Officials ask North Pocono residents to complete a survey that will help develop regional land use and zoning regulations.
The North Pocono Planning Association released an online survey last week. It asks residents in the eight North Pocono municipalities participating in the project about issues pertaining to types of land use, preservation of forested land and farms, public services, recreation, transportation, and what they like or don’t like about the North Pocono area. The survey also includes questions about demographics.
The association, established last year and comprising Moscow borough and Covington, Elmhurst, Jefferson, Madison, Roaring Brook, Spring Brook and Thornhurst townships, allows participating municipalities to share land uses.
Normally, a municipality must allow every type of land use somewhere within its borders. Zoning collaboratives like the North Pocono Planning Association allow participants to share uses — meaning if one participant allows something considered undesirable elsewhere within the group boundaries, the other participants don’t have to. The project allows participants to strategically plan for where different types of development make the most sense within a region.
The survey was developed by the consulting firm Hailstone Economic,, Lackawanna County Planning Manager Mary Liz Donato said. The county commissioners approved a contract with Hailstone to guide the municipalities through the project earlier this year. Representatives from the eight municipalities endorsed the firm late last year.
Donato said officials are asking residents and businesses to take the survey. She said those living in the two municipalities in the North Pocono School District not participating in the project, Clifton Twp. and Lehigh Twp. in Wayne County, can complete it, but will note on the survey they are from another municipality.
The survey is available on the association website, northpoconoplan.com, and the websites of each participating municipality. Postcards with a QR code for the survey are also in the process of being delivered to each municipal building for distribution, Donato said. The survey will be online until the end of September, but could be extended based on the response numbers, she said.
“The results will help the local officials decide on the goals and objectives of the regional comprehensive plans and align their actions with the ideas and aspirations of the residents/businesses,” Donato said in an email. “It will also help with decisions on how to distribute the various land uses among the group for zoning purposes.”
Supervisors who serve on the North Pocono Planning Committee said the survey allows officials to get a feeling for what the public wants.
“It’s an avenue for the public to provide input,” Madison Twp. Supervisor Phil Setzer said.
Roaring Brook Twp. Supervisor Chair Tony Jordan said he is interested to hear what they public says in the survey.
The North Pocono project is the third collaborative planning and zoning effort in the county — the others being the Scranton-Abingtons Planning Association and Northern Lackawanna Planning Association.
Donato said officials hope to have the comprehensive plan completed by next summer and updated zoning ordinances for the participating municipalities by June 2027. She said anyone with questions about the survey can contact their local representative.