Knowledge is power; the Lehigh Valley craves it
There’s a mountain of polls out there that suggest that volunteerism has been falling for at least the past decade, and that decline was only accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. I don’t doubt any of those surveys in the least, but that’s not what we’ve been seeing here at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.
Our Lehigh Valley Government Academy classes are aimed at training the next generation of community leaders, and the students walking through our doors are not only people committed to their community, but they come to us to learn how they can be more effective volunteers. And this instruction has never been more important because so much is changing as the region grows in people, business and development.
We partner with the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Education Institute to offer evening classes on zoning, subdivision and land development and community planning designed to help train members of municipal councils, zoning boards, planning commissions and boards of supervisors. It may not be widely known, but most of the seats on these boards are filled by unpaid community volunteers. They’re your neighbors, friends and family members, and it’s not uncommon for them to sit for hours during public meetings to field debates on important land use, planning, zoning, community and transportation issues. Even in a polarized political climate where these community leaders are weighing-in on increasingly complex issues, they persevere because they believe in their hometown and the future of region. For their service, we should collectively be grateful.
Still, they need tools and the skills to use them wisely, to deliver the best possible outcome for all of us. That’s why we offer the Lehigh Valley Government Academy. Each of our four core land use courses is 10.5 hours of instruction over three weeks, for classes that generally go from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Here again, you see that community commitment because most of our students come straight from their day jobs to class. Since we started these classes nine years ago, 359 people have completed courses. Among them are 87 who have been designated Certified Citizens Planners for taking at least three courses, including 21 who have received statewide honor by PMPEI for taking all four classes — we also offer a zoning administration class every other year. We’ve had graduates from 50 of the Lehigh Valley’s 62 municipalities. I’m continually inspired by their dedication to their community.
Though most of them are appointed or elected board and commission members, many are just concerned citizens who want to know more about how government and land development work. Anyone can find more information about the courses and how to register and pay for classes, taught by two certified constructors, at lvpc.org/lvga. We generally have so many committed volunteers that these classes tend to fill up fast. It’s not the only training available from LVPC’s Government Academy.
We also partner with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to provide Local Technical Assistance Program classes designed to give municipal parks, public works and engineering staff best practices for everything from improving safety at intersections to road maintenance to Americans with Disabilities Act policies to the best way to deal with a snowstorm. These LTAP classes are more evidence of our region’s appetite for knowledge and education.
We’ve emphasized the value of this technical assistance to our municipal partners, and they have embraced it. LTAP classes are offered statewide, and promoted heavily by PennDOT, yet the highest class participation isn’t in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, but right here in the Lehigh Valley. We take a great deal of pride in knowing that has been the case for years, and that input from our communities has led to new statewide courses. Perhaps the most amazing thing about those classes is that they’re free. Though other states charge for this instruction, PennDOT foots the entire bill for these because state leaders believe that the information gives municipalities the tools to be as efficient as possible with their local tax dollars. In other words, it’s an investment.
And that philosophy doesn’t end there. We also partner with PennDOT on what we call “Tech Assists.” These are sort of transportation house calls where a PennDOT engineer and an LVPC staffer meet municipal workers in the community to discuss how
to improve safety or maintenance for things like trail crossings, intersections, dangerous pedestrian throughways and even truck routes. Roughly two weeks after the hands-on meeting in the field, the municipality gets a 20 or 30-page report on how to make improvements, and that report is often the first step in getting a state grant to help pay for it.
Amazingly, this is another free service, and the Lehigh Valley is again the statewide leader in taking advantage of this. That doesn’t surprise me in the least. Our public works crews have proven themselves to be among the most innovative in the state. PennDOT holds an annual called “Build A Better Mousetrap” competition honoring road crews who come up with the most innovative ideas for solving problems in the field. Our region has dominated that competition, finishing in the top two in five of the past 10 years.
On top of those training opportunities, we also have our twice-a-year General Assembly, when we meet with all municipalities to give them new data and update them on new issues, and our periodic Transformative Talk webinars on things like pandemic response, coordinated zoning, utility-scale solar and multi-municipal planning.
We are working on new Transformative Talks on population and employment changes, how to develop and implement a municipal transportation impact fee program, effective coordination between local planning commissions and zoning hearing boards and unlocking the housing needs. You’ll be hearing more about these new LVPC-developed courses soon. These Transformative
Talks will be free and open to the public as a continuing commitment to supporting community as we jointly navigate the issues and opportunities of a rapidly changing region.
I urge anyone who wants to take a class, or any community interested in a Tech Assist to call our office and pay close attention to lvpc.org for upcoming Transformative Talks.
In my role, I get to talk with colleagues from regions from across the state and nation, and I’m always impressed by our region’s incredible thirst for doing things better, more efficiently and to rise to every challenge we face. That thirst is one of the Lehigh Valley’s superpowers and we have enough capes for everyone.