What is the future of South Whitehall Township? That’s for you to decide

Apprehension about growth in South Whitehall has made it a central issue in the township.For George Kinney, the township’s director of community development, and David Manhardt, director of geographic information systems and information technology, the timing couldn’t be better.The two men are among the township officials leading the charge to create a new comprehensive plan for South Whitehall – a policy document renewed every 10 years to define the community’s vision for its future. The key to a useful plan is participation and public input, Kinney said.Now more than ever, South Whitehall residents seem eager to have a say. Opposition to the massive Ridge Farm development has been a catalyst for a new level of engagement. The crowded primary election race was just one aftereffect. Officials hope a lasting involvement by the public is another.Though a comprehensive plan can be far-reaching and specific, the crux is a simple one: Does the township want growth? If so, where and how?The public will have a chance to weigh-in during meetings starting this summer. The first meeting, which will provide background on what’s changed because of and since the 2009 comprehensive plan, is slated for 6 p.m. June 18 at Parkland High School. If all goes according to schedule, the plan will be ready for presentation and approval by next summer.But planners aren’t expecting to get input just through meetings. They’re ready to take the questions to directly to the community.Kinney and Manhardt said the township will be manning pop-up booths at township recreation events, hoping to hear from busy adults settling down in the township to raise families.“We have a significant millennial population and we’d really like to hear from them,” Kinney said.By attending recreational events, such as the rotating Movies in the Park program, Manhardt said the township can meet families in the middle of their already busy schedules. The township will use social media, direct mail and online surveys to reach even more residents and business owners unable to get out to evening meetings.“We’re going to do everything we can to get the word out,” Kinney said.Comprehensive plans are notoriously thick and wordy — not exactly light reading. South Whitehall’s 2009 plan is no exception. The document listed 10 goals for the township planning development, each with 10 objectives.That’s not going to work this time around, Kinney and Manhardt said. An unwieldy number of goals and objectives will be replaced by simpler guiding principals. And those walls of text will be supplanted by more visual ways of presenting data. The hope is the presentation will make the plan be more accessible, Kinney said, and read by more than just municipal officials.A comprehensive plan from the other side of the globe in Brisbane, Australia, is brimming with colorful graphics and charts. This is the kind of thing Kinney said he’d like to model South Whitehall’s document after.“It’s almost interesting to read,” he said, with a chuckle.Manhardt said the public meetings coming this summer won’t be one-way lectures. Expect activities and exercises with audience involvement to spur discussion and out-of-the-box thinking, he said. The idea is to get township stakeholders really thinking about the specific ways to encourage growth in the township — from broad zoning perspectives down to explicit design choices in mapping subdivisions.In another departure from South Whitehall plans, Kinney said officials would like public input on the most significant corridors in the township such as Walbert Avenue and Hamilton Boulevard. How traffic, improvements and future development along these stretches will look and work is key to imagining the South Whitehall of the future.But, Kinney cautioned, the comprehensive plan really is just a blueprint. It will be used to draft ordinances and zoning changes, but holds no regulatory power on its own. But as a blueprint, its influence in driving the direction of new ordinances and zoning rules cannot be overstated, Manhardt said. This is why input from as broad a demographic as possible is essential.“You can’t plan for everything but with a good comprehensive plan you’re going to be less surprised by change,” Kinney said.Morning Call reporter Sarah M. Wojcik can be reached at 610-778-2283 or swojcik@mcall.com.
Source: Morningcall