UNIVERSITY PARK – The Penn State Extension will offer a Web-based seminar providing guidance for municipalities on how to enhance vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian connectivity.
Scheduled for 12 p.m. Aug. 21, the 75-minute session will feature Steven Deck, of Parsons Brinkerhoff’s Harrisburg office, and extension educator John Turack, a community development specialist.
Parsons Brinckerhoff is a global infrastructure strategic consulting, engineering and program/construction management organization. Deck is a senior supervising planner for the firm with decades of experience in transportation planning, environmental analysis and municipal planning.
“PennDOT’s new handbook on ‘Improving Connectivity and System Function through Local Planning’ provides guidance to municipalities on how to enhance vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian connectivity,” said Turack.
“This companion training offers an overview of the handbook and includes strategies to effectively regulate and manage a connected transportation network within a community, as well as a look at how some communities in Pennsylvania are embracing connectivity as a means to both economic development and enhanced community development.”
The webinar will include a review of connectivity index calculations and model ordinance language, Turack added.
“By looking at a few communities that have adopted connectivity goals into their comprehensive and strategic plans as illustrative examples, Steve and I hope to demonstrate real-world applications of the concepts and the planning and regulatory tools presented in the handbook.”
The cost to attend the webinar is $30, and this session is the second of a summer/fall series of webinars that focus on land-use planning and decision making.
For the fee, registrants are able to access all five of the sessions in the series and to access recordings of the sessions and the presentations.
CM credits are available to certified planners at one fee of $60 for all five 1.25-credit, 75-minute sessions.
Other sessions in the series include:
-July 17: “Solar Model Ordinance: Not to be Confused with the Sunshine Act,” 1.25 CM credits available, (now offered as a recording).
-Sept. 18: “The ABCs of Form-Based Codes” (noon-1:15 p.m.), 1.25 CM credits available.
-Oct. 16: “Fiscal Impacts of Different Land Uses” (noon-1:15 p.m.), 1.25 CM credits available.
-Nov. 20: “Facing the Challenges of Plan Implementation” (noon-1:15 p.m.), 1.25 CM credits available.
This series promotes understanding of current planning issues, creation of local regulations, planning that benefits the community and local resources available to decision-makers. The sessions provide information valuable to landowners and land managers as they contemplate and plan for the future uses of their properties.
A previous winter/spring 2013 series of land-use webinars is now also available as recordings. Five, one-hour long webinars are offered as a package for one fee.
Sessions include:
-“Planning in PA: Land Use, Communities and Beyond”
-“How Preemption of Zoning and Other Local Controls Impacts Planning”
-“Renewable Energy Implementation and Land Use Regulations – Is There Conflict?”
-“Developing More Effective Citizen Engagement: A How-to Guide for Community Leaders”
-“Low-impact Development and Smart Growth: How are they best integrated and utilized in our communities?”
For more information, contact Jeff Himes at jhimes@psu.edu or call 570-724-9120 or visit the Web site at http://agsci.psu.edu/land-use-webinar to register for the webinars.