Municipal Planning Grant Program

NOTICE OF FUNDING AVAILABILITY FOR ERIE COUNTY MUNICPALITIES 

Erie County Municipal Planning Grant Program 

Submission Deadline is May 15

Overview 

The Erie County Department of Environment and Planning is announcing the availability of a total $250,000 in County funding for municipalities from the Municipal Planning Grant Program for the purpose of creating and updating community and economic development planning documents.  

Funding is competitive. The willingness of the municipality to provide matching funds will increase the likelihood of being funded.  

Applications are limited to municipalities in Erie County. Projects should be ready to start within one year and be completed within two years from the contract date. 

Eligibility and Intent 

Cities, towns, and villages, and related entities in Erie County are eligible to apply. 

Eligible planning documents developed with these funds may include the following:  

• New or Updated Comprehensive Plans. 

• New or Updated Zoning Ordinances.  

• Site Development Feasibility Studies, Technical Planning Studies, Feasibility Studies, including those related to the reuse and redevelopment of sites of community importance, including predominantly vacant sites or buildings with existing infrastructure, such as retail plazas, malls, and office buildings with high vacancy.
• Economic and Community Development Plans, including those intended to increase the economic viability and vitality of communities and neighborhoods, including those related to downtown revitalization planning, transportation planning related, housing studies, and placemaking. 

• New or Updated Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plans 

• Implementing Recommendations of Existing Plans 

Revisions to comprehensive plans and zoning codes should address the following as applicable within the context of a comprehensive plan or zoning code update. The recommendations of independent studies should identify specific comprehensive plan and zoning updates to address the issues and revisions should be completed as part of the project. The following should be considered as applicable to each municipality:  

• Agriculture and Planning for Food
  • Farmland protection and development pressure
  • Healthy food access planning
  • Zoning amendments to zone for agriculture
  • Farm-friendly renewable energy siting
  • Planning for urban agriculture and community gardens 

• Housing Affordability
  • Zoning amendments to reduce impediments to affordable housing in areas with existing infrastructure:
    • Increasing density- increased density allowance for affordable housing
    • Lowering parking requirements for affordable housing
    • Removal of zoning impediments to multi-family developments
    • Adjusting zoning to allow accessory dwelling units
    • Review of existing community building stock for adaptability for residential  

• Economic Development
  • Reimagining underutilized and predominantly vacant sites with existing infrastructure, including retail plazas, strip malls, malls, and office parks
  • Advancing light industrial sites with utilities including the identification of capital improvements and integration of sites within comprehensive plans and zoning amendments to improve marketability
  • Identification of new industrial zoned land with utilities 

• Urban Center/Downtown Revitalization
  • Downtown revitalization planning
  • Placemaking
  • Walkability improvements
  • Parking
    • Right-sizing parking requirements to create additional developable area to expand the tax base
    • Shared parking planning
    • Parking requirements relief mechanisms- integration of parking waivers within the zoning code
    • Instituting parking maximums
  • Transportation corridor and Complete Streets initiatives
• Climate resilience and environmental planning
  • Updating zoning to protect sensitive environmental sensitive areas (e.g., floodplains, aquafers, stream corridors, wetlands, wildlife corridors)
  • Increasing zoning requirements for green infrastructure as part of site developments
  • Identification of infrastructure needs related to climate change, including capital planning to identify municipal assets which will need to upgraded or replaced to address extreme weather events