Hellertown Awarded Sustainable Planning Assistance

Sustainable planning efforts in Hellertown received a huge boost Monday, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the borough had been chosen to participate in its Sustainable Communities Building Blocks program.

The 32 communities chosen to participate in the new program will be invited to a day-long planning session with private sector experts, where they will receive technical assistance designed to help them execute their sustainable planning goals.

At the session, "they will also learn about additional environmentally responsible, economically healthy development techniques and general sustainable community strategies," according to a news release issued by the EPA's Region Three Office of Public Affairs in Philadelphia.

Examples of sustainable planning include zoning code reviews, fiscal and economic health assessments, and walkability assessments.

The program will "give communities new and proven tools to maximize the health and economic benefits of brownfields revitalization," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a statement. 

It represents "another great example of how a targeted investment in protecting public health can create jobs and strengthen the economic future of our communities," she added.

According to the news release, the 32 communities chosen to participate in the Sustainable Communities Building Blocks program were selected from a pool of 354 applicants through a competitive process, and in consultation with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The only other Pennsylvania community chosen to participate in the program is Jersey Shore, a borough of fewer than 5,000 people in Lycoming County.

Other communities chosen to participate from around the nation include St. Louis, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Shelburne, Vt.; Portland, Me.; and Bemidji, Minn.