Public Participation

Introduction & Overview The Mandates DVRPC's Public Participation Strategy Public Participation Procedures Acronyms Glossary Disclosure of Public Records Policy

DVRPC's Public Participation Plan: A Strategy for Citizen Involvement

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Our Mission
DVRPC's mission is to proactively shape a comprehensive vision for the region's future growth. We will do so by developing regional plans and priorities; providing technical assistance and services; conducting high priority studies that respond to the requests and demands of member states and local governments; fostering cooperation among various constituencies to forge a consensus on diverse regional issues; determining and meeting the needs of the private sector; and continuing public outreach efforts that promote two-way communication and enhance public awareness of regional issues and DVRPC.

Introduction
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has a proud history of public participation, beginning in the 1970's when federal mandates outlined the basics of citizen involvement. Then, as now, the Commission went far beyond the minimal standards, establishing three citizen committees which focused on the environment, transportation, and housing and which eventually evolved into what we now know as the Regional Citizens Committee.

While today's public is far more sophisticated and modern standards are more all-inclusive, the basic tenet of public participation remains the same - to reach out to and satisfy as many populations as possible and to do so in an equitable and timely manner. Public participation is the only real way to ascertain the needs of a wide variety of citizens - the underinvolved, the private sector, special interest activists, mature citizens, educators and parents, public officials, and the physically and economically disadvantaged. DVRPC believes that planning must be done with the public's full involvement and consensus.

What is DVRPC?
The Commission was created in 1965 by an interstate compact between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, whose legislatures worked together to define our structure, authority, purpose, and administrative procedures. DVRPC was subsequently designated as the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the ninecounty region under federal laws requiring the formation of an MPO for urban areas with a population of more than 50,000. The region encompasses the Philadelphia / Camden / Trenton metropolitan area. This area includes nine counties - Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer in New Jersey. These counties are comprised of 352 individual cities, boroughs, or townships within a 3,833 square mile planning area.

Our goal is to be actively responsive to the needs of the broadest constituency possible by fostering cooperation among member governments, private sector organizations and the general public. To do so, we work closely with a variety of groups, including the Pennsylvania and New Jersey departments of transportation, community affairs and environmental protection agencies in these two states, the federal government, and county and regional transportation providers.