Purpose

The Agricultural and Rural Lands Planning Program incorporates the Balance Growth Management Rural Strategy and the County Comprehensive Plan’s Green Infrastructure Plan, Greenscapes. It was formed to guide county and municipal planning policy regarding areas that should be conserved for their agricultural and/or natural resources, and sustaining the towns and villages as the county’s rural centers.

Ongoing Activities

Balance’s rural strategy is designed to maintain the resources and traditional ties to the land that define Lancaster County’s rural character for future generations. The key objectives of the rural strategy provide guidance for the program’s ongoing activities:

• Establish designated rural areas within which rural resources, rural character, and a rural way-of-life are sustained and incompatible development is precluded.
• Reduce non-rural development outside of urban growth areas and direct it to rural centers to maintain the form and character of rural areas.
• Maintain the viability of the rural economy, including agriculture and other economic activities that depend on rural resources or a rural location.