Simplified Zoning

Zoning is an important tool that ultimately shapes the form and character of our communities but, over the years, zoning regulations have become more complicated to administer and often fall short of fully achieving our collective planning goals. 

Within Lancaster County’s 60 municipalities, there are approximately 550 separate zoning districts – each with unique regulations and permitted land uses. Reducing this number of distinct zones down to just 18 standardized districts throughout Lancaster County would provide greater regulation consistency and clarity. It would also help to streamline the plan approval process and minimize resources needed to create communities that are better aligned with planning initiatives and market demands.  

Because land uses within our communities are always changing, municipalities must frequently address costly Zoning Ordinance updates, adding regulations pertaining to the newest land uses. Instead of reactively regulating  individual land use types, this Simplified Zoning planning tool encourages municipalities to proactively permit uses based on inherent land use impacts and the intensity of these anticipated impacts. Regulating in this way enables neighborhoods, municipalities, and regions to adapt more easily as each community’s needs change. Let’s permit land uses by-right with a streamlined process when their impacts are compatible with desired community character and safety. Reserve the lengthier and more costly Conditional Use and Special Exception processes for land uses that might be less compatible with these shared goals. Aligning this Simplified Zoning tool with Lancaster County Planning’s Landscape Character Sectors tool will help to implement many countywide planning goals.

Working Documents

Simplified Zoning working documents as of September 2025.

  1. How to use the Big Fixes and the Simplified Zoning Tools – This offers an overview of how to use the following documents to improve zoning. 
    Why Use Simplified Zoning? - This chart identifies common problems which can be improved using this tool.
  2. The Big Fixes – These are 15 broad changes that municipalities could implement to simplify their zoning regulations. 
  3. Proposed Zoning Districts – This is an outlines of 18 countywide zoning districts along with their stated purposes, characteristics, and associated Landscape Character Sectors. 
  4. Bulk Regulations for Proposed Zoning Districts – These are recommendations for each zoning district, as well as land use impacts that should be 1) expected and permitted by-right, 2) should require greater regulation through the Conditional Use or Special Exception process, or 3) should not be permitted within a given zone.
  5. Assessment of Land Use Impacts – This component identifies anticipated impact types and provides guidance regarding impact intensities to be permitted in each zoning district.
  6. Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations – This document provides standard definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations commonly used throughout this Simplified Zoning tool, or present opportunities for more consistent terminology usage from one municipality to another.