Forward Township looks forward.

At least, that's the plan as the township will host a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the municipal building on Route 68 for residents to provide input as to what they see as Forward's future.

Supervisor Mark Wilson said the meeting will provide important context to township officials as they work to complete a new comprehensive plan for Forward. He described the update to the plan as “very important because the township is rapidly changing.”

“The first step is, as we're looking at a comprehensive plan and we see the change is already coming, let's get everyone on board and give them an opportunity to give us some feedback and observations,” Wilson said. “Maybe they even have a vision of what they would like to see, where the township should be going in the next five to 10 years.”

Current changes

The township, Wilson said, has already seen what the future can bring.

“Forward Township, like most of southwestern Butler County, is in the midst of some pretty big growth,” he said. “I see, in the next five to 10 years, there will be a substantial amount of growth.”

Along with the population changes comes the change in the types of housing, amount of traffic and backgrounds of residents.

“For a long time, the township was pretty much a stable community, in terms of there wasn't much movement and it was largely rural and farms,” Wilson said. “Now, especially within the past five or 10 years, you're starting to see that change. There are now planned residential developments in the township that were never here before, there are plans to build such developments within the township. We're seeing people come in who are younger, and in some cases we're also seeing senior citizens who are downsizing.”

Wilson said there's a clear reason people are moving to Forward, which experienced a 25% population growth from 2010 to 2020 with 633 new residents: “They're searching for a more rural, less complicated life and, right now, we're it.”

Forward vision

Wilson said Forward has a few benefits in its current position. First, people want to move there because of the township's pastoral feel. Second, they've seen the growing pains that can be felt with rapid population shifts in nearby communities.

“People who have been here for a long time are somewhat apprehensive, some might even say fearful, of the changes,” Wilson said. “They've seen what's happened in Cranberry and Monroeville and those types of places, and they're not interested in that type of growth.”

That's why, he said, it's important that residents provide their input. While a committee of residents has already given their input to supervisors, Wilson said it's integral to the process to have an opportunity for all residents to do so.

“One of the biggest problems you can have in planning is, if you don't have information, you don't have feedback, you don't have guidance from those you serve.

“It's difficult to come up with a plan that's going to be the best for everyone concerned,” he said.

Wilson said he understands some residents may not want growth at all. But, he said, it's fruitless to continue planning as if the population boon in southwestern Butler won't affect Forward.

“There's always apprehension when you have change, but at the same time there's the realization that change is coming,” he said. “The best way to deal with change is to prepare for it.”