Master Planning for Haverford Township

At last week's monthly commissioners meeting, I spoke during the citizens forum about the glaring need for a comprehensive master plan for Haverford Township and about campaign finances for the commissioner races this year. This post is about the master plan part of that. More on campaign finances in the next topic

There are many ways to go about creating or updating a master plan for a township. I've worked on the strategic plan for our Haverford Township Free Library, and I'm currently doing the same for the Delaware County Library System. I described one general approach:

• Start with guiding principles, look at the current state (township buildings, finances, roads, traffic, services offered/needed, township administration structure and function, recreation, library, information systems, sewers, etc.)
• Craft an action plan the describes what we want our township to be five and ten years from now.
• Figure out how to fund that plan.

A business needs a business plan to function. In addition, a business plan indicates to any potential financiers that the business knows what they are doing and how to get there. Who would lend or give money to a business without a plan?

Similarly, our Township needs the comprehensive master plan to go out and get the funding to make it happen. Grants won't just come to us - we need to go out and actively seek them. Demonstrating that we know what were doing will increase our chances of finding funding to assist us and keep the tax burden on the residents lower. Other communities have done so successfully and there is no reason that Haverford Township cannot do the same.

I didn't mention this in the limited time that I had to speak in the forum, but I strongly recommend that we use the services of professional grant writers. (I have spoken about this in previous citizens forums.) We could figure out if this is something that we outsource or need full- or part-time staff to accomplish. But with a plan in place and a good grant writer on board, we could do a lot.

I have attend recent Planning Commission meetings and spoken with members of that board. Their work, combined with the activity of the Haverford Civic Council, has provided a start on revitalizing two pieces of the township: the Eagle Road corridor/Oakmont business district and the Haverford Road corridor. These are good efforts, but they only address 2 geographical areas and they only focus on business revitalization.

In my opinion, we need a comprehensive plan, not a piecemeal plan. As I've said to hundreds of people while campaigning, creating a master plan for our Township is one of my top priorities when I'm elected.

As far as my opponent goes, he has been in office for 16 years, and we haven't had a master plan in almost 2o years. I think that tell the whole story on his take on the importance of a comprehensive plan.