Southern PA Counties Consider Higher Density Communities

Communities in Franklin and Adams counties in southern Pennsylvania are growing rapidly, and regional planners are facing choices in how to manage increasing populations. 

Franklin and Adams rank among the 10 fastest growing counties in Pennsylvania. With military jobs coming to northern Maryland and restricted development there, more settlers are on the way. If all of the approved subdivisions in Adams County are built out, the county will lose nine percent of its farmland.

The York/Adams Smart Growth Coalition is developing guidelines that municipalities can adopt for dense, mixed-housing communities, according to the Realtors Association of York and Adams Counties. Traditional Neighborhood Design communities feature homes close together, narrow streets, sidewalks, small front yards, a front porch, a garage on a back alley and common recreational areas. A couple can start out in an apartment, move to a condominium with their young children then to a single-family house and retire to a condo -- all in the same neighborhood. A suburban plan would sprawl $350,000 houses on 57 individual lots. The same 61 acres can support a village of 468 housing units ranging in price from $100,000 to $320,000 with 20 acres left for open space.  http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=6555&State=39&res=1024 

from Chambersburg Public Opinion, March 28, 2008

F. X. Browne, Inc. specializes in Low-Impact Development design, in which housing units are clustered in developed areas with narrower streets and naturalized stormwater management practices so that open space and greenway areas can be preserved. For more information, contact info@fxbrowne.com.