LVPC Makes Annual Presentation to NorCo Council

Six staffers from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC), including Executive Director Becky Bradley, were at Northampton County Council's March 21 meeting to provide an annual update on what LVPC has been doing for the past year. They've been busy. So busy that County Council wants them to return for a separate meeting for a deep dive in what's going on in a county where Bradlley says there will be 100,000 new residents by 2050. Below are some highlights from its 2023 annual report:

• 1,250 reviews including 595 subdivision and land development reviews – the most since 2008 – and 190 stormwater management reviews. A record 105 reviews for municipal ordinance and map changes were done, a sign that municipalities are taking a proactive approach to managing the development arriving in their communities. 
• Reviews of 4,916 new homes, marked by greater diversity that included 2,472 apartments, 1,170 townhomes, 764 single-family homes, 397 twins, 83 manufactured homes and 20 condos. (Note that over half of these "new homes" are actually apartments.)
• 21 million square feet of proposed non-residential space proposed – the second-most ever in a single year. More than 17 million sq ft of that is industrial, most of which was for warehouses and logistics. It also included 1.8 million square feet for commercial, 1.1 million of public/quasi-public, 316,457 of office, 176,421 of retail, 27,813 of transportation and 25,403 of recreational. 
• Adoption of a $4.3 billion Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) that maps out how to invest in roads, bridges, trails, transit and communities over the next 25 years. In part due to advocacy by the LVPC and community leaders, and the arrival of new federal programs like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the number is a 70% increase over the 2019 LRTP. The plan includes the region’s first use of federal Justice40 initiatives designed to direct 40% of funding for certain projects to disadvantaged and underserved communities.  (Council member Ken Kraft observed that NorCo is getting $50 million over the next three years, while Lehigh is getting $200 million. "It's unacceptable," he said. Bradley responded that PennDOT should be asked to explain because that money is going to the state for what she calls mega projects.)
• First-ever Lehigh Valley Priority Climate Action Plan. It focuses on reducing transportation-related emissions by increasing the use of alternative fuel vehicles, increasing transit ridership, implementing Walk/RollLV: Active Transportation Plan, using technology and efficiency to reduce congestion, and creating green infrastructure along our busiest highways. If those goals are met, it will reduce carbon emissions annually by 300,000 metric tons of caron dioxide equivalent by 2030, and 321,000 by 2050. 
• Working with 37 communities in five multi-municipal plans that give them tools to find new efficiencies and better control development. (These plans enable communities to assess impact fees for traffic that may increase in area outside of a host municipality)
• Leading the Eastern Pennsylvania Freight Alliance in a multi-regional coalition, created to write a new freight infrastructure plan for the Lehigh Valley, Northeast Pennsylvania, Lackawanna-Luzerne, Berks County and Lebanon County areas. The plan is scheduled to be completed in 2024.  
• Leading the Lehigh Valley Passenger Rail Analysis, a partnership endeavor between the LVTS and PennDOT, that analyzes the potential for the restoration of passenger rail service between the Lehigh Valley and Northern New Jersey, Philadelphia or Reading. The analysis is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2024.
• Expanding training programs through the Lehigh Valley Government Academy, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Education Institute and PennDOT. The year included training more than 100 students during in-person planning, zoning and land development classes, performing 67 transportation tech assists in the community to improve pedestrian safety, and offering online Local Technical Assistance Program classes for engineers, public works and transportation crews. 
• Community outreach that included hosting a Pennsylvania House Local Government Committee Hearing on a bill to update the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, hosting the U.S. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan visit to announce a $1 million grant to the LVPC, and hosting a major transportation projects meeting with regional legislators and PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll.  
• Updating the LVTS’s policies for providing public access to work done by the two organizations. The Planning For All campaign included an update the two organization’s Public Participation and Limited English Proficiency Plans.