Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS
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2018 DEVELOPMENT REPORT SHOWS
HOW YOUR COMMUNITY IS CHANGING
Anyone who attended the LVPC’s “How We’re Growing” Planning + Pizza session knows that nearly 200 new development plans were filed in the first half of 2018 and that industrial development is booming again. If you missed it, you can find a lot of the details, not only for what development is coming but where it’s proposed, in this PowerPoint presentation that was featured during the session.
WALK/BIKELV IS COMING
Imagine a region where roads, sidewalks, trails and transit all work in harmony. A region where most anyone can safely get from one end of the Lehigh Valley to the other without needing a car. A region where pedestrians, bicyclists and air quality are a priority.
That’s the goal of Walk/BikeLV, the Lehigh Valley’s first ever Active Transportation Masterplan.
The LVPC and partners that include PennDOT, the US Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources last week kicked off a nearly yearlong study designed to provide a blueprint not only for how to connect the region’s sidewalk, trail, transit and road networks, but how to pay for it.
FCC LIMITS LOCAL AUTHORITY OVER 5G CELL ROLLOUT
As major cell companies prepare to roll out their ultrafast 5G networks, the Federal Communications Commission issued a ruling last week that will help them build faster, while limiting the authority local governments have to control that rollout.
In a ruling lauded by cell carriers and protested by mayors across the nation, the FCC decided municipalities will have 90 days to approve or deny requests to place small cell wireless receivers, or 60 days if they’re being added onto an existing facility. If the local government misses the deadline, the wireless company has grounds to sue.
The same ruling limits the one-time application fees to install cell receiver to $500, and annual right-of-way access fees are limited to $270, thus removing a municipality’s ability to negotiate those fees individually.
BETHLEHEM'S DISTINCTION A LONG TIME IN THE MAKING
Sitting at the confluence of some of the region’s busiest roads, South Whitehall Township leaders had to determine how to grow, while preserving the township’s parks and open space, even as much of the Lehigh Valley’s commuting public passed through daily.
They developed a package of planning and zoning strategies that focused development around bustling arteries such as Interstate 78 and Routes 22, 309 and 222. The result has been smart growth such as Spring View Apartments, the Hills at Winchester and the Fields at Blue Barn Meadows that take advantage of existing infrastructure rather than building more. In addition, its role in developing a Jordan Greenway trail will provide people recreating or commuting a direct link to Allentown’s urban core and the Trexler Nature Preserve.
Bath Borough Multimodal Safety and Parking Analysis
Experts say a regional approach is essential for tackling freight transportation
LVB.com, June 22, 2018
As construction of warehouses and distribution centers continues to increase throughout the region, the challenges of transporting all that freight continue to rise in importance.
These issues touch on a host of trends and factors, from the changing needs of the labor force to the amount of time people spend driving to and from work navigating busy highways.
To identify and explore the issues facing freight transportation, several regional organizations hosted an Eastern Pennsylvania Freight Summit at Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus in Bethlehem on Thursday.
The first day of the event included panel discussions and several speakers, followed by guided tours of manufacturing and distribution facilities in the region today.
Click here to read the full article.
PennDOT focusing on truck parking in Lehigh Valley, other congested areas
Lehigh Valley Live, June 22, 2018
Parking for tractor trailers was already a problem in Pennsylvania 11 years ago, and now PennDOT is calling for help with solutions.
On Thursday, PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards said the department is moving forward with a public-private partnership, referred to as a P3, to address truck parking in the state.
Richards spoke at the Eastern Pennsylvania Freight Summit, the first of its kind summit in the state held at Lehigh University's Iacocca Hall.
Click here to read the full article.
As trucking booms, planners scramble to find tractor-trailer parking
The Morning Call, June 21, 2018
While the growing presence of tractor trailers has been a complaint of Lehigh Valley residents in recent years, local planners are concerned with the one place they’re not seeing them — designated truck parking spots.
