Landscapes3 Design Guide Series
Posted September 20, 2024
Have you ever been worried about a new development and how it might affect your home or business? The design of a new development has a huge impact on a community's character and municipal goals. This is why, over the last four years, the Chester County Planning Commission has produced six landscape design guides based on the different landscapes found in Chester County. Whether you live in an urban community, a rural community, or something in between — there's a resource to help guide development within your local landscape.
Each of the six design guides focuses on new development within the landscapes found in Chester County — urban, suburban center, suburban, rural center, rural, and agricultural — and features both planning principles and design elements to follow. Albert Park, CCPC's Design Planner, provided an overview of the design guide series at CCPC's September Board meeting.
The first of the guides released was the Urban Center Landscapes Design Guide back in 2020, which provides guidance for the county's downtown areas, underutilized non-residential properties, older industrial properties, and parking lots.
Next came the Suburban Center Landscapes Design Guide in 2021, which covers corridors, underutilized shopping centers, older office and business parks, and infill locations.
The Suburban Landscapes Design Guide was also released in 2021, featuring neighborhood centers, sites with lot consolidation opportunities, greenfields with sensitive infill potential, and areas close to public utilities and transportation.
In 2022, the Rural Center Landscapes Design Guide was released, focusing on underutilized developed land, villages with expansion or rehabilitation potential, infill sites that interconnect business areas, and areas close to public utilities.
The Rural Landscapes Design Guide followed in 2023, providing insight for maintaining a low-density development pattern and conserving agricultural lands and sensitive environmental resources in the county's rural areas.
And to complete the series, the Agricultural Landscapes Design Guide was released this year providing guidance for the maintenance of a low-density development pattern and conservation of agricultural lands and sensitive environmental resources in the county's agricultural areas.
The Landscapes Design Guide brochure provides more information about each of the individual guides. View the brochure or download the individual design guides.