To view the results of the Comprehensive Plan Survey, click on the Story Map link below and go to section labeled Spring Garden Township Open House. Your feedback is welcomed. Click on the red box “Tell us what you think” to provide your feedback.
Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee
Advisory Committee Members:
Michael Thomas – Ward 1
Alex Bishop – Ward 2
Brian Ports – Ward 3
John Luciani – Ward 4
Jason Langheine – Ward 5
Mark Sindicich – Community Stakeholder
Kristen Beecher – Community Stakeholder
Amy Mitten – SGT Planning Commission
The first Open House for the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee was held on May 20, 2024, 6:00 pm, at 340 Tri Hill Rd. This was open to the public.
Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee Meeting Schedule:
All meetings are held at 6:00 pm at 340 Tri Hill Rd, York, PA 17404
- February 17, 2025: Advisory Committee meeting to recommend final document for elected officials’ 45-day public review period.
- January 20 2025: Advisory Committee meeting to review overall comprehensive plan inclusive of December public meeting feedback.
- December 16 2024: Public meeting for the first half, and Advisory Committee meeting second half to review public survey results and arrange potential actions/recommendation for public feedback.
- November 18 2024 : Advisory Committee meeting to review draft resident survey results and honed draft comprehensive plan concepts.
- October 21 2024: Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the Business Survey Draft and draft comprehensive plan components.
- September 2024: Advisory Committee meeting to review short and long survey options and Zoning District Uses requirements.
- May 2024: The first Open House for the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee was held on May 20, 2024, at 6:00 pm, at 340 Tri Hill Rd. This was open to the public.
- March 2024: Spring Garden and York Townships are gearing up for a mid-Spring kick-off event for the multi-municipal Comprehensive Plan. As one of the early steps of the planning process will be the communities scheduling an Open House. At the Open House, residents and business owners will be able to attend and share their thoughts about what is most important for enhancing community quality of life in the coming decade. The project’s Discussion Group and planning team look forward to gathering all of these ideas. Stay tuned for the Spring Open House date announcement and more details!
- February 2024: The Board of Commissioners selected discussion group/advisory committee members. Following the March 2024 Board of Commissioners meeting, the members’ names will be posted.
What is a Comprehensive Plan?
It is a document that is shaped by the municipal community as a whole that establishes the community’s vision and values; guides future physical, social, and economic development; and, identifies policies and actions needed to achieve the vision within the realm of current municipal resources and capabilities. It basically sizes up where the township is in its entirety and then sets goals for where the township’s residents, business owners, and property owners want it to be in the future.
The Comprehensive Plan will be used as a foundation for land use regulations and is often followed by the implementation of zoning changes to ensure consistency between the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Map. Furthermore, the updated Plan will be the basis for rendering subsequent updates to other linked planning documents.
What are we updating?
York Township and Spring Garden Township have partnered to update each municipal comprehensive plan. The goal of this joint comprehensive planning effort is to analyze both municipalities as a geographic area and recommend municipal and multi-municipal action(s), as appropriate, to coordinate regulatory, service, and capital improvement decisions. The plan furthers current cooperative efforts and includes new opportunities for intergovernmental approaches to the cost-effective delivery of government services.
How will it be updated?
Background information such as the existing condition and land use analysis utilizing Census information, community windshield surveys, and building and tax records will be collected to reveal the key demographic influences impacting our Township’s physical, economic, and social environments.
Influential issues and opportunities will be evaluated with the use of the background information.
As part of the initial Planning Commission meeting (held individually in each municipality), we will facilitate a discussion regarding the overall plan’s purpose, and its goals and objectives. These aspirational statements or targets will be used throughout the planning process to give context to issues and opportunities as well as to make informed and intentional decisions. At a minimum, goals and objective topics will be focused on land use, economic development to offset the burden of our residential taxpayers, mobility, infrastructure, communications, quality of life, public safety, and green space and recreation. Resident-oriented planning workshops will be scheduled to occur during the update process. The focus of these two-to-three-hour meetings is to stimulate dialogue and gauge reactions to potential solutions prior to the adoption stage of the planning effort. The workshops will be facilitated in successive cycles or rounds and are intended to immerse participants directly into the planning process. The conversations and insights of each round build upon the previous one(s).
How long will the process take?
The comprehensive planning process may take 12 to 18 months. The goal is to commence the process in early 2024.
What will the end result look like?
Rather than a planning document that strictly adheres to traditional comprehensive plan elements, the end goal is to adopt an implementable comprehensive plan that bases its structure around issues most important to the entire municipality while meeting the criteria essential to a comprehensive plan prescribed by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
An implementable plan should:
- Focus on relevant and actual Township issues and place emphasis on goals, objectives, and policies;
- Be structured by how local officials and citizens think (such as forming the plan around issues instead of document chapters; and meetings organized around the issues and work sessions for discovering solutions);
- Develop three to five recommendations that are reasonable and workable.
How do residents contribute ideas?
As part of the process of planning, a public participation program will be offered to residents including wide and varied ways to forward ideas for consideration. Before final acceptance, a public hearing will be advertised by the Board of Commissioners.
Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee
The Spring Garden Township advisory committee for the Comprehensive Plan update is comprised of the following members: one resident from each ward, two stakeholders from businesses located in the Township, and one Township Planning Commission member. Each member has been approved by the Board of Commissioners of Spring Garden Township.
The purpose of this advisory committee is to gather facts and make recommendations pursuant to the public good to the Planning Commission with regard to the Comprehensive Plan update; the Plan update process will be guided by the Consultant. The advisory committee meetings will be in-person. The Planning Commission will provide periodic updates to the Board of Commissioners with regard to the status of the Comprehensive Planning process as well as provide the overall recommendation of a draft plan for review.