Planning Consultants
Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC (WRT)
www.wrtdesign.com
WRT is a multi-disciplinary firm of planners, urban designers, architects, and landscape architects. The firm's main office is in Philadelphia, the location from which work on the Union County Comprehensive Plan will be performed. A national leader in comprehensive planning and growth management for over 40 years, WRT is known for its innovative planning and growth management techniques in landmark projects such as the Baltimore County Growth Management Plan, the Sanibel Island Comprehensive Plan, and the Orlando Regional Growth Management Plan.
WRT's work throughout the country involves a wide variety of communities of varying scale with special expertise in balancing development with the preservation of open space and natural resources through the application of principles and techniques of "smart growth." Throughout the planning process, WRT maintains a strategic focus on implementation to assure a final product that provides a realistic basis for action by community leaders. The firm has helped many jurisdictions craft creative development regulations, growth management techniques, economic development programs, and other implementation strategies to bring the plan vision, goals, and objectives into reality. In addition to comprehensive planning and implementation, WRT's multi-disciplinary practice encompasses diverse fields such as environmental planning, open space/recreation planning and design, transportation facilities planning, cultural/heritage resource planning, and housing and community development. Recent examples of WRT's comprehensive planning work in Pennsylvania include the Lancaster County Growth Management Plan, Upper Darby Comprehensive Plan, Upper Macungie Comprehensive Plan, and the North Coventry/Pottstown Regional Plan Zoning Update.
McMahon Associates, Inc.
www.mcmtrans.com
McMahon Associates, Inc. (McMahon) specializes in traffic engineering, transportation planning, highway and structure design, and geographic information systems, having served federal, state, regional, and local organizations since 1976. With nine offices located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida, McMahon provides:
- Corridor, township, and region-wide transportation planning.
- Comprehensive data collection programs and transportation surveys, as well as transportation network forecasts, and modeling.
- Transportation engineering design services, including highway occupancy and traffic signal permits; roadway designs; traffic signal design; and parking layout design.
- Transportation Demand Management Strategy Studies, including carpool/vanpool programs, paratransit, transit, parking, and employee staggered work-hour/flex-time strategies.
- Traffic operations analysis, including traffic signal system analysis and optimization; pavement markings, signing, and maintenance of traffic plans; and parking and accident analysis.
- Public involvement and coordination with agencies (State DOT's, Regional and County Planning Commissions, Steering Committees, and municipalities), communities, and the private sector, in conjunction with the above services.
McMahon is dedicated to providing personalized transportation engineering and planning services to all of its clients, both public and private. The firm prides itself on the soundness and integrity of its practice, as well as its individual relationships that have been built amongst it clients.
S. Huffman Associates
www.shuffman-associates.com
Based in Philadelphia, S. Huffman Associates was established in 1982 to assist public and private clients in market research for real estate and policy analysis on urban development issues. Since that time the firm has built a base of private and public sector clients throughout the Middle Atlantic region. The firm has assisted communities, non-profit organizations, developers, architects, engineers, and financial institutions that are concerned with the market for development projects as well as with those projects' potential impacts.
Among the firm's projects are a number of housing studies in suburban areas for private developers and in urbanized and some rural areas where a combination of special needs for affordable, accessible, or assisted housing exist. In addition, S. Huffman Associates has performed market studies in urban areas that address the demand for office and retail commercial space. Representative projects include market studies for the sales and rental housing in Lower Merion Township, Coatesville, Chester, Amity Township, Upper Darby, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Studies of economic development and retail potential have been conducted in Lansdale, Lansdowne, Springfield Township, Lebanon, and Philadelphia.
American Farmland Trust
www.farmland.org
Established in 1980, American Farmland Trust (AFT) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to protecting the best farm and ranch land, planning for growth with agriculture in mind, and keeping the land productive and healthy. AFT is widely regarded as the "go to" group because of its solid track record of leadership, innovation, and effectiveness in enabling communities and individuals to save farms. AFT believes that a balance between sensible urban growth and thriving agriculture is possible, and helps develop and carry out community planning that includes the best of both worlds.
AFT's national headquarters is located in Washington, DC. The organization has ten additional offices located throughout the country. Work on the Union County Comprehensive Plan will be conducted from the Farmland Information Center in Northampton, MA.
AFT's public and private conservation easement programs allow farmers and ranchers to permanently keep their land in agriculture. AFT also seeks to insure that farmland stays healthy and productive by fostering the best farming practices and developing sustainable farming systems and guides for farmers and ranchers.
AFT Technical Assistance Services (TAS) works with communities and states to develop long-range plans linking sustainable agriculture with sustainable development. Plans are designed to meet the needs of a specific community and may include comprehensive plans for agriculture, rural development plans, and strategies for economic development. AFT also provides fiscal and economic studies and offers training and outreach programs to support and strengthen local agriculture.
Examples of work in Pennsylvania includes an assessment of agricultural viability in Berks and Schuylkill Counties and (with WRT) development of a Rural Strategy as part of the new Lancaster County Growth Management Plan. AFT has prior experience in Union County through a 1997 survey of local farmers and farmland owners to determine their interest in and perception of existing and proposed farmland protection programs.
ETC Institute
www.etcinstitute.com
Based in Olathe, Kansas, ETC Institute is a market research firm that specializes in the design and administration of market research for local governmental organizations. Major areas of emphasis include customer satisfaction surveys, transportation surveys, employee surveys, voter election surveys, parks and recreation surveys, focus groups, and stakeholder interviews. Since 1982, ETC Institute has completed research projects for organizations in 41 states. The firm has designed and administered more than 750 statistically valid surveys and its team of professional researchers has moderated more than 700 focus groups and 1,400 stakeholder meetings.
ETC Institute specializes in helping organizations use market research to make better decisions. During the past five years, the results of the company's market research have lead to more than $2 billion in funding initiatives by state, municipal, and county governments as well as numerous educational and nonprofit organizations. Projects that have been funded include a wide range of community redevelopment projects, transportation initiatives, improvements to schools and health care institutions, water and electrical utility improvements, tourism attractions, neighborhood improvements, downtown revitalization projects, open space acquisition and park improvements, and the development of numerous specialized leisure facilities such as community centers, aquatic centers, and sports facilities.