South Franklin Township - Green Hills Borough Joint Comprehensive Plan

The objectives of developing a South Franklin Township - Green Hills Borough Joint Comprehensive Plan are:

• Recognize, preserve and enhance the unique characteristics and service requirements of each municipality, as well as their contribution to the quality of life for area residents.
• Identify social and economic interdependencies affecting the viability of these municipalities.
• Identify responsibilities and services that one municipality might be better suited to provide for the region and develop strategies to make such efforts cost effective for all involved.
• Strengthen the municipalities' ability to guide future development in an effective and orderly manner.

Specifically, Act 67 (House Bill 14) and Act 68 (Senate Bill 300) that amended the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) and enabled counties and municipalities to plan together for the development and conservation of resources, and most importantly, implementing plans through cooperative agreements and consistent ordinances and actions. Specific benefits authorized by Act 67 and Act 68 can:

• Promote the protection of rural resources: The laws require all municipalities to plan and zone for natural and historic resources, and agricultural lands. Within a multi-municipal plan, it is easier to protect larger areas of lands from intense development by designating growth areas in or around existing developed places and rural resource areas for more limited development.
• Promote development in older boroughs and suburbs: The laws give cities and boroughs the opportunity to plan with neighboring municipalities for more dense development in their municipalities, making use of and improving existing infrastructure, and providing for infill traditional neighborhood development.
• Provide funding incentives: The laws authorize state agencies to provide funding priority under state funding programs for multi-municipal planning and implementation.
• Require state agencies to incorporate local plans in decision-making: The laws require state agencies to consider the joint plan in making funding and permitting decisions.
• Address regional issues: The laws enable municipalities to identify and address issues that are regional in nature, such as sewer and water provisions, emergency services, agricultural preservation, transportation issues and developments of regional scope. Planning for these issues together can eliminate duplication of efforts, encourage communication between municipalities and create opportunities for more efficient use of resources.
• Allow cost sharing: The laws allow the sharing of the significant costs of a sound land use plan, and the ability to use the technical assistance and expertise of county planning departments state, regional, and local agencies, and/or to share planning tasks among the participating municipalities.
  • Protect against curative amendment lawsuits: Municipalities within a joint planning area no longer have to provide for every use. The laws now direct the court in a zoning challenge to look at the availability of uses under the zoning ordinances of municipalities that have adopted and implemented a joint plan and not to limit its consideration to the zoning ordinance being challenged.
  • Authorize Transfer of Development Rights (TOR) across municipal boundaries: The laws authorize adoption of a transfer of development rights program across municipal boundaries, for the region of the plan. The use of transfer of development rights in an area that combines rural lands and urban municipalities could enable farmers to sell development rights to developers for use in a city, borough or more suburban township within the project area, thereby relieving pressure on rural lands, and helping to sustain developed areas.
  • Allow tax-revenue sharing across municipal boundaries: The laws authorize agreements for the sharing of tax revenues and fees within the region of the plan. The tax and revenue sharing tools mean that the burdens and the benefits of such development are shared and contribute to the economic health of all the municipalities in the plan. For example, some percentage of the real estate tax from a large shopping mall or industrial park could be shared among municipalities in the plan on a formula basis.
  • Retain local control: The laws allow municipalities to retain local control over implementation and local issues so long as implementation is consistent with the joint framework plan.

  The multi-municipal comprehensive plan for the Township of South Franklin and the Borough of Green Hills will consist of background studies, community development goals for the planning components, and strategies to implement the plan's recommendations.

Summary of the first Public Meeting

Web Survey (pdf)

Web Survey (html)

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