Issues: Past Position Statement 3
The Cozzone/Scott Plan For Chester County
Save Our Lands, Save Our Towns*
Chester County is a Blessed place. It has a distinct character derived from its plentiful open landscapes, centuries of compelling history, numerous interesting and unique towns, a dynamic economy and a central location on our nation’s east coast. Now the very blessings that we in Chester County enjoy may be the County’s undoing. Precisely because Chester County is a good place to live and work, our population is growing at unprecedented rates. The result is rampant and destructive overdevelopment, usually referred to as suburban sprawl. It threatens to permanently replace our Open Space and farmland; it causes congestion, flooding, environmental damage and higher taxes. In many ways, it diminishes our quality of life.
Chester County government must show the way with proactive and strong leadership in fighting sprawl while, at the same time, encouraging smart growth. The task is made more difficult by the fact that the County is comprised of 73 autonomous municipalities with boundaries that were determined, in some cases, during the administration of William Penn. They have complete authority to impose zoning restrictions.
It is no overstatement to say that, in the 21st Century, one of the most important tasks of Chester County government is to protect our precious County. We are at a turning point. The future of Chester County must not be abandoned to the development industry and those allied with it.
Every tourism and Chamber of Commerce brochure that touts the virtues of our County is filled with photos of our lush rural landscapes and our distinctive 19th century towns. Chester County is not about mountains, or seacoasts, or a major American river running through it or a city with gleaming skyscrapers. We must save our land and towns to remain what we are — a place to be envied. If we do not stop sprawl, in a generation’s time, Chester County can turn into what eastern Delaware County has become.
Open Space — Save Chester County’s Land and Farms
The concern preoccupying the minds of Chester County residents is the disappearance of our open space and farms. Green fields become track developments, trees are felled for strip malls and roadways are clogged with traffic and littered with traffic lights. Even our centuries-old country roads are being widened to accept tremendously increased traffic they were never intended to accommodate. Our agriculture, still a vital sector of Chester County’s economy, is threatened. And of course, taxes go up to support new sewers, new schools and new services. Remember, unless they have a direct financial interest in the project, you will not hear Chester Countians saying: “Oh, great! Here comes another tract development on Chester County farmland.”
Luckily, we have the answer. It is set out in the County’s land use plan called Landscapes. The Plan was assembled a decade ago and received national recognition. Back then, taxpayers paid the bill for a trip to the west coast by one of our Commissioners to pick up the award. Currently, we are paying $4 million a year to our superbly qualified Planning Commission Staff to implement the plan. But that implementation has been largely passive due to lack of leadership from the Board of Commissioners. The Department is underutilized. Only through strong leadership by new County Commissioners can a change be made.
- Ease Open Space
One strategy for protecting Open Space and farmland has been to acquire easements on real estate to prohibit future development of the properties. It is critical that these programs be increased dramatically as soon as possible, for two reasons: 1) the pressure to destroy Open Space is on a rapidly and increasingly upward curve which, if left unchecked, will likely continue for at least a generation; 2) current market factors give Chester County an opportunity to make dollars for Open Space acquisition stretch further than in recent years. Now is the time to make the needed investment to the maximum amount possible.
The year before the current Board of Commissioners took office, $22 million was spent on Landscapes, mostly on open space preservation. The current Board has budgeted $15 million per year for Open Space, which represents a significant cutback. And some point out, not all is actually used to acquire Open Space. Because of the critical need and the distinct opportunity that now exists, it makes sense to raise the bar. An allocation of $25 million per year for Landscapes appears to be prudent. In future years, the amount that should be spent on Landscapes, whether actually or as a percentage, will drop as a result of the investments we can make in the near future.
Repeatedly, Pennsylvanians, and Chester Countians in particular, have recognized the need to preserve Open Space. Over half of our 73 municipalities have approved Open Space referendums. These measures provide for increased spending on land preservation. This means that majorities of voters have been voting to tax themselves for this purpose. Our citizens realize, even now, there is no place in Chester County that is not a short drive from the most beautiful, graceful, and classic open countryside that exists anywhere. And, they don’t want that to change.
Our program for County government’s role in the stewardship of our environment, in terms of clean streams, pollutant-free soil, and the like, will be set out in a separate position statement. But, it is important to note here the recently formed national consensus that we must react to the global warming crisis. That overwhelming public sentiment will give the next Board of Commissioners greater public support for preserving our open space if the Commissioners will only exercise the needed leadership. Chester Countians now realize sprawl is dependent on excessive automobile use which results in unacceptable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. They know that fighting sprawl is a significant way to lessen global warming. Click here for The Cozzone/Scott Four-Part Action Plan for Protecting & Improving Chester County's Environment.
It is essential that County government be led only by Commissioners who are completely committed to preserving Open Space as a priority.
- Appoint only those who care
But the best of plans are no better than those who are chosen to put them in effect. It is critical that appointments made by the County Commissioners should reflect the diversity of our County — in background, geography and experience. However, only those committed to our County’s overall best interests should be appointed to the various authorities, boards and commissions that oversee our County’s land use planning.
