Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County offers 50/50 staff-assisted option for East Goshen comprehensive plan; board to weigh costs and timing
Summary
Chester County planning staff described a Community Planning Assistance program that would match staff time 50/50 with East Goshen to update its comprehensive plan over about 24 months; the county estimated examples of costs and said openings may be available in quarter three.
Bambi Griffin Rivera, community planning director at the Chester County Planning Commission, outlined a county option for updating East Goshen’s comprehensive plan, saying the county can act as the consultant and split staff costs with the township.
"If we budgeted everything out and it came to $80,000, then of course the county would cover 50% of that," Bambi Griffin Rivera said, illustrating how a typical project could be paid over quarterly installments to ease local budgets.
The county's Community Planning Assistance (CPA) program, Rivera said, pairs one county planner with the township and is billed in installments; a full plan typically spans about 24 months, and openings to start new CPA work may be available in the third quarter.
Board members and residents pressed staff on the practicalities: how many CPA projects the county handles, whether assigned planners must carry AICP certification, and how the township’s 2026 budgeted $26,000 would apply. Rivera said the county currently has 27 active projects and nine CPA projects; AICP certification is not required for every staff assignment; and the county would provide review comments if the township chose an outside consultant and submitted the plan for Act 247 review.
Several residents urged careful public outreach and transparency in any process. Mr. Davis and other supervisors noted the township could instead issue an independent RFP for a consultant; staff recommended collecting sample RFPs and discussing options further at the next meeting.
Next steps: the board agreed to continue gathering information, including sample RFP language and budget scenarios, and to return the topic to the board calendar for a decision on whether to pursue the county CPA, a township-led RFP, or a hybrid approach.
