing Land Use Barriers to Affordable Housing, The term “affordable housing” is no longer just a euphemism for low-income, subsidized projects or large mobile home parks.” Today, more and more Pennsylvanians simply cannot afford to buy housing of any kind.

According to Choices in Pennsylvania, published by The Reinvestment Fund, Pennsylvania has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. We are one of the slowest growing states but create new housing on new land at one of the fastest rates in the nation, yet we are the third slowest growing state. “Our most affordable housing stock is located in communities with the highest property tax burdens, but the worst performing schools . . . we are home to more elderly than most states in the nation and an increasing number have some type of disability.”

We are near the top in the nation in building single-family detached homes, which spread into green fields at a furious pace. The distance between home and work continues to grow even as the economic and environmental costs burgeon. Those with small incomes find their access to education limited, which in turn limits their opportunities for higher incomes. At the same time we struggle to cast aside the old racial divisions, we now segregate ourselves by wealth.

Pennsylvania has no vision or longterm plan to deal with these issues.

Vision

A Commonwealth in which a full range of housing opportunities is available for the lowest to the highest incomes, allowing people to live near their work or family.

Supported Actions

• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages state and Federal efforts to provide a consistent and adequate funding source for housing, including rental assistance and affordable home ownership programs, which is guided and targeted by a purposeful plan to provide more housing at more affordable prices throughout the state.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages all state departments to adopt regulatory policies and grant assistance programs that promote and provide incentives for moderately priced housing production and redevelopment in areas that can support such housing.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports programs that help to preserve and revitalize our cities and boroughs.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages local governments to refine their land development and zoning regulations to avoid impediments to the widest possible range of housing.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports intermunicipal zoning regulations, wherever appropriate, based upon comprehensive planning strategies that balance affordable housing with other development goals such as transportation planning, economic development and preserving open space, to create regional solutions providing housing affordable for greater numbers of people.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages local governments (including counties) to advocate the use of innovative techniques such as mixed-use developments, adaptive re-use, housing designed for the elderly and residential conversions to increase housing production in the low to moderate price ranges.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports expanding the State Planning Board to give it the power and staff to create a statewide housing strategy guiding government decisions across the full range of infrastructure decisions.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports Employer Assisted Programs, which support lower income workers in higher income areas.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA encourages more government programs to assist the elderly with health and mobility problems.
• Pennsylvania Chapter of APA supports the development of model building codes encouraging housing affordability.