Comprehensive Plan Updated with 2010 U.S. Census information Lansdowne and East Lansdowne’s Comprehensive Plans INTRODUCTION A comprehensive plan is a long-range planning tool used to define an area’s vision, goals, and policies. An effective plan accurately communicates citizens’ needs and desires about their community and recommends specific strategies to achieve those values. A typical plan sets a 10- year vision for the community. The process of revising Lansdowne and East Lansdowne’s comprehensive plans was begun in spring 2003. The Boroughs determined that the policies in the 1983 (Lansdowne) and 1976 (East Lansdowne) plans needed updating to guide the communities into the twenty-first century and the new millennium. The goals set for the comprehensive plan update were to create a document that is based on the community’s vision of Lansdowne and East Lansdowne’s future. The Boroughs wanted to complete a document that is user friendly, incorporates all of the amendments to the previous plan, and is more comprehensive than previous plans. The Comprehensive Plan Task Force (CPTF) provided general guidance throughout the plan process. The CPTF is comprised of citizens from diverse backgrounds and interests and includes two Borough Council members, two Borough Managers, one Planning Commissioner, and three members of the local business community. The CPTF provided a variety of input including general policy guidance, strategies for receiving public input, ideas for inclusion in the plan through brainstorming, and review and refinement of plan drafts. The Planning Commissions and Borough Councils also reviewed plan drafts and held public meetings to engage the community in the planning process and receive public input. The comprehensive plan is a document prepared to assist in guiding future growth and development. It contains sections on various aspects of the Lansdowne and East Lansdowne community such as community development goals and objectives, environment, housing, transportation and land use. It is officially adopted by the governing body of a municipality, and is implemented to a large extent by zoning and by subdivision and land development ordinances. The plan must be periodically reviewed and updated and must have the understanding and support of local residents, the planning commission and the governing body. A comprehensive plan is more that just a document disclosing past and present land use trends with a proposed course of action. It is a process of organizing for the future. It creates a strategy for land use patterns of tomorrow. Even to not plan is a strategy for dealing with what lies ahead. Community planning is an organized way or process of thinking about tomorrow. Thinking about how a community changed in the past can help predict what changes might occur in the future. When this type of thinking translates into action, it needs to be done in an orderly fashion and made part of a routine administrative process. Lansdowne and East Lansdowne Comprehensive Plan Planning Process The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) Act 247 as amended, requires comprehensive plans to include a statement of the community’s development goals and objectives, as well as plans for land use, transportation, community facilities, housing, historic preservation, and the environment. In addition to these required plan elements; this plan contains sections and chapters about the Boroughs’ demographic characteristics, their vision for the future, sources of funding and technical assistance and implementation tools and methods. The goals, objectives, and recommendations outlined in the plan are based on the combined input from local residents, Borough staff, elected and appointed officials, as well as that of the Delaware County Planning Department. The 2003 plan process began with a review of the community’s vision of Boroughs and an overall evaluation of the future elements expected to shape land use throughout the Boroughs. The Vision Statement represents the overall long-range vision for the Boroughs. The remainder of the plan contains detailed analysis and action strategies to help achieve this community vision. VISION STATEMENT Visioning is a relatively new and commonly used tool in developing the goals, objectives, and policies of a comprehensive plan. A vision statement describes in general terms the residents’ overall opinion of and commitment to their ideal community. Therefore, it identifies the community’s ultimate long-range goal. The vision of the Boroughs is… “…to create a community that cherishes its heritage, fosters socially and economically healthy environments, encourages safe human-scale development, and efficiently uses land, infrastructure, and public facilities and services.” While this vision statement provides the broad concept of the community’s long-term vision, some elaboration is necessary to provide a clearer picture of this idealistic society. The statements below are designed to portray this long-term vision. The Boroughs are striving toward a community that: • Maintains and encourages stable, blight-free neighborhoods where homeowners and residents can invest with reasonable assurance that their investment is secure. • Preserves the layout of the Boroughs, ensuring compatible, neatly spaced residences along streets that are pedestrian oriented and discourage high volumes of vehicular traffic and speeds; • Encourages diversity in land uses, economic development, housing opportunities, and social and cultural activities; • Encourages and supports business, government, and citizens to work together to attain common goals and fully capitalize on the community’s resources; • Capitalizes on its unique cultural characteristics to develop new retail and service opportunities; • Supports planned and designed public spaces and facilities that promote the maximum opportunity for social interaction and engagement; • Promotes the conservation of open spaces and the provision of parks and public recreation facilities designed for all members of the community, regardless of age, interest or physical ability; • Offers age-appropriate recreational facilities and programs to residents of all abilities; • Encourages outdoor recreational activities, festivals and events; • Provides and supports pedestrian-oriented and human-scaled streetscape and urban design that fosters a sense of place, pride of place, belonging, and accessibility for all members of the community; • Provides a setting that encourages people to locate, remain or return to the Boroughs out of choice because they offer a healthy, safe and enriching environment in which to raise their families; • Preserves its cultural resources by supporting the protection and rehabilitation of historically or architecturally significant structures and sites; • Provides an integrated network of multi-use paths/trails utilizing public rights-of-way and stream valleys; • Provides and maintains attractively landscaped entranceways and streetscapes containing shade trees along clean, well-maintained streets; GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND RECOMMENDATIONS In order to attain or at least come close to the generalized ends expressed in its Vision Statements, a comprehensive plan must contain a clear statement of goals and objectives. This statement should be a reflection of the needs and desires of the community as well as an indication of the actions required to achieve the envisioned future. The term goal, as used in this plan, is an expression of the generalized end-points or ultimate purposes that the Boroughs strive to achieve. Objectives on the other hand are more specific and measurable actions necessary to move towards these goals. In most cases, several objectives must be achieved or nearly achieved before the goal is reached. Recommendations are the very specific actions or directions that must be taken and effectively carried out so that a given objective is attained. Frequently, an objective can be reached only by carrying out several recommendations. The goals, objectives, and recommendations identified in comprehensive plans typically contain highly interrelated statements. For example, goals/objectives stated in terms of land use issues are frequently strongly related to those framed as of transportation issues. Whenever this occurs, it is important to assure that these statements are reasonably consistent with one another. One of the most critical elements of well-crafted goals and objectives is that they reflect the needs and desires of the community. Accordingly, it has been necessary to elicit the views and opinions of local officials and residents to prepare useful statements of goals and objectives. LANSDOWNE AND EAST LANSDOWNE’S PLANNING HISTORY This plan is a multi-municipal comprehensive plan for Lansdowne and East Lansdowne. Before the adoption of this Plan, the Boroughs were using comprehensive plans prepared in 1976 (East Lansdowne) and 1983 (Lansdowne). At the time, both documents met the requirements of the MPC, but today are extremely out of date and do not comply with the year 2000 amendments to the MPC. PLANNING FUNDING SOURCES On behalf of the Boroughs, the Delaware County Planning Department secured a Land Use Planning and Technical Assistance Program (LUPTAP) state grant in the amount of $21,850 and a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $17,480. The remaining 10% of the total project cost ($43,700) was provided by the Boroughs. The state grant was obtained through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and