The Times-Tribune Web site posted this report (full text):
"Last
call before draft bi-county plan is written”
By
Charles Schillinger (Staff Writer)
Published: November 30, 2009
A final set of public meetings startS Tuesday on a land- use plan that would change the way planners from Lackawanna and Luzerne counties guide development in local communities.
The draft plan, which will be written after the public meetings, will center on pushing developers to build denser residential communities around public transit hubs. In June, planning officials announced their intentions to focus on developing light rail and bus rapid transit routes instead of highways to handle new transportation needs in the next 20 years.
The 20-year plan would call for remaking the Laurel Line - an early 20th-century electric train service between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre - with a light rail system from Carbondale to Wilkes-Barre, with another line branching off in Moosic and running along the west side of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County. Bus rapid transit routes, which would give buses exclusive driving lanes to avoid traffic, are also part of a larger plan for bringing commuters into Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and other urban centers.
Planning officials have no estimates on what such a transit system might cost, but the state Department of Transportation has given rough estimates that adding a third lane to Interstate 81 between Nanticoke and Clarks Summit would cost more than $1 billion.
Lackawanna and Luzerne counties are not near the final stretch on the bi-county comprehensive plan meant to take effect next year, but the public hearings will complete discussion among public officials, businesses and the public before a draft comprehensive plan is written, said Lackawanna County transportation planning manager Steve Pitoniak.
After the draft is written, another series of hearings will be held throughout the two counties before the comprehensive plan becomes final. The entire process is expected to be finished by spring.
The document is not binding on the counties, but is expected to be used as a guide for municipalities remaking zoning maps and developers who are looking to build.
"We're trying to develop around transportation, be it bus, rapid transit or future light rail," Mr. Pitoniak said. "We're looking at development that is denser to facilitate additional public transportation."
Contact the writer: cschillinger@timesshamrock.com
Counties land-use plan
Public information meetings will be held between 6 and 8:30 p.m. Meetings will begin at 6 p.m. with an open house. A presentation will begin at 7 p.m., followed by time for questions and discussion to conclude by 8:30 p.m. Meetings will be held at the following locations:
- Tuesday, Hazleton Area School District Administration Building, 1515 W. 23rd St., Hazleton.- Wednesday, University of Scranton Brennan Hall - Pearn Auditorium, 320 Madison Ave., Scranton.- Thursday Luzerne County Community College Education Conference Center - Room 132, 1333 S. Prospect St., Nanticoke.
http://tinyurl.com/yksnm5p
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Edward B.
Havens
Tucson,
Ariz.