AJ News

Mauri Rapp Abington Journal Correspondent

After more than three years, multiple changes, and a total of nearly $115,000 invested, the Scranton-Abingtons Planning Association is one step closer to completing the first phase of their 20-year comprehensive plan. On Tuesday, June 23, SAPA members met at the Dunmore Community Center to view the revised draft land use plan map that will outline each community’s land use goals through to 2030; on Thursday, June 25, a special meeting was also held at the community center to brief newly-elected candidates within the eleven SAPA municipalities on the progress of the SAPA plan from its conception through to present day.

The 11 SAPA municipalities include Clarks Summit, Clarks Green, Dalton, and Dunmore boroughs; South Abington, North Abington, West Abington, Abington, Newton and Glenburn townships; and the city of Scranton.

The ultimate goal of the comprehensive plan is to forecast how each municipality’s land will be used in the future, spanning out about 20 years or more. Because state law requires that every municipality in Pennsylvania provides for any type of zoning possible, comprehensive plans such as the SAPA plan allow communities to remain as rural or as developed as desired while still providing other land uses within their region. Targeted growth areas include Route 6 and 11 in the Abingtons, the Scranton City Center, and employment centers in Dunmore and Scranton.

SAPA’s third and final public information meeting will be held this month, at which time the public will have the opportunity to view changes to the full-length draft plan made by SAPA’s planning firm, the Philadelphia-based McCormick Taylor. Once the full-length draft is complete and approved by SAPA, Phase II will begin, which entails each individual community applying zoning according to their land usage needs.

SAPA’s public information meeting is scheduled for July 16 at 6 p.m. at Scranton High School.