The CUYAHOGA COUNTY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION (RPC) was established in 1947 to offer advisory services to member communities and operate as a regional planning agency. Earlier efforts at regional planing were made by the Cleveland Metropolitan Planning Commission, formed in 1921; the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, appointed in 1924; and the Regional Association of Cleveland, a nonprofit citizens' organization. After World War II, the need for an areawide agency to address regional problems was met when the Cuyahoga County Regional Planning Commission was established by the county commissioners and 19 county municipalities in September 1947. The commission was made up of the three county commissioners, the county engineer, the county administrator, five citizen members appointed by the commissioners, two members from the Cleveland Planning Commission, and one member from each city and village wishing to participate. It set up two planning divisions, one for the entire region and one to help local communities in the county.
On the regional level, the RPC began preparing a regional building code that would coordinate with the revised Cleveland code, and made studies of sewer and water, highway, and transportation services. As an advisory group, the commission was often the only official body where problems, conflicts and inequities could be discussed and solutions offered. Local long-range planning was stimulated by the Federal Urban Planning Assistance program in 1959. Although the RPC had a staff of 24 in 1971, available money for planning projects decreased during the 1970s, and by 1983 the staff was reduced to 14. In 1989 the RPC was reorganized as the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, governed by an eleven person board comprised of the county commissioners and a representative from each of the county's eight planning regions (Cleveland; Chagrin/Southeast; Cuyahoga; Heights; Hillcrest; Southcentral; Southwest; Westshore). Unlike the RPC, the CCPC was not membership based. Most of its funding came from the state and Cuyahoga County.
Durham, Frank. Government in Greater Cleveland (1963).