Official Map

The next in a string of recommendations to be implemented from the Township’s comprehensive plan Embrace Millcreek, the Official Map is a means to enhance Millcreek so that it continues to be a strong community where families want to live, work, and play.

 An Official Map is a land-use planning tool authorized by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. It is a way for Millcreek to comprehensively examine the Township and identify properties that could be beneficial for future public use. The map is a means for the Township’s intentions to be clearly stated so that property owners are fully aware if there is a potential future interest in their parcel. An Official Map is not a taking, and the only right it extends to the Township is that it gives Millcreek one year to negotiate with the owner after they give notification that they wish to develop their property.

The main goal of Millcreek’s implementation of an Official Map is to preserve green space for future generations. Most of the properties marked for potential acquisition are currently green space open to the public by their current owners. The Township is including these properties on the Official Map to have an opportunity to keep those spaces accessible by all in the future. The Millcreek Township School District is the property owner with the highest number of parcels identified on the map. If the District were to sell off any school buildings in the future, the Township could negotiate to keep public any existing playgrounds and fields, either as a Township park or through an public-use easement agreement.

 Areas in floodplains or near creeks and streams are also indicated on the Official Map. This is intended not to prevent development, but to seek buffers and conservation easements near sensitive or flood-prone areas so that any development that takes place nearby can benefit from existing greenspace while also protecting our important natural resources.

On March 23, 2021, the Board of Supervisors voted to forward the Official Map to the Planning Commission to begin the adoption process. This also was the start of a mandated 45-day public comment period. During the comment period two Planning Commission meetings were held where the Official Map was an agenda item – April 6^th and May 4^th. A Public Hearing on the Official Map in front of the Board of Supervisors was held on May 11th. At their regular meeting of May 25, 2021, the Supervisors adopted the Official Map.