Lancaster County presents 'Simplified Zoning' tool to Columbia Borough; emphasizes impact-based rules and 18 proposed districts

Gwen Newell, a planner with the Lancaster County Planning Department, on Wednesday presented the county's draft "Simplified Zoning" toolkit to Columbia Borough council during a workshop, outlining five coordinated documents that recommend 18 countywide zoning districts and a shift from listing every land use to regulating land-use impacts.

Newell told council members the toolkit is intended to "help provide greater regulation and consistency efficiently and effectively across municipal line" and to streamline approvals and reduce costs for building projects. She said the county package is a set of coordinated pieces rather than a single plug-and-play ordinance.

The nut of the county's pitch is scale and simplification: Lancaster County's planners said the county contains about 60 municipalities and more than 500 separate zoning districts, and the Simplified Zoning tool reduces that complexity by recommending an 18-district countywide palette from rural to urban. "We are actually recommending currently 18 zoning districts for the entire county along with their stated purposes and characteristics," Newell said. She added that municipalities are not expected to adopt all 18 districts wholesale and that the county will update the proposals after municipal feedback.

The county presented five linked documents: (1) a…