Middlesex Township residents comment at kickoff for comprehensive plan
MIDDLESEX TWP — Dozens of township residents packed the municipal building Wednesday night, May 17, for the first open house meeting on the township’s comprehensive plan, filling whiteboards with page after page of comments.
“This is just a kickoff meeting … very informal, looking to gauge interest, and we received great interest,” said Jeff Winkle, township manager. “We’ve had probably close to 40 people show up in just an hour’s time.”
A comprehensive plan is a broad outline for the future goals of municipality. The last update to Middlesex Township’s comprehensive plan took place in 2004. That plan, the “Vision 2020” Joint Comprehensive Plan, involved not just Middlesex, but neighboring Richland Township, Allegheny County.
The plan currently under development is only for Middlesex.
“The state municipality planning code indicates that a municipality should look at their comprehensive plan every five to 10 years,” Winkle said. “So we want to look at it now.”
In the years since Vision 2020 was adopted, Middlesex has experienced significant population growth and development. Since 2000, Middlesex’s population has jumped from 5,586 to 7,088, growing at a rate of 21.2% — nearly double the population growth rate of Butler County as a whole at 11.8% and far more than that of the state of Pennsylvania at 5.3%.
Over that same time period, median household income has jumped from $49,743 to $79,737 — slightly higher than Butler County’s $77,065 and far higher than Pennsylvania’s $67,587. Public transit has also expanded in Middlesex with the addition of service from the Butler Transit Authority.
“A lot has changed,” Winkle said “A lot has happened since 2004.”
During the formation of the comprehensive plan, a steering committee will be formed, comprised of several “key members” of the community who will provide the direction and periodically review progress. If all goes according to plan, the initial draft of the comprehensive plan will appear before the township supervisors by the end of September.
Winkle is aiming for the comprehensive plan to be completed and adopted by the end of 2023. In the meantime, residents can leave comments until July 7 through the dedicated website for the comprehensive plan update.