In the past decade, the Lehigh Valley has seen enormous warehouses spring up to accommodate the growing demand for online retail and overnight delivery. Logistic hubs for Walmart.com and Amazon have moved into warehouses of more than a million square feet in the Lehigh Valley, and FedEx Ground is finishing up a similarly sized warehouse in Allen Township that will be the company’s largest warehouse facility. The transportation and warehousing industries now account for about 8.4 percent of employment in the Lehigh Valley, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Click here to read the full article.
New Subdivision and Land Development Fee Schedule +
Plan Signing Requirements
The LVPC has updated the current fee schedule for services related to Subdivision and Land Development applications. These fees went into effect on October 1, 2017.
The schedule and submission requirements can be viewed here.
Click here for the new Plan Signing Requirements
Click here for the new Subdivision Review Submission Requirements
BUILDLV
Annual Development Report
LVTS Public Participation Plan Update
Public involvement is a vital component of the transportation planning process. Providing full disclosure of plans and programs not only during the development phase but also after the adoption of these plans and programs allows the general public the opportunity to be involved, comment on, and influence the development process. Every person, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, disability, or socio-economic status should have the opportunity to take part in and influence the transportation planning process. This Public Participation Plan provides for and documents the methods utilized by the LVTS to achieve this outcome.
Full PDF Draft Report click here.
Click here for the Public Notice on a public meeting related to this plan.
The People: Population + Employment Projections
BuildLV
Monthly Development Report
MOVELV
Long Range Transportation Plan
MOVELV
Lehigh Valley Regional Freight Plan
Regional Comprehensive Plan - The Lehigh Valley...2030
LVPC Meetings
October 16, 2018
October 23, 2018
Comprehensive Planning Committee
October 25, 2018
The following is the schedule of regular monthly meetings and all Committee meetings of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. All Commission and Committee meetings will be held unless otherwise noted at:
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
961 Marcon Boulevard, Suite 310
Allentown, PA 18109
LVPC – meets on the last Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM. Except December.
Executive Committee – meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 1:00 PM.
Comprehensive Planning Committee – meets on the Tuesday immediately preceding LVPC meeting dates at 12:00 PM.
Environment Committee – meets on the Tuesday immediately preceding LVPC meeting dates at 11:00 AM
Transportation Committee – meets on the Thursday immediately preceding LVPC meeting dates at 5:30 PM.
LVTS Meetings
November 7, 2018
The regularly scheduled Wednesday, December 5, 2018 10:00 a.m. LVTS Coordinating Committee meeting is rescheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. An additional meeting has also been scheduled for LVTS Coordinating Committee on Wednesday, November 7, 2018. These new time slots allow for the LVTS Coordinating Committee to meet jointly with the regularly-scheduled 9:00 a.m. LVTS Technical Committee.
The following is the schedule of
regular monthly meetings of the Lehigh
Valley Transportation Study (LVTS). All
LVTS meetings will be held, unless
otherwise noted, at:
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
961 Marcon Boulevard, Suite 310
Allentown, PA 18109
Technical Committee
Meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 9:00 AM (except May and December).
Coordinating Committee
Meets on the first Wednesday, every
other month, starting in February at 10:00
AM (except December).
Freight Advisory Committee
Meets four times annually following
LVTS Coordinating Committee during
the months of April (2018 only), June, August and December.
WALK/BIKE LV
Multimodal Working Group Meetings
Northampton Community College/Fowler Family Southside Center
511 E. 3rd Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Wednesday, October 17, 3:00-4:30 P.M.
Wednesday, November 28, 4:00-5:30 P.M.
Walk/BikeLV Open House
Northampton Community College/Fowler Family Southside Center
511 E. 3rd Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Wednesday, November 28, 6:00-7:30 P.M.
Lehigh Valley
Government Academy 2018
ZONING ADMINISTRATION
5:30-9 p.m.
October 16, October 23, October 30
SUBDIVISION + LAND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
5:30-9 p.m.
November 1, November 8, November 15
All courses held at LVPC office
Local Technical
Assistance Program 2018
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
961 Marcon Boulevard - Suite 310
Allentown, PA 18109
Phone: (610) 264-4544
Toll Free: (888) 627-8808
Fax: (610) 264-2616
