Local governments in Pennsylvania are encouraged to

Local governments in Pennsylvania are encouraged to adopt traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinances by recent revisions to the state Municipalities Planning Code (MPC). Adopted in 2000, a TND section was authored by State Rep. Robert Freeman with input from planner Thomas Comitta of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Some of the code language came directly from a TND checklist in Suburban Nation, the book by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. The section is optional, which is one reason why it has not been used even though it has been in place for a year, according to Comitta. Public officials have so far spent most of their energy responding to mandatory changes in the MPC. Later this year Comitta expects municipalities to begin looking at TND. In March, a statewide conference on Smart Growth drew 2,000 participants. One of the first municipalities to adopt the TND provision may be Charlestown Township in Chester County, where Comitta is working on an update of the master plan. Graphic guidelines are also being created, a step which Comitta feels is necessary for local officials, citizens, and developers to fully understand the implications of TND. The MPC states that municipalities may adopt graphic guidelines to go along with a TND code — but this step, like the section itself, is voluntary. “The first hurdle will be to get municipalities to adopt the code,” Comitta says. “The next hurdle is to get them to do the guidelines.”