Londonderry Township Comprehensive Plan This Plan was prepared for the Londonderry Township Board of Supervisors by the Londonderry Township Planning Commission, with the assistance of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission staff. "This project was financed (in part) by a grant from the COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS" 1' TABLE OF CONTENTS Pacre Introduction i Regional Location iv Chapter 1-History 1-1 Chapter 2-Natural Environment 2-1 8 Chapter 3-Population/Socio-Economic Profile 3-1 Chapter 4-Employment and Economy 4-1 Chapter 5-Existing Land Use 5-1 I Chapter 6-Housing 6-1 Chapter 7-Transportation 7-1 Chapter 8-Community Facilities and Services 8-1 I Chapter 9-Municipal Administration and Finances 9-1 Chapter 10 - Energy 10-1 Chapter 11 - Community Goals and Objectives 11-1 Chapter 12 - Energy Plan 12-1 Chapter 13 - Transportation Plan 13-1 Chapter 14 - Community Facilities Plan 14-1 Chapter 15 - Housing Plan 15-1 Chapter 16 - Future Land Use Plan 16-1 Chapter 17 - Plan Administration and Implementation 17-1 I Appendix - Community Attitude Survey I' I I I I I I: I' I I List of Tables 1 Table Number Title Paqe 3-1 Population Trends: 1940 - 1980 3-5 1 3-2 Percentage of Population Change: 1940-1980 3-5 3-3 Elderly Population 65 Years of Age and Older: 1970 - 1980 3-8 3-4 Race/Ethnic Composition: 1980 3-8 1 3-5 Population Households/Marital Status: 1980 3-9 3-6 Years of School Completed: 1970 - 1980 3-10 3-7 Income/Poverty Comparisons 3-12 1 3-8 Population Projections: 1980 - 2000 3-16 3-9 Population Projection/Number and Percentage of Change: 1980 - 2000 3-16 4-1 Labor Force by Sex by Persons: 1980 4-3 1 4-2 Township Residents by Place of Employment: 1980 4-4 4-3 Employment by Industry (State, SMSA, 1 County): 1980 4-5 4-4 Employment by Industry (Londonderry Township): 1980 4-7 1 4-5 Employment by Occupation: 1980 4-8 4-6 Employment by Class of Worker: 1980 4-9 4-7 Mean Household Income: 1980 4-10 4-8 Unemployment Rate: 1980 and 1988 4-10 1 5-1 Existing Land Use - By Parcel: 1988 5-3 6-1 Year - Round Dwelling Units: 1970 - 1980 6-1 6-2 Housing Inventory: 1970 - 1980 6-2 1 6-3 Dwelling Units by Occupancy Status and Tenure: 1980 6-3 6-4 Housing Inventory-Residential Design: 1980 6-3 1 6-5 Residential Construction Activities: 1984 - 1987 6-4 6-6 Household Size: 1980 6-4 6-7 Rooms Per Housing Unit: 1980 6-5 1 6-8 Age of Dwelling Units: 1980 6-6 6-9 Occupied Units by Plumbing Facilities: 1970 - 1980 6-7 1 6-10 Occupied Units by Bathroom Facilities: 1970 - 1980 6-7 6-11 Selected Area Housing Condition Survey 6-10 6-12 Value of Owner Occupied Dwellings: 1980 6-12 1 6-13 Contract Rent: 1980 6-12 6-14 Median Housing Values and Contract Rents: 1980 6-13 1 6-15 Average Cost of Construction Per Single Family Dwelling: 1984 and 1987 6-13 6-16 Average Cost of Construction/New Dwellings: 1 1984 and 1987 6-14 7-1 Travel to Work Information 7-2 7-2 State Highway Information 7-3 7-3 Functional Classification System 7-4 1 7-4 Street Design Requirements 7-5 9-1 Municipal Revenues and Expenditures: 1984 - 1988 9-8 1 16-1 Future Land Use 16-6 1 I I List of Maps I Title Followinq Pase Hydrologic Soils Groups 2-3 Drainage Basins 2-4 Flood Plain 2-5 I Slopes 2-5 Homesite Locations With Basement Limitations 2-6 Soils Limitations For On-Lot Septic Systems 2-6 I Woodlands 2-6 Geology 2-8 Environmental Limitations 2-9 I Existing Land Use 5-3 Community Facilities and Utilities 8-15 Transportation Plan 13-6 'I Future Land Use Plan 16-6 I1 I I 1 :I '1 I I List of Exhibits Exhibit Number Title Paqe 3 -A Population Trends: 1940 - 1980 3-4 3-B Population Changes: 1940 - 1980 3-4 3-C1 Age/Sex Comparisons: 1970 3-6 3-C2 Age/Sex Comparisons: 1980 3-6 3-D Household Income Profile: 1979 3-11 3-E Population Density: 1970 - 1980 3-15 6 -A Housing Condition Survey Areas 6-9 8-A Library Locations in Dauphin County 8-5 13-A Urban Street Design Criteria 13-5 INTRODUCTION The Londonderry Township Planning Commission has been tasked by the Board of Supervisors to update the Township's 1976 Comprehensive Plan. Londonderry, like many other municipalities in Dauphin County, has officially recognized the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to guiding future development and more effectively managing municipal services within its corporate limits to provide for the health, safety, convenience, and general welfare of its citizens. Purpose of the Plan The Comprehensive Plan is a policy guide to orderly municipal development in an effort to promote the health, safety, welfare, morals, and convenience of its residents. It is intended to organize and coordinate the interrelated collection of people, land, facilities, ideas, services, land uses, and environmental elements which comprise the Township as a whole. Thus the term "comprehensive" is used to express the overall scope of plan content. The plan, in effect, charts the course for