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Four municipalities working together on zoning

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Four Washington County municipalities are working together in an effort to make zoning rules more consistent across their territory.

Members of the planning commissions of Canton, North Franklin and Hopewell townships and West Middletown Borough have been meeting both together and separately for more than a year to retool local zoning maps and ordinances.

“In the case of these four municipalities, and implementing their comprehensive plan, the process has been focused on working with the representatives from each community as much as possible so they’re able to complement one another’s land use mixes,” said Carolyn Yagle of Pittsburgh-based Environmental Planning and Design, which the municipalities are consulting on the project.

Yagle was among those at an open house-style meeting last week at Alpine Club Lanes in Washington during which residents from the communities involved could review working drafts of the updated maps and ordinances as proposed so far.

Yagle said the planning commsssions will continue to work out the proposals and expect an official 45-day public review period – during which the rules will go before the Washington County Planning Commission for recommendations – to begin later in the summer. She said she expected the elected boards of supervisors or equivalent bodies to consider whether to approve the changes by mid-fall.

Canton Township secretary-treasurer Stephanie Pettit said the municipalities received approval for a $30,000 local share account grant in 2014 to help cover the costs of revamping their ordinances together.

Each of the four municipalities in 2013 and 2014 approved a multimunicipal comprehensive plan officials had developed together.

Officials said the joint process gives them the power to allow a land use within the boundaries of one town that isn’t allowed in the others.

“By combining these, that’s where we get the separation of the land uses,” said Supervisor Samuel Bear II.

For example, Sandy Clutter, a member of the Canton Township planning commission, said Canton Township already has two salvage yards, and has made provisions for that type of facility in the proposal for new zoning rules. In turn, other municipalities involved wouldn’t have to allow that use within their own boundaries.

“That’s why we went into this, because we could cover agriculture for everybody else if they cover everything else,” said Mary Rush of Hopewell, one of about 20 people who passed through the meeting to look as the proposed changes to their respective towns’ zoning maps.

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