Last Saturday, I attend a Land Use workshop at the Penn State Berks campus. The workshop covered Recent Land Use Court decisions, Linking a Comprehensive Plan with the Municipal budget through Multi-year planning, and Zoning for Alternative Energy.
I would like to focus this blog entry on the presentation made by John Grange, Township Manager, Solebury Township. The basic concept of his presentation was linking the multi-year township strategic plans with a multi-year financial plan. The Solebury Township strategic plan was created and approved with significant public input. All the strategic plans are online for public review and comment. Additionally, the township proactively seeks input from federal agencies, state agencies, local agencies, local scouting groups, local service organizations, local political groups, developers, etc to gain agreement on the strategic plans across various segments of the community. Finally, the township tracks their progress against the stated goals and publishes the results on township web site.
John outlined the basic process to get community agreement on proposed civic projects:
1. Identify what is important to the community.
2. Determine what you know
3. Determine what you don't know.
4. Prioritize the projects.
5. Get partners
6. Use other people money.
I was very impressed with the level of community involvement and the desire of the Solebury Township public officials to get public input, but more importantly, the desire to gain agreement from the community on proposed civic projects. As you can see, open government is alive and well in PA.
For additional information, please visit the Solebury Township web site.
Get Involved! Every Voice Counts!
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