municipal growth and change by: 0 expressing the aims and ambitions of the residents; 0 delineating the municipal form and character it seeks to achieve; 0 being responsive to change (dynamic); and 0 being subject to continual review and revision as necessary. Planninq as a Concept Comprehensive planning should be viewed as a process rather than as a conclusive statement. The Plan should be modified as conditions alter the affairs of people. It should represent certain short term and long-range decisions of vital importance to the welfare of the Township and its residents. Primarily, comprehensive planning is a continuing function of government and local citizenry; with the Plan serving as the blueprint or guide for action oriented programs which will bring about more orderly growth and development of the entire Township. Orqanization of the Plan Preparation of the Comprehensive Plan is accomplished in three phases, with each phase addressing selected planning elements necessary to progress to the next phase. The first phase involves the collection of all available information needed to identify and express existing municipal characteristics to be used in formulating planning policies and directives for future Township development. This phase is titled "Basic Studies" and includes narrative and graphics that describe the natural environment, population and socio-economic characteristics, i employment and economy, existing land uses, transportation, community facilities, energy conservation options, and municipal administration and finances. During the second phase, data collected in the Basic Studies Phase is evaluated for the purpose of developing the separate, yet mutually supporting, major components of the plan. Each component contains policies and directives which will cumulatively establish the framework of the comprehensive plan in terms of recommended physical development patterns and supporting facilities and services. This second phase is titled "Plan Development" and contains the Statement of Community Development Goals and Objectives, Energy Plan, Transportation Plan, Community Facilities and Services Plan, Housing Plan, and Future Land Use Plan. The third phase involves proposing the administrative structure and legislative base necessary to successfully implement the plan. The comprehensive plan is not self-implementing, it requires the administrative structure necessary to manage the planning process and a set of municipal codes and ordinances to manage physical development as it occurs over time. Examples of such development management devices include the zoning ordinance, subdivision and land development regulations, building code, and housing code; each of which serves a specific and limited purpose, yet cumulatively serve to mutually support one another in the attempt to achieve the community development goals and objectives set forth in the plan document. This phase further describes the capital improvement program as a recommended device to establish planned budgeted expenditures necessary to finance selected improvement projects in furtherance of the plan. Leqislative and Leqal Base for the Plan and Implementation As stated previously, the Comprehensive Plan is an official statement by the Board of Supervisors setting forth major policies concerning desirable future municipal development. The Plan necessarily encompasses all geographical parts of the Township, as well as its functional elements. In order to effectively carry out planning objectives , the Board of Supervisors needs an instrument which establishes general policies for the development of the Township in a coordinated, unified manner and which can be continually referred to in deciding upon development issues. The legislative authority for Pennsylvania local governments to plan for and manage development within their respective corporate limits is based on the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended. This enabling legislation sets forth general guidelines, as well as, specific administrative and procedural requirements that municipalities must adhere to in developing and implementing municipal comprehensive plans. ii The right of a municipality to exercise its authority in legislating regulations governing the use of land has been upheld by State and Federal courts. They grant that a municipality has the right to manage its own development and growth activities, within certain legal constraints. The primary method, upheld by the United States Supreme Court, to protect and provide for the best interest of citizens of a municipality is through adoption of a zoning ordinance. However, this method of safeguarding the public welfare is not sufficient by itself. It must be supplemented by adoption of certain other mutually supportive codes I and ordinances, in particular, a subdivision and land development ordinance, building code, and housing code.