A Plan for the Northwest Region

The Northwest Region consists of Mount Joy, West Donegal, and Conoy Townships and Elizabethtown Borough. Based on the same structure as Lancaster County’s places2040 plan, the regional plan for the Northwest Region will highlight regional and countywide goals.

The 5 Big Ideas

The Lancaster County comprehensive plan (called places2040) and the plan for the Northwest Region focus on five big ideas or goals: 

• Creating Great Places is all about making Lancaster County a place we’re proud to call home. We do this by keeping our communities safe and vibrant, but also by ensuring that our residents have options when it comes to housing, transportation, and jobs. Great places create a sense of belonging and serve as the backbone to our local economies.
• Connecting People, Place, and Opportunity means connecting students with schools, jobs with housing, or workers with jobs. Our transportation network should also include more safe ways for people, bicycles, and public transport to get around.
• Taking Care of What We Have is about preserving the things that make Lancaster County a special place: our farmland, natural areas, and urban places. We should also protect our farmers, support new and existing businesses, improve water quality, and maintain public utilities.
• Growing Responsibly helps us to accommodate the growth we expect to see by 2040. Much of that growth actually comes from within Lancaster County. We need to grow where we’re already growing, limit large suburban lots in rural areas, and build more compact communities.
• Thinking Beyond Boundaries is about doing things differently. Rather than looking at municipal borders as a barrier, we should see our communities as part of the bigger picture. Working together regionally is an important part of thinking beyond boundaries.