Northeastern Pennsylvania Land Use Policies PDF Download

In Pennsylvania, municipal planning commissioners are tasked with administering current land use plans and regulations, as well as updating those plans and regulations to manage the changing needs of development, environmental protection, and quality of life within a municipality. It has been thought these leaders lack the knowledge of the full set of regulatory and non-regulatory tools available to balance development and conservation. As primary actors in local land use decisions, their knowledge about and attitudes toward local natural resource conservation have not been well understood or studied. Focusing on four counties in northeastern Pennsylvania, this study aimed to investigate municipal planning commissioners knowledge about and attitudes towards local regulatory tools (e.g., zoning, subdivision and land development ordinances), and non-regulatory tools (e.g., comprehensive plans, land acquisition strategies, partnerships) for conserving natural resources.This mixed methods study used key informant interviews to develop an understanding of the social context of natural resource conservation as well as land use planning and regulatory policy in the study area. Building on the results of the interviews, a mail survey instrument was developed to assess planning commissioners knowledge and attitudes toward land use planning and its use for natural resource conservation. Results of the survey were used to determine what factors influenced the attitudes of planning commissioners with two multivariate regression models. One model focused on attitudes towards planning for natural resource conservation while the second model focused on attitudes towards zoning for natural resource conservation. The regression models indicated support of social class and environmental concern theories, with political orientation predicting attitudes of planning commissioners toward both planning for and regulation of natural resource conservation. Conservative planning commissioners were more likely to disagree with both planning for and regulating conservation of natural resources in their municipalities. Gender was also a factor influencing agreement with regulation of natural resource conservation, but not for planning. Female planning commissioners were more likely to agree with regulation of natural resource conservation in their municipalities. Training for planning commissioners was also significant in explaining attitudes of planning commissioners in the models. Those indicating agreement with training for planning commissioners were more likely to agree with both planning and regulation of natural resource conservation in their municipalities.In addition to a better understanding of the knowledge and attitudes of planning commissioners, the results of this study also provided other interesting insights on planning commissioners. There was a substantial gender imbalance among planning commissioners with over four-fifths of respondents being male. Also, almost two-thirds of planning commissioners thought they had not received adequate training. The important information provided by the results of this study improved understanding of how planning commissioners think about natural resource conservation in Pennsylvania. This study moved forward this understanding by surveying planning commissioners directly, adding to a limited body of research on what is an important role in municipal government in Pennsylvania. Implications of this study will contribute to increasing the awareness of how natural resources can be conserved through inclusion in land use planning and regulation at the local government level, as administered by diverse and well-trained planning commissions.