Paxtang Borough needed a new zoning ordinance and map that would implement recommendations from the recently adopted mini-comprehensive plan and downtown improvements plan; encourage adaptive reuse, replacement, infill, and redevelopment of vacant and underutilized properties and structures within the downtown and nearby neighborhoods; and ensure consistency with and incorporate recent changes in the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code and other federal and state land use and development regulations and trends.

RETTEW helped secure a Community Development Block Grant from Dauphin County for Paxtang Borough to develop the three-county (Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry) region’s first hybrid, form-based zoning ordinance, including innovative written and graphic hybrid, form-based design standards for specific areas of the borough. RETTEW also developed innovative approaches for addressing context-sensitive design and emerging trends in core communities, including alternative energy and urban farming. The highly graphic nature and simple language of the ordinance supported the client’s understanding, interpretation, and administration and ensured the final product was objective and enforceable. The project assisted not only the Borough staff with a tool for better enforcement and administration of zoning-related issues, but it also protected and enhanced the borough’s unique character by ensuring new development is consistent and compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.