- Real multi-municipal planning
County government should encourage and support multi-municipal planning, and provide active leadership to form such groups when necessary. Urban center centric (out from the center) planning, has not been entirely utilized in Chester County and should be encouraged. Through this kind of planning, municipalities can make Landscapes a reality by deciding as a group where to concentrate development and where to preserve open space. Municipalities can also do a better job reducing traffic, solving our stormwater problems and encouraging smart economic development when they work together. The Phoenixville area plan is an exception; however, it has not yet been adopted.
- Joining forces with municipalities — Lawyers for Landscapes
Last year, Toll Brothers’ chief executive received a $17.5 million bonus at a time when the company’s profits dropped drastically. Anyone who thinks it’s easy to confront this company if it wants to develop a Chester County farm into a tract development is hopelessly naive. Major land developers have ready access to high-powered lawyers and can far outspend any of our municipalities on legal fees. The County should make available its in-house counsel to support municipal attorneys who are engaged in establishing a legal defense against attacks on Open Space. Likewise, experts from the Planning Commission staff should be made available to municipalities to give testimony in support of Open Space planning. We will level the playing field as much as we can.
- Support changes to the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) that will help Chester County
Legislative committees in Harrisburg are now considering amendments to the MPC. The Chester County Commissioners must be tireless advocates during this process to make sure the concerns of our County are heard. Chester County faces unique challenges, and the Commissioners must aid Chester County’s legislators in making sure our communities get what they need.
- Use the bully pulpit
Citizen groups have led the way in demonstrating that pro-sprawl encroachments can be fought successfully. Two prime examples are the Cornog water grab and Route 41 battles. Even in cases where the Commissioners have no direct authority, they should use their office as a platform to advocate for causes that have the purpose of protecting Chester County’s quality of life.
Also, the superb work of the County’s many land trusts, conservancies, conservation associations, and the like, should be prominently, repeatedly and loudly supported by the Board of Commissioners. A privately funded Open Space Defense Fund, which would provide individual citizens or citizen groups legal help when battling sprawl in their own municipality, would provide another line of defense when even local supervisors fail. Kathi Cozzone and Bill Scott are the first to propose this idea, and would work to make it a reality.
- Public understanding of Landscapes
One of the major recommendations of the Landscapes Plan is to insure that it is widely understood, and participated in, by the public at large. The County government has failed in this respect. We will fully and broadly promote Landscapes in every forum we can make available to us.
- Keep informed
We will direct the Planning Commission staff to provide to the Commissioners weekly written briefings, with maps, on all pending and new development plans and will make these briefings available on the County website.
Save Chester County’s Towns — Historic Preservation and Smart Growth
Another aspect of Chester County’s character, and the balance within the overall quality of our life, is the richness of our many towns. They are referred to for planning purposes as urban centers. The population growth we are experiencing would better serve everyone if it were concentrated in our urban centers or near thereto. If our urban centers become attractive for development, that dynamic will have the secondary benefit of relieving the pressure on our Open Space.
County Commissioners, through proactive utilization of the County’s talented Planning Commission staff and the power to award grants, must put emphasis on the positive development of our town centers and urban neighborhoods. First and foremost are the needs for successful retail use of and historic preservation of the town’s core. Prudent infill development and more extensive new construction, where space is available and the character of the community is not lessened thereby, should be encouraged. The term “smart growth” fits well. Urban center walkability as well as intra-urban and interurban center transportation is needed. So too is urban Open Space. Opportunities for affordable housing should be encouraged.
Chester County government has responded slowly to the need for smart urban center development. Ten years ago Landscapes was developed by a relatively large, County-Commissioner-appointed committee. Not one urban center elected official was part of that group. The time for a full appreciation of our urban centers and the need for them to grow intelligently has come. We will draw on the examples of our urban center successes, such as West Chester, for the benefit of all Chester County towns. County grants for urban centers should be recognized as an integral part of the overall Plan and administered judiciously. Furthermore, multi-municipal planning, concentrated around urban centers, as discussed above, will help redevelop run-down areas, leading to healthy economic growth.
Needed: Vision and Leadership
The necessary leadership cannot be provided by the entrenched political power structure that has ruled the County Courthouse for 148 years and is now at its lowest ebb. Their Commissioner candidates have been chosen because they have been loyal political followers who will not “rock the boat.” Their party chairman and both candidates are inextricably tied to the land development industry. One of them tells us that he plans for Chester County to be “built out” in the future. The other tells us that she feels Open Space should not be a concern of Chester Countians because 40% of the County’s land (according to her figures) is already protected Open Space and that amount should be satisfactory. To the contrary, Chester County needs Commissioners who not only “get it” when it comes to realizing what is going on here, but who have the independence and guts to stand up to those forces that are pushing the County in the wrong direction. The handpicked Republican Commissioner candidates will not provide that leadership.
Chester County Commissioners should take the lead in bringing together a critical mass of our concerned citizens who realize that our quality of life must be preserved. These are town residents who realize that their quality of life is vastly increased by the nearness and accessibility of a picturesque countryside. They are those Open Space landowners who appreciate their ability to visit a nearby town for a meal, shopping, entertainment or cultural events. They are suburbanites who appreciate the diversity of Chester County and do not wish to live in a vast desert of sprawl. County government should encourage and work with these citizens in a way that causes them to appreciate further that they must assist each other. In this way, what we love about Chester County will be preserved and enhanced.
* Title borrowed from the celebrated book of the same name by Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Hylton, published by Preservation Pennsylvania. (ISBN 1-879441-44-6)