A voter-approved $10 million land preservation bond, a county housing rehabilitation program, and a comprehensive planning framework were among the topics that emerged Tuesday at a forum hosted by the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation.

The event, the third installment of CCEDC’s 2026 Economic Development Series, drew municipal officials, business professionals, and residents to hear from three regional planning and conservation experts. Titled “Mapping the Future: Planning, Land Use & Economic Development,” the program was held at Memorial Hall in Jim Thorpe.

“When a business or site selection inquiry comes to Carbon County, the question isn’t simply, ‘Do we have land available?’” said Kylie Adams-Weiss, senior vice president and executive director of the CCEDC. “Is it zoned appropriately? Is the infrastructure there? Is the municipality prepared or even interested in that type of development?”

“To the CCEDC, planning, preservation, and economic development are not competing priorities,” Adams-Weiss said. “They’re different pieces of the same puzzle.”

Bond dollars generating returns

Carbon County’s 2022 open space bond referendum, which authorized up to $10 million to preserve drinking water resources, working farms, wildlife habitat, and forested land, has generated more than double its investment so far, according to Anna Shigo, Carbon County’s open space coordinator.

“The county has invested $1.4 million of that $10 million into land preservation in the county, and that has allowed the county to preserve over 1,700 more acres in just the past two years,” Shigo said.

The referendum passed with 83% voter support — the highest approval rate in Pennsylvania history for that type of ballot question.

County Commissioner Michael Sofranko noted that despite the bond authorization, the county has not yet borrowed any money against it, drawing instead from parking fund revenues.

“When people say, ‘What are the benefits of the parking fund and where does that money go?’ — well, right there is $1.4 million,” Sofranko said.

“When you hear people coming into the area, they’re coming here because of the open space, because of the outdoor environment. So we’re taking the investment they’re making here to invest in what you wanted to preserve here.”

The Open Space Grant Program, which launched in October 2024, provides funding for municipalities and nonprofit land trusts to acquire conservation easements or purchase properties outright. Grant rounds close March 31 and Sept. 30 each year. The county can fund up to 50% of a property’s appraised value, and individual landowners may work with a municipality or land trust to seek funding on their behalf.

Carbon County’s farmland preservation program, operating since 1991, has permanently protected 30 farms totaling approximately 2,300 acres, with six more underway. Pennsylvania leads the nation in preserved farmland, with more than 650,000 acres statewide, Shigo said.

Dawn Gorman, director of land preservation for Wildlands Conservancy, said the organization has protected more than 55,000 acres historically, including 9,800 within Carbon County. She cautioned that conservation projects move slowly.

“If we’re going to the state for grant funding this year, we’re not even going to be able to really close on the property for another year or two,” Gorman said. “We can only deal with willing landowners.”

Roadmap, not a mandate

David Bodnar, director of planning and development for Carbon County, outlined the county’s 2025 comprehensive plan while emphasizing that the county exercises no countywide zoning authority.

“It’s all at the municipal level, so municipalities control how they want their community to look,” Bodnar said. “The comprehensive plan is just a roadmap to help them see what they want to do in their community.”

He encouraged municipal officials to update their regional plans, most of which are 20 to 30 years old, and stressed that current planning documents are often a prerequisite for grant funding.

The county’s planning office also oversees the federal Community Development Block Grant program, which funds infrastructure improvements in low- to moderate-income areas.

Up to $23,000 per home

A county housing rehabilitation program drew significant interest from attendees, several of whom said they had been unaware of it.

The program provides up to $23,000 to low- and moderate-income homeowners — those earning up to approximately $48,000 annually as a single-person household — for repairs including furnaces, roofs, siding, windows, and wheelchair ramps.

It applies only to owner-occupied primary residences. The program operates alongside the state-backed Whole-Home Repairs Program, which offers up to $50,000 for more extensive projects.

Aggie Schoenberger of Castle Gate Realty said the program could help vulnerable homeowners avoid having to sell.

“The majority of the population of Carbon is elderly,” Schoenberger said. “As Realtors, we often see — especially the elderly — they have to sell their home because they can no longer afford to fix their home. It breaks your heart.”

Sofranko said the program has become more accessible after the county reduced the application from 14 pages to a page and a half, drawing more contractors into the process.

The county also operates a newer blight demolition program that helps municipalities fund the teardown of condemned structures, without requiring municipal ownership of the property.

What’s next

John McGuire, a Jim Thorpe Planning Commission member, raised the issue of emergency vehicle access in historic borough downtowns during a question-and-answer session.

“These towns were built for a horse and buggy,” McGuire said. “If something happened around the Opera House, how do we get all our fire people there? Broadway is jammed up, and every building in these old towns were built in the 1850s, ‘60s, ‘80s — they’re matchsticks.”

Bodnar said the concern warranted follow-up.

Panelists also fielded questions about balancing growth with conservation, with Shigo arguing that infill development is the smarter path.

“I think it is really important that we focus on growth where we already have established lands — where we already have boroughs and parking and everything already established — rather than taking down trees and putting up more concrete when we have rundown warehouses in different areas of the county,” Shigo said.

The CCEDC’s 2026 Economic Development Series concludes Nov. 3 with “Understanding Pennsylvania’s Growth Strategy with Business PA,” featuring Alicia Miller Karner, director of the Lehigh Valley Regional Office for Business PA. Registration is available at the CCEDC website.