Wayne County Comprehensive Plan Update 2022-23

Watch the Video, Download the Presentation

WAYNE COUNTY – Work continues on the update of the County Comprehensive Plan and the public is still invited to share their thoughts and ideas about the future of Wayne County.

On June 8, the Wayne County Planning/GIS Department and the Wayne County Planning Commission hosted the last of three public meetings on the data gathered in support of the plan. The data was presented by Tom Shepstone of Shepstone Management along with Emily Wood and Nathan Ruckinger of Woodland Design Associates. The two firm are working together on the update,

For those who could not attend, a video of the presentation on May 30 at the Park Street Complex in Honesdale has been made available below, and you can download the presentation. Comments can be sent to CompPlan@waynecountypa.gov at any time during the process.

Planning Effort Leads to Enhancements in GIS Mapping

As a result of the Comprehensive Planning process, Wayne County residents, including many professionals in the community, now have access to more in depth information right at their fingertips. During the initial meeting with County officials, the consultants noted that there was a lot of useful, GIS data layers missing from the heavily used interactive Parcel & Address Map.

“This is a fantastic improvement and huge benefit to planners, developers, residents, visitors and anyone looking to make Wayne County their new home,” said Nathan Ruckinger, a landscape architect with Woodland Design.

The upgraded Parcel & Address Map, which can be accessed from the county’s webpage using the icon for the GIS Map, has added layers including soils, hydrological features and contour lines along with school districts, voting districts, polling locations, park and game lands as well as zoning, where applicable. The map already displayed information about ownership, acreage, address and assessed value.

The Recreation, Parks and Natural Resources Plan, completed in late 2022, constitutes one elementAn image of the Hawley section of the Cultural & Recreational Map. Links to map. of the overall Comprehensive Plan and led to another new GIS Map product, the Cultural and Recreation Opportunities Map.  As part of the Recreation Plan, consultants from Woodland Design Associates visited all of the 28 municipalities and collected GIS data for all of the parks and other outdoor recreational facilities and cultural assets.

The creation of this digital map was among the recommendations in the Plan, and The Wayne County Planning/GIS Department completed the work in house, thanks mostly to Jason Zarnowski and Cullen Smith, who plotted the locations and provided informational links highlighting the libraries, museums, excursions, hiking and other trails, golf courses and horseback riding as well as boat launches, campgrounds and other points of interest.

Wayne Tomorrow! immediately put this new map to good use as part of the Community Health & Wellness Summer Scavenger Hunt for Families, designed to get both residents and visitors out exploring the county through no-cost and low-cost activities, events and locations from June 13 to July 29. Participants can use the map to help them find the listed Selfie Locations and possibly discover