Partnership-Driven Planning and Preservation

 

Over the course of the last decade alone, 76 percent of Lancaster County's population growth occurred in the outer suburbs. In the face of continued development pressures, the Lancaster County Conservancy determined that it could not continue to take a reactive approach to green infrastructure planning. Answering this call, RETTEW contacted more than 150 municipalities, watershed groups, state and county agencies, and various other entities to identify open-space land holdings. To track and coordinate each entity's parcels, RETTEW created a database for the Conservancy called the Preservation and Partnering Tool. Additionally, RETTEW developed a preservation rating sheet to evaluate each tract of land based on the presence of ecological features and proximity to designated growth areas. The plan provides a holistic and watershed-based green infrastructure approach, identifying "natural gems" as anchor properties and then developing a system of links that provides a network of interconnections throughout the county.

Lancaster County Conservancy's Long-Range Preservation Plan

Lancaster County, PA