Why do we Plan?

The purpose of planning is to help ensure that the Centre Region maintains an excellent quality of life. Through the planning process, residents, business owners and community organizations help shape Centre Region’s future.  A well-planned region and well-planned municipalities provide compatible land uses, a variety of transportation modes, adequate and cost-effective community facilities and parks. Planning can also identify and protect significant environmental, cultural and historic resources and help ensure that the Centre Region continues to be attractive, safe, and prosperous region in which to live, work and play.

What is the Regional Comprehensive Plan?

The Regional Comprehensive Plan is a guide to decision-making regarding long-term growth and development in the Centre Region. The Region’s municipal governing bodies such as Township Boards of Supervisors, Township Councils and the Borough Council use the planning principles in the Comprehensive Plan when acting upon a variety of development plans, ordinances, and activities regarding physical development in the Region. The Centre Regional Planning Commission (CRPC) also uses the Plan as a guide when reviewing projects in one municipality that may impact other municipalities and to determine if proposed plans, ordinances and development projects are consistent with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan.

The Plan is also a guide for Centre Regional Planning Agency staff and the public to use in the planning process. The Comprehensive Plan consists of chapters that outline goals, objectives and policies for land use, transportation, housing, open space, community services and facilities, natural, environmental, cultural and historic resources, sustainability and university/community relations. The Plan recommends how land should be used in the future, but it does not specify when development will occur. The land use map illustrates the recommended future land use, and is used in conjunction with the other chapters of the Plan by policy-makers when considering growth in the region.

Have there been previous Regional Comprehensive Plans?

There have been three Regional Comprehensive Plans prepared for the Centre Region. The initial Plan was prepared in 1976. Updates to the Comprehensive Plan occurred in 1990 and in 2000. State law recommends that updates to comprehensive plans be prepared on a ten-year cycle. This allows the region to reassess their long-term growth and development policies on a regular basis and respond to changes that occur over time in the community.

What is the difference between the Future Land Use Map and the Zoning Ordinance?

The Comprehensive Plan guides many growth and development decisions and is an advisory document. Many individuals confuse the future land use map, which is just one piece of the Comprehensive Plan with a zoning ordinance. To fully understand how a parcel of land can be used, one first needs to know how the land is planned in the Comprehensive Plan, and then determine how the land is zoned. A zoning ordinance is a tool that individual municipalities use to regulate land uses that are illustrated on the future land use map. Zoning ordinances regulate the type, height and intensity of development which may occur in specific zoning districts. Existing zoning does not always conform with the land use identified in the Comprehensive Plan. State law does require however, that zoning be generally consistent with the future land use map. The future land use plan is often the cornerstone of the Comprehensive Plan. Some additional differences between a future land use map and a zoning ordinance are listed below:

 What is the Centre Regional Planning Commission (CRPC)

The CRPC was established in 1960 to assist the Centre Region municipalities with their local and regional planning activities and to serve as the coordinating agency for planning for the six municipalities. The CRPC considers planning issues and problems that affect two or more municipalities and makes recommendations for action on behalf of the Centre Region Council of Governments (COG). The CRPC is a volunteer commission composed of seven individuals. Six of the CRPC members represent each of the Centre Region municipalities and one member represents Penn State University. The CRPC meets monthly on the first Thursday of the month at the COG building, 2643 Gateway Drive in State College.