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Office of Planning and Community Development

Environmental Resources

Greenway Initiative

Announcing our Greenway Initiative

Woodland Path

Pennsylvania's Greenways Program was launched in August 2001 with the completion of a statewide greenways action plan, "Pennsylvania's Greenways - An Action Plan for Creating Connections." The governor amended Executive Order 1998-3 identifying the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) as the lead agency responsible for Action Plan implementation. The state has funded (with matching monies) approximately forty committed, ongoing, and completed plans throughout the Commonwealth. The action was completed and the vision for the plan stated:

Fisher

Pennsylvania and its many partners will develop an outstanding network of greenways across the Commonwealth, creating an asset highly valued by Pennsylvanians and enhancing the quality of life for all. This network of greenways will connect Pennsylvania's open space, natural landscape features, scenic, cultural, historic and recreational sites, and urban and rural communities. Greenways will become one of the Commonwealth's most powerful tools to achieve sustainable growth and livable communities.

Centre County, following this direction and with funding from the DCNR and the Centre County Board of Commissioners, is prepared to develop its first Countywide Greenway & Recreation Plan. The Centre County Planning and Community Development Office, serving as the lead agency on this document, intends for this plan to provide the Centre County municipalities with guidance on implementation of their own greenway and recreational facilities. As with any comprehensive planning document, public participation during the plan development process is imperative. This will be accomplished through the development of a greenway steering committee and deriving input from several public meetings, key person interviews, and random surveys.

Fall Trail

As mentioned above, one of the initial steps in this process is the formation of a Greenway Steering Committee (GSC). This committee will hold its first meeting near the end of August and a kick off public meeting is planned for September. This plan is for Centre County municipalities and other entities to use as a guidance and implementation document and not a regulatory tool. The plan is intended to be complete by fall 2008. We welcome any comments your municipality may have and will incorporate your ideas and suggestions into our planning process.

If you have any questions please feel free to call our office at (814)355-6791 or email barider@co.centre.pa.us.

Beth A. Rider, Environmental Planner, Project Manager

Public Meetings

Newsletters

Publications

Maps

Draft Countywide Recreation and Greenway Plan: Planning Region Corridor Maps

Steering Committee