Chester County’s population growth boom, which is expected to add close to 150,000 residents over the next three decades, could clash with the region’s plan to keep increasing the amount of preserved open space, writes Michaelle Bond for Philly.com.

To try and mitigate the issue, county officials started working on a two-year planning process to determine how to manage such significant population growth last week.

The strategy includes continuing to focus new developments toward areas that are already well-populated, such as Phoenixville Borough. This idea is supported by Tom Daniels, professor of city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

“If they don’t pursue a policy of more compact and concentrated development, they’re really going to sprawl all over the place,” he said.

That would not be good for the county which has made amazing progress in preserving open space. It has grown from 8 percent before county officials adopted their comprehensive plan twenty years ago, to nearly 27 percent of the county’s total acreage, or 129,800 acres, today.

A good example of the difficulties facing County officials is Phoenixville, which is expected to soon add 2,900 additional housing units with the borough.

“That means there’s not 2,900 more housing units in the areas where open space is,” said E. Jean Krack, the borough manager. “If you magnify that by 15 boroughs and the city of Coatesville, that’s a huge impact.”

Read more about this issue at Philly.com here.