| The Regional Planning Program
 Regional planning, envisioned by the TCRPC, is not a substitute for, but a supplement to, local, county, state and federal planning activities. Since its inception and through the course of its thirty-four year history, the TCRPC's
objective has been to assist the various levels and units of government in the region individually to find cooperative solutions to area-wide problems, which cannot be properly resolved within the framework of a single municipality
or county. As such, the TCRPC's work program can be divided into three key functional areas, which include (1) inventory, (2) plan design, and (3) plan implementation:
Inventory: the collection, analysis and dissemination of basic planning data in a uniform,
area-wide basis for regional, county and municipal decision-making;
Plan Design: the preparation of a framework of long-range physical planning for the region that
may be used in more detailed County and municipal physical planning activities;
Plan Promotion; plan implementation by providing a center to coordinate and assist in the planning
and implementation activities within the region; introduce and seek information on area-wide problems; and, recommend solutions to these problems, and alternatives, as part of existing decision making process.
Based on these three dimensions, TCRPC's work is seen as a continuing planning process, which provides valuable outputs for public and private development decisions. The Commission emphasizes cooperation between counties and local
municipalities responsible for development and land use planning and for the responsible design, construction and operation of supporting public facilities and services. TCRPC's work programs are intended to be carried out within a
continuing overall planning program, which provides for periodic reevaluation of plans produced and the extension of background data, information and recommendations to convert plans into actions at the county, sub regional and
municipal levels.
Technical planning support for the Cumberland
County Planning Commission, Dauphin County Planning Commission, Perry
County Planning Commission and Harrisburg Area Transportation Study
Programs are provided by the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission staff. Planning Activities To Date
Since its inception, TCRPC has methodically pursued its three basic functions of area-wide inventory, plan design, and promotion of plan implementation through intergovernmental cooperation and direct local planning assistance,
although the emphasis of these activities has changed over time.
Initially, major emphasis in the Commission's work program was on the inventory functions, with increasing attention in recent years being placed on the plan design and intergovernmental assistance, local planning assistance and
overall coordination functions.
TCRPC's inventory activities in the past, and in its current Regional Growth Management Plan project, have resulted in the creation of several important data sets, which are maintained in text, map and digital form for local and
area-wide planning. Of increasing importance is the Commission's growing emphasis and use of GIS to map, analyze and manipulate geographic information for local and area-wide planning activities. The planning series reports prepared
in the 1970's and early 1980's remain to be useful data sets for regional, county and local planning activities. In conjunction with these reports, the data assembled at the TCRPC include:
Digital road and stream locations on region computerized mapping;
Flood plain areas and wetlands from the National Wetland Inventory maps and digital sources;
Wildlife habitats from the Nature Conservancies natural resource inventory;
Regionally significant historical and cultural features from the National Register and State
Historic and Museum Commission;
Soil and topography data;
Transportation system data related to travel patterns and capacities, as well as the regional
travel demand model;
Transit routes, use and service levels and trends;
Existing generalized water and sewerage service areas;
Census related population, housing, demographic and economic data trends housed in the Affiliate
Data Center census library;
US Census Bureau TIGER geography mapping hard copy and digital formats. |
