Congratulations to the Chester County municipalities that have been awarded through the competitive cash grant portion of the 2019 Round One Vision Partnership Program (VPP)! Brandywine Battlefield Group (Birmingham, East Bradford, Kennett, Pennsbury, Thornbury, and Westtown townships for a heritage interpretation plan), Caln Township (zoning ordinance update), East Fallowfield Township (Newlinville Village Master Plan), West Chester (High Street Corridor Study), and West Whiteland Township (historic resource survey update) were awarded in this grant cycle. Congratulations to these municipalities as they work to better plan their future and implement Landscapes3. 

This grant round was the first under a revamped VPP that was modified to better implement Landscapes3. The second round for 2019 will open on Sept. 3rd and close on Oct. 25th at 4 p.m. Municipalities that are considering applying in the second round of this year should plan to attend one of two mandatory pre-submittal meetings (if they did not already attend one in May). The meetings will be held on Aug. 28 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and Sept. 10 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Planning Commission’s office (Suite 270, 601 Westtown Road, West Chester, Pa., 19380). Please contact Community Planning Director and VPP Grant Administrator Susan Elks at selks@chesco.org or 610-344-6285 with any questions on the second round of VPP.

Within the VPP, several planning projects have wrapped up this year. West Goshen Township adopted a new comprehensive plan in June, East Bradford Township completed the Plum Run Corridor study in May, and Tredyffrin Township completed a multimodal transportation study in early 2019. Avondale Borough adopted a new comprehensive plan in July, and the municipalities of the Phoenixville Region are scheduled to adopt their new comprehensive plan in late summer/early fall.

The VPP is a grant available to Chester County municipalities and multi-municipal groups seeking to improve their planning programs while achieving consistency with and implementation of the goals, objectives, recommendations, and map of Landscapes3. Established in 1996, the purpose of VPP is to advance consistency with and implementation of the county comprehensive plan while accomplishing effective, lasting, and positive benefits for municipalities through innovate municipal planning, multi-municipal planning, and new and revised municipal plans, ordinances, and planning studies that address opportunities and issues of community concern. Learn more about the program.