Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER
Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rhonda Kelley, Mifflin County Commissioner Rob Postal, Juniata Terrace Mayor John Wagner and Mifflin County Planning Director James Lettiere discuss Mifflin County’s comprehensive plan.

LEWISTOWN — Community members were welcomed at the Mifflin County Middle School Wednesday to discuss the county’s plan for progress over the next 10 years.

The Mifflin County Planning Committee, joined by Michael Baker International, the county’s Comprehensive Plan consultant, displayed information the project team gathered through data research and public engagement and they shared their insight as well as shared their concerns about the draft elements of the final plan.

The purpose of this open house was to engage with the public to learn more about the development of the County Comprehensive Plan titled “Mifflin County 2035: A Decade of Progress.”

The plan is a long range visioning document required by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Code, helping the community manage short and long term land use changes, plans for future investments in parks and recreational amenities and identify needed improvements for public infrastructure such as roads, public water and sewer availability, broadband connectivity, local policies, shaping budgets and partnering with municipalities and non-profit organizations.

The vision statement for the plan is: “Mifflin County will be a place known for its preserved history and rural character, its outdoor recreation, healthy communities and vibrant economy achieved through collaboration.”

There were numerous workstations which included the plan development timeline, the introduction of the comprehensive plan, future character areas maps, the public survey results, critical issues and plan goals and action strategies.

Participants had the opportunity to rank their top five priorities from a list of 19 action strategies. The number one priority from the ranking is “to coordinate resources through a County Redevelopment Authority to address blight and encourage residential and commercial development in existing developed areas”.

The second priority is “to work with municipalities to explore opportunities to share the costs of providing basic services at a regional level”.

“The next steps are to hold a final Planning Advisory Committee meeting, develop the draft plan, conduct a public hearing with the Mifflin County Planning Commission and have the county commissioners adopt the plan through a Resolution in the fall of 2025,” said James Lettiere, planning director.

Materials regarding the plan will be available through Mifflin County’s website in the next several weeks.

Lettiere said public input throughout the planning process is crucial and ensures that the plan is successful and takes care of the needs of all residents within our community.

“A fundamental principle of this plan is to help us work together across governments, private businesses, and non-prs to protect what makes Mifflin County a special place to live while addressues impacting quality of life,” said Lettiere.

“Public input received will help to inform the final plan recommendations and advance future investments and collaboration on trails, parks, roads, and economic development in our communities,” added Lettiere.

The open house received a great turn out with faces like Rhonda Kelley of the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce and Mifflin County Commissioner Rob Postal, Mayor of the Juniata Terrace John Wagner as well as the entire planning department to answer questions about the plan.

During the commission’s last planning meeting, Steve Thomas, project manager for transportation of Michael Baker International joined them to go over key points he discovered during the last public engagement.

He highlighted that while the county has a lot of resources, it lacks public transportation to get to those resources.

The five main issues that the survey, focus groups and interviews seemed to have in common were that the community is lacking sufficient funding, housing is out of reach, the transportation network does not work for everyone, natural resources are not accessible to everyone, and entrepreneurs need more support.