Planning Maps & Resources
The following maps and resources serve as points of reference for anyone interested in past and current plans for the City of Lancaster’s urban development. Some of these links can be opened in a GIS system and are updated regularly.
Maps
The City of Lancaster’s Subdivision and Land Development Approvals Viewer is a public resource meant to help community members and stakeholders learn more about land development and subdivision projects both in their own neighborhoods and throughout the rest of Lancaster City. The viewer provides information about actions taken administratively by City Staff and actions taken by the City Planning Commission related to the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, including: minor plans, preliminary plans, final plans, ordinance modifications, waivers of land development, denials, and time extensions, among others. Updates to the viewer will be made approximately once every other month. Site plans can be viewed for all applications that required one to be submitted and recorded with the County’s Recorder of Deeds.
The City of Lancaster’s Zoning Viewer is a public resource meant to help community members and stakeholders visualize the city’s zoning districts. This map is intended for general reference purposes only. It is not a legally recorded plan, survey, or engineering schematic and should not be used as such. Please contact appropriate city staff using the City Directory for more information before making decisions based on information in this map.
The City of Lancaster’s Historic Districts Viewer is a public resource meant to help community members and stakeholders visualize the city’s Historical Conservation and Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) districts. This map is intended for general reference purposes only. It is not a legally recorded plan, survey, or engineering schematic and should not be used as such. Please contact appropriate city staff using the City Directory for more information before making decisions based on information in this map.
This map shows the zoning districts assigned to land across the City. It was last updated in August of 2013. Please contact the Zoning Officer directly for final confirmation of zoning issues on a case-by-case basis rather than relying on this map.
This map shows the historic districts in the City. Please contact the Historic Preservation Specialist directly for questions regarding this map.
This map visualizes the city’s unofficial list of neighborhoods. It was last updated in 2017, and the boundary lines shown are not official.
Supplemental Resources
The 1929 Comprehensive Plan includes data analysis and policies that guided the City’s development in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. This document also contains impressive maps from that period.
The 1945 Comprehensive Plan includes data analysis and policies that guided the City’s development in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. This document also contains charts, graphs and maps used during that period.
The PA Municipalities Planning Code is the legal document that serves as the basis for the City’s planning policies and activities. This document consists of twelve articles covering subdivision and land development, zoning, and a variety of other planning spheres.
In 2016, the Mayor’s Commission to Combat Poverty published their Strategic Plan to Cut Poverty in Half in Lancaster City by 2032. The Commission was charged with producing a final action plan of recommendations to overcome poverty based on 14 months of research, public meetings, expert testimony, community conversations, surveys and resident interviews.
Lancaster Public Art’s Strategic Plan covers 2017-2027. The Plan’s vision is to “focus on equity, livability, and excellence to promote neighborhood connectivity, create meaningful collaborations, and magnify Lancaster’s distinct sense of place.” The document outlines strategies to position Lancaster as a city distinguished by public artworks and engaged communities.
This guidebook, published by the Lancaster County Planning Commission in 2015, provides guidance to the municipalities in Lancaster County for adopting a Complete Streets policy and program. The guidelines demonstrate how a range of travel modes can be balanced within an existing right-of-way.
This study, published in 2015, outlines strategies for improving quality of life and safety in Lancaster City by improving walkability in the downtown region. Speck & Associates, a globally-recognized and awarded firm, provide inspiration for making walking in Lancaster safer, more useful, more comfortable and more interesting.
Lancaster City, the Lancaster County Planning Commission and the Lancaster Inter-Municipal Committee published the Active Transportation Plan in April of 2019. The Plan outlines the existing conditions of active transportation in the County, a vision for a higher degree of active transportation infrastructure, and an implementation framework including site-specific plans for greenway development.
This document is a brief summary of the most salient findings of a 2013 analysis of Lancaster County’s housing market. Study findings, summarized here at the county level, raise provocative questions concerning appropriate techniques for meeting the overall objective of providing greater housing affordability and diversity throughout the county, many of which can only be implemented at the municipal level.
