To be able to plan and zone effectively, the Warren County Planning Commission needs to know why planning and zoning rules are in place.

Tuesday’s meeting focused on expanding the commission’s knowledge in that area.

“Planning and zoning are related but they’re different,” Zoning Officer Michael Lyon said.

Lyon explained that planning is “not law” but rather a blueprint based on a comprehensive plan.

“Planning plans for zoning,” he said. “Zoning enforces the plan.”

Zoning in Warren County is a pretty-unique state-wide animal.

Lyon said that just 12 of the state’s 67 counties have some sort of county-wide zoning regulations and that Warren and Adams counties are the only two that allow individual municipalities to request zoning coverage.

“Most of the unzoned are very rural,” he said, “sparsely populated, mostly agricultural use.”

Commission chair Paul Pascuzzi noted that Adams and Warren are similar with populated areas surrounded by a “lot of farmland outside of those areas.”

“Zoning alone can’t solve all the problems of a municipality,” Lyon stressed.

Zoning at the county level — the City of Warren and Youngsville handle zoning on their own — dates back to the 1960s.

“Back in the ’60s, Warren County saw the potential for a future of what Warren County would look like,” Pascuzzi said. “They were, as conservative people as we are, fearful that things were going to go out of whack” and instituted zoning in response.

“By the end of the ’60s,” he added, “nearly half of the county is zoned. Here we are in the year 2022, 60 years later, still half of the county is unzoned.

“One of the things our forefathers didn’t foresee — what happened to our area of rural Pennsylvania. They saw a growing population, which it was. I can see why they were a little concerned. It went the other direction. It was a slow spiral to where we’re at today.”