Planning Commission

In Pennsylvania, planning commissions are primarily responsible for and charged with exercising a municipality’s legal right to develop a comprehensive plan that outlines its specific community planning objectives that may focus on environmental protection; agricultural, historical and cultural resource preservation; business retention, expansion and recruitment; urban redevelopment; housing opportunities; parks and recreation amenities; transportation and utility infrastructure; or other health, safety and public welfare needs and issues that are critical to the community’s overall wellbeing and prosperity.

A planning commission acts as an advisor to the governing body and its principal role is stipulated in the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) which is the uniform planning and land use enabling law for all commonwealth municipalities. The planning commission’s duties and responsibilities are authorized by the MPC.

In practice, the planning commission’s time is largely devoted to reviewing applications submitted pursuant to the municipality’s zoning and subdivision & land development ordinances and providing recommendations for their approval to the governing body.

The regular meetings of the Lehighton Planning Commission will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building on the second Tuesday of each month on the following dates: