Pennsylvania
Act 537 Official Plan Aging

Pennsylvania Municipalities

9/13/05

To view an expanded regional map with 
a table listing municipalities and their corresponding Plan age ...
Click in the center of the Region on the map above, or
click on the Region name below.

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For More Information:
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The Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537) requires that all Commonwealth municipalities develop and implement comprehensive official plans that provide for the resolution of existing sewage disposal problems, provide for the future sewage disposal needs of new land development and provide for the future sewage disposal needs of the municipality. These municipal plans are known by various names, such as, "Act 537 Official Plan," "Official Plan," "Base Plan" or simply "Act 537 Plan." Regardless of the name used, in general, these plans address whole municipalities or groups of municipalities working together. When a municipality adopts a plan, the plan is submitted for review and approval by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). By regulation, the planning process is not final until an Act 537 Plan has been approved by DEP. Act 537 planning has been a municipal requirement since July 1, 1967. Legally, all municipalities have an Act 537 Plan, however, some plans are newer and more detailed than others.

Act 537 Official Plan aging maps and related data provided here represent a tabulation of "Official Plans" from across the Commonwealth and are color coded by the relative age of the plans. The maps displayed here are updated periodically and the date of the most recent update is provided.

For greater detail, tables follow each sectional map providing an alphabetical listing of the municipalities in that portion of the Commonwealth, the county in which that municipality is located, as well as, the most recent plan approval date (DEP Approval), and finally the relative age of the plan.

Because of the age of the Act 537 program (30+ years), plan approval dates used to compile these maps and tables originates from a variety of sources. Dates are selected by the following criteria. Dates of DEP approval letters are considered the most definitive. Data published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin may be used for approximate new dates of DEP approval until copies of approval letters can be verified. In lieu of better documentation, planning grants award dates are used, if the award is after January 1, 1987. (Earlier grants were made prior to planning approval, therefore grant information prior to January 1, 1987, is only an indication that a sewage facilities planning grant was made.) While all municipalities have Act 537 plans, supporting records have not been retained in all cases. Due to this, dates earlier than January 1, 1987 may be based on the approval dates of countywide Act 537 plans. Where definitive documentation has been discarded from file, lost or destroyed, approval dates for plans may also be estimated. An approval date "No data" notation indicates that data available did not support assignment of a date using the criteria from above

While this mapping is updated using multiple sources within DEP, if information presented here is in error, municipalities are invited submit corrected data. A copy of an approval letter for an Act 537 plan, update revision or special study from DEP, or its predecessors may be submitted to the DEP, Division of Planning and Permits, RCSOB-11th Floor, P.O. Box 8774, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8774.

To contact the division by phone, call (717)-783-2290; email comment to John McHale at jomchale@state.pa.us.

To find other information related to sewage facilities planning and Official Plans adopted as required by the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, please visit the following pages:

DEP Local Government Help Center
DEP Office of Water Management
DEP Division of Planning and Permits

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