Planning At The Edge

Project Background and Purpose

The DVRPC Board supported inclusion of the Planning at the Edge project in DVRPC Fiscal Year 2003 Annual Planning Work Program to:

1. Identify the range of cross-boundary issues around the region's edge.
2. Explore ways to address the issues, both formally and informally, through enhanced coordination and communication with pertinent statewide, planning and operating agencies and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).

This study summarizes inter-regional issues and projects identified through DVRPC staff outreach to adjacent metropolitan planning organizations and counties with the goal of achieving cooperative solutions. A study advisory committee was formed to help guide the study process and to initiate discussion on proposed coordination, communication and cooperation techniques, issue and project priorities and other potential collaborative activities. The Planning at the Edge initiative will be continued through a follow-up DVRPC project in Fiscal Year 2008.

Regional Perspective

Eight of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's (DVRPC's) nine member counties (all except Philadelphia) share boundaries with one or more of 15 diverse counties, in four states, that surround the bi-state DVRPC region. Some of these counties are aligned in multi-county, MPOs, while others (all in Pennsylvania) are joint or individual planning agencies with multi-agency committees that perform the MPO function.

A Study Advisory Committee (SAC) was formed to involve adjacent planning agencies in the study and to provide review comments on study activities and the draft report. In addition to DVRPC and its member counties, the SAC is composed of representatives from DVRPC's eight adjacent MPOs (Wilmington Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO), North Jersey Transportation Planning Agency (NJTPA) and South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization (SJTPO), as well as the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (Lehigh Valley Transportation Study), Berks County Planning Commission (Reading Area Transportation Study), New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, and Lancaster County Planning Commission (Lancaster County Transportation Coordinating Committee) in Pennsylvania. Additional SAC members include the Pennsylvania (PennDOT), New Jersey (NJDOT), Delaware (DELDOT) and Maryland (MDOT) Departments of Transportation and pertinent public transit agencies: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ TRANSIT), Delaware Area Regional Transit (DART), the Maryland Area Transportation Corporation (MARC) and AMTRAK.

Current Practice

For some functional planning activities (Air Quality and Airport Systems Planning, for example), DVRPC already is designated as the responsible agency for multi-county and multi-state planning areas that exceed its formal regional boundaries. However, in most instances, cross-boundary planning issue identification, assessment and resolution occurs on a case-by-case basis, depending on the parameters of a particular project or a specific coordination initiative.

The Need for Two-Way Communication

The identification of cross-boundary issues and strategies for resolving them works two ways. DVRPC should be aware of issues in adjacent areas that will have an effect on our region, and adjacent agencies should be aware of issues emanating from the DVRPC region that will affect them. Mechanisms (both formal and informal) are needed to make each agency aware of the issues and to establish a coordination process to address them. The key word and need is for communication that enables each agency to be aware of pertinent issues and opportunities for collaboration or individual action.

Study Approach and Components

The study involved three distinct phases, which overlapped to a degree, linked by periodic presentations, discussion and coordination with the Study Advisory Committee.

Download Report [10 MB .pdf]

Planning at the Edge - Presentations

The Long Range Plan and the Congestion Management Process
Toward a Shared Vision for the Northeast Megaregion [5.4M .pdf]

Climate Change
November 8th Climate Change Meeting Highlights [70k .pdf]
November 9th Climate Change Meeting Highlights [42k .pdf]
Energy Star - Leading the Way to Climate Friendly Buildings [536k .pdf]
Energy Star - Workshop Climate Friendly Buildings [5.9 MB .pdf]
Post Carbon Cities - Planning for Energy & Climate Uncertainty [7.8 MB .pdf]
Update on Regional Approaches to Climate Change [70k .pdf]