A Long Road to Yes: Problems with the Permitting Process and the Need for Specific Plans in Pennsylvania

by Ronald Bailey, Senior Research Fellow

June 2007

The General Assembly amended the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code in 2000. One of the changes made to the statute was to authorize local governments that participate in multi-municipal comprehensive plans to also prepare and adopt specific plans.  Because the ability to create specific plans in Pennsylvania is relatively new, most county and municipal officials are not aware of the potential utility of this planning tool. 

As a consequence, the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College has conducted an investigation of how the permitting process for subdivisions or land developments has evolved in Pennsylvania.  The investigation documents how the frequent lack of local government capacity and the enactment of other state and federal laws since 1968 has resulted in an increasingly complex and uncoordinated process.  The investigation studies whether specific plans could be used in Pennsylvania to better coordinate and expedite development reviews.  The research also looks at how specific plans are used in other states and how these practices could be applied to Pennsylvania.

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A Long Road to Yes:
Problems with the Permitting Process and the Need for Specific Plans in Pennsylvania

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