A decade in the making, a joint zoning code has been delivered to officials in Bellevue, Avalon and Ben Avon.

Adopted in the fall by the governing bodies of the three communities, the code is an offshoot of the Tri Borough Comprehensive Plan, an effort by the towns to create a unified vision of what the communities should look like.

The comprehensive plan and shared zoning code are rare examples of intergovernmental cooperation in Pennsylvania, officials said.

The joint zoning code was the work of the Tri Borough Joint Planning Commission, which serves as the planning committee for all three towns. The nine-member commission is made up of three members from each of the boroughs and meets once a month.

Bellevue adopted the joint code in July, and Avalon and Ben Avon approved it in August. Plan development was paid for with a combination of local and state funding. Each community kicked in $15,000, the state Department of Community and Economic Development provided $45,000 and the Local Government Academy contributed another $21,000.

The legislation's long-term impact is unclear, but its aims aren't. Officials expect the new code to help attract businesses and residents to the corridor.

Some officials said benefits are already being seen. A shared sense of community seems to have developed among residents and cooperation is becoming the rule.

"Having a common touchstone has worked very well," said Avalon manager Harry Dilmore.

The Tri Borough Comprehensive Plan started in 1999, when Ben Avon officials approached their counterparts in Avalon about working together on a joint comprehensive plan. When leaders of the three boroughs first met on the subject, name recognition was low, Mr. Dilmore said.

"I don't think there were six of these council members who knew each other," he said.

When the process of forming a joint comprehensive plan began a decade ago, a level of antagonism existed among some in the communities, said Ben Avon resident Scott Keener, a member of the commission. "Almost any suggestion of working together was met by friction. That's not so anymore," he said.

"The three boroughs working together on a comprehensive plan and zoning helps to control development, like on Route 65, for example," said Tom Michalow, a former Avalon councilman who helped work on the plan.

"It makes it easier for businesses to move into the Route 65 area. It recognizes that people in Ben Avon shop in Bellevue and that there are bars in Avalon. ... Everything has its place."

Areas of the communities that currently are occupied by apartment buildings will stay dedicated to that use, while single-family areas will remain dedicated to single-family use, Mr. Michalow said.

The change in perspective of some residents led to the creation of a local redevelopment group, Bellevue Initiative for Growth, which is an offshoot of the comprehensive planning group, Mr. Dilmore said.

Because of the attitude engendered by working on the joint comprehensive plan, people from all three boroughs -- and some from communities outside the tri-borough area -- are trying to help with redevelopment of Bellevue's main street, Lincoln Avenue. Bellevue Initiative for Growth is working with the county-sponsored Allegheny Together revitalization program to redevelop the business district.

Kathleen Coder, president of Bellevue council, recently attended a meeting of the Pennsylvania Association for Boroughs, where a session addressing comprehensive plans was held, she said. She came away with the impression that the three boroughs are more proactive than others.

"Intergovernmental cooperation is the wave of the future," Ms. Coder said. "We've seen people from other communities support [Bellevue Initiative for Growth] and Allegheny Together ... Because we did the comprehensive plan, everybody's pulling for everybody."

Bellevue Councilwoman Linda Woshner, a 33-year-resident of the borough, said the comprehensive plan and shared zoning are a good start. "Hopefully this will lead to shared services," she said.

Some cooperation among the boroughs already is happening, such as reciprocal agreements for emergency assistance, Ms. Woshner said. "It's a good first step. ... Small boroughs aren't going to survive unless they work together," she said.

Other joint efforts are beginning. Ben Avon recently cooperated with Avalon by doing its required sewer system upgrades concurrently, Mr. Keener said.

More communities could be joining the tri-borough plan.

John Sebastian Valois became a new supervisor in Kilbuck in January and immediately began to think about the community's plans for the future, he said. When he learned of the Tri Borough Comprehensive Plan, he spoke with Mr. Dilmore about the possibility of Kilbuck joining it.

"These days all public officials need to be extra careful with the public's money," Mr. Valois said. "You do that by coming up with a comprehensive plan. Those [monetary] decisions need to fit with what we see the township being 10 to 20 years down the road."

While part of the idea of the shared zoning is to curtail undesirable forms of redevelopment, encouraging businesses that fit into the zoning of the community is also important, Mr. Dilmore said.

"One of the things we wanted to do was to stop the transformation of these old homes into apartments," Mr. Dilmore said. "We wanted to make it so in the future we could offer tax incentive programs for folks who fix up these homes."

Ms. Woshner said the days of small communities operating with complete independence of each other need to end.

"We are three small boroughs and we can't grow from new construction. That's why the [shared] code works so well," Ms. Woshner said. "I'd like to see development on the Ohio riverside."

An interest in cultivating development opportunities on Route 65 is a common desire of North Boroughs leaders, Ms. Coder said. "It links us all together," she said.

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