Mercer County's Comprehensive Plan
Vision and Policy Statements

The following vision and policy statements were drafted based on responses from the regional public meetings and countywide public opinion survey. The visioning committee debated, fine-tuned, and then accepted the statements as they appear here. The committee also ranked the policy objectives in comparative priority, with Priority One objectives having higher priority than Priority Two objectives.

Vision Statement

Mercer County has and should maintain a diversity of community types and living conditions:

• A metro urban center in the Shenango Valley and regional urban centers in Grove City, Greenville, Mercer and Sandy Lake/Stoneboro which offer ample and diverse economic opportunities, commercial goods and services and housing with availability of sound utilities, community services (public safety, education, health care, human services) and amenities (recreation, arts and culture, historic places) and with convenient access/transportation connections; and

• Rural towns and countryside which offer a more peaceful and less congested living environment, have healthy and prosperous agriculture and offer open and green space, natural areas, scenic landscapes and recreational opportunities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, etc.

 

Policy Objectives

General policy objective on growth and development

Mercer County and its communities should plan for more growth and economic development, which will result in more, and higher-paying jobs and which will:

• Upgrade the standard of living of local families.

• Encourage young people to stay in or return to Mercer County.

• Enhance the community tax base.

• Ensure long-term economic stability.

Growth should not occur to the extent that it will cause loss of treasured local values and way of life such as:

• Smaller-town atmosphere.

• Attractive countryside and thriving agriculture.

• Lower crime.

• More family-friendly communities.

Growth & economic development

Priority One

• In general, encourage planned growth development.

• Encourage a business climate, which is conducive to new development and expansion/retention of business and industry to provide greater job opportunities and employment/ economic stability.

• Promote diversity of economic development in the county.

• Redevelop brownfield (idle, existing) industrial sites and support revisions of state federal environmental legislation to encourage cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites.

• Designate target areas to accommodate long-term economic growth concentrate new development in designated growth areas. Growth areas should be designated at locations, which have the greatest marketability for quality development, minimize public expense for infrastructure improvements, and extend and maintain the sense of place for existing communities.

• Encourage reinvestment in revitalization of downtown. Encourage creative land use, development and reuse proposals, which serve to attract people to downtown.

Priority Two

• Revitalize the Mercer County Redevelopment Authority to facilitate brownfield development.

• Continue to offer incentives of tax incremental financing, tax abatements (used judiciously), public financing, etc. to encourage new development and encourage capitalization of needed infrastructure.

• Promote a vital tourism industry.

 

Community facilities & services

Priority One

• Encourage public/private financing for the provision of adequate water and sewerage systems to protect the public health and the environment.

• Encourage public/private financing of water, sewer & transportation facilities in limited, designated growth areas.

• Target reinvestment in public infrastructure in urban centers and urban neighborhoods to encourage their revitalization.

• Promote transportation improvements which will relieve congestion on existing roads & highways and prevent congestion from occurring where it does not yet occur.

• Encourage intergovernmental cooperation in providing community facilities & services.
  - Encourage equal availability of and access to libraries for all people in Mercer County.
  - Support efforts to improve the even distribution and quality of health care.
  - Encourage availability of adequate family & human services.
  - Support improvements by school districts which improve the quality of education.

Housing

Priority One

• Encourage, via both the public and private sectors, the development of a diversity of housing types, sizes and price levels to meet the changing needs of all county residents.

• Recognize the value of existing sound residential neighborhoods to community livability & the economy, and encourage their preservation.

• Promote use of land use/development standards for buffer/screening, stormwater control, lighting, etc., to minimize development impact on residential areas.

Priority Two

• Facilitate use of public & private funds to help eligible families repair & maintain their homes.

Recreation

Priority One

• Give priority to greater use and maintenance of existing recreation facilities and promotion of new facilities when deemed necessary because of growth or changing recreation demands.

Priority Two

• Promote neighborhoods parks within walking or short-driving distance to enhance the quality of residential areas.

• Promote adequate community parks with a broad range of recreation facilities.

• Encourage new development to reserve recreation sites and open/green space within developments.

Natural & historic resources

Priority One

• Promote land use and development standards which minimize the impact of development on the environment.

Priority Two

• In general, recognize the value of and encourage protection of natural resources, open spaces and rural character.

• Promote public and private support and programs and common sense regulations to:
      - Protect or conserve natural & scenic areas.
      - Minimize environmental pollution and preserve important environmental values.
      - Protect or preserve significant historic sites.

Agriculture

Priority One

• Continue to promote and support agriculture as an important part of the economy and economic development.

• Promote agriculture as a preferred land use in rural communities.

Priority Two

• Encourage local farmers to place their land in agricultural security areas in order to preserve the county's farms and farmlands.

• Promote public and private programs to aid the agricultural economy.

Miscellaneous

Priority One

• Promote land use & development proposals and patterns which support the livable communities ingredients set forth in this plan.

• Promote a "sense of place" in Mercer County communities, that is:
      - Attachment to neighborhood or street
      - Familiarity and mutual support among neighbors
      - Pride in community
      - Sense of history, and
      - Conduciveness to pedestrian activity and socialization.

• Encourage appropriate mix of residential, commercial, agricultural & industrial land uses, different housing types and different building & development styles to instill pleasant, useful variety and avoid unfriendly, counterproductive rigidity in community development patterns.

• Encourage mutual support between communities to revitalize more distressed communities & neighborhoods for the overall economic and social well-being of the county.

• Promote land use patterns that enable efficient transportation and ease of mobility, access and interconnection within the community.

Planning & land use controls

Priority One

• Promote use of zoning controls throughout the county and encourage planning & zoning on a regional (joint municipal) basis.

• Preserve authority in municipal governments to enact and administer zoning controls.

• Develop performance-oriented land use controls, which allow flexibility and variety in meeting land use & community development objectives.

Priority Two

• Promote use of land use controls, which set standards for building style, signs, traffic control, etc., for high quality development.

• Encourage a regional approach to planning designated growth areas, economic development areas, revitalization areas & land use controls.

• Establish continuing lines of communication and educate communities and the public concerning comprehensive planning objectives and community & economic development efforts.

 

Mercer County Regional Planning Commission
2491 Highland Road, Hermitage, PA 16148
mail@mcrpc.com    www.mcrpc.com

 

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