Annual Report FY2006

Projects Committee Structure Budget Board

Message from the Executive Director and Board Chair

Barry Seymour Executive Director	Thomas J. Gurick FY 2005 Board Chair

The past year has been a time of transition for DVRPC... building on our tradition of the past 40 years while initiating new approaches and directions for the future.

We bid farewell and thank you to John Coscia, who led the Commission as Executive Director for the past 25 years, overseeing a period of great change at DVRPC and throughout the region. Anticipating future changes and emerging issues as well as ensuring the Delaware Valley's position as a vital metropolitan region continues to be DVRPC's highest priority. We will apply state-of-the-art planning tools and techniques, objective and professional analysis, and a broad base of collaboration and public participation to help lead the region into the future.

During FY06, we not only solidified our position by proactively addressing regional transportation and land use issues, but we also established ourselves as the leader in identifying emerging issues that will shape the full growth of this region. While maintaining our traditional regional planning role, the Commission took the lead in facilitating special meetings, building public consensus, initiating new partnerships, and ensuring funding for transportation improvements in the Delaware Valley.

Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06) was marked by a number of highlights and partnering opportunities that are worth noting:

- Our Annual Dinner in May honored the many contributions for John Coscia with testimonials and with the establishment of a scholarship fund through the University of Pennsylvania.

- DVRPC organized the Strategies for Older Suburbs conference, bringing together over 200 municipal to learn from each other and from other regions about innovative ways to support our older communities.

- We hosted and provided testimony to the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission (TFRC), established by the Governor to assess the state of funding for highways, bridges and transit, and to identify new or expanded funding opportunities.

- The Commission has reached out to and participated in the Greater Philadelphia Leadership Exchange, the joint meeting of the Northeast Metropolitan Planning Organization, ITS America's Annual Meeting and Exposition, and the bid for the 2016 Olympics, among others.

And while change will always be a part of our lives, one constant at DVRPC remains - that is our enduring commitment to providing this region with a vision that captures the imaginations and wishes of the citizens of the Delaware Valley.

Who we are and what we do
Created in 1965, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is an interstate, intercounty, and intercity agency that provides continuing, comprehensive, and coordinated planning to shape a vision for the future growth of the Delaware Valley region. Our region includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer counties in New Jersey.

DVRPC's goal is to address current and ongoing planning, development, transportation, and land use issues while fostering cooperation among member governments, private sector organizations, as well as the general public. To achieve these goals, we work closely with a variety of groups, including the Pennsylvania and New Jersey departments of transportation, community affairs and environmental protection agencies, the federal government, and regional transportation providers. We also partner with a wide variety of nonprofit organizations in the areas of community and economic development, environmental protection, and land use.

All of our activities are directed by an 18-member board, which establishes regional policy, defines committee duties, and adopts the annual work program. A 10-member Executive Committee oversees general operations and fiscal matters. Financial support for our activities comes primarily from federal transportation funding through the Pennsylvania and New Jersey departments of transportation. Additional financial resources are provided through funding from other state or federal agencies, counties, cities, operating agencies, foundations, and the private sector.