New POST Records Reach Milestone in Chester County

Posted June 3, 2022

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The Chester County Planning Commission has collected information on the amount of open space protected in Chester County each year since 2000. This year, we are excited to report that the county has reached a new milestone of 30.2%, or 147,000 total acres, of preserved land!

According to the Protected Open Space Tracking, or POST, as of December 31 2021, an estimated 2,930 acres of open space were protected in 2021. The increase in open space was the largest increase since 2018, however, many of the parcels protected in 2021 represent 2020 initiatives that had to be delayed due to the pandemic.

Additionally, county-funded Agricultural Conservation Easements accounted for 1,424 acres of protected open space in 2021, while land trusts preserved 105 acres in-fee and 1,139 acres through conservation easements, and homeowner associations (HOAs) protected over 380 acres.

A map can of the 2021 POST information can be found on the Planning Commission's website.