Any such city may create by ordinance a commission on city planning, the members of which shall be appointed by the mayor. The commission may employ such engineers and other persons as may be provided for by ordinance of council. The city planning commission may make or cause to be made, and lay before the council, and, in its discretion, cause to be published, a map or maps of the city, or any portions thereof, and adjacent territory beyond the city limits, showing the streets and highways and other natural or artificial features, and also locations proposed by it for any new public building, civic center, street, parkway, boulevard, park, playground, or any other public ground or public improvement, or any widening, extension, or relocation of the same, or any change in the city plan by it deemed advisable. And it may make recommendations to the council concerning any such matters or things aforesaid for action by the council thereon, and in so doing have regard for the present conditions and future needs and growth of the city, and the distribution and relative location of all the principal and other streets, and railways, waterways, and all other means of public travel and business communications, as well as the distribution and relative location of all public buildings, public grounds, and open spaces devoted to public use, and the planning and laying out for urban uses of private grounds brought into the market from time to time. The city planning commission may make recommendations to any public authorities or any corporation or individuals in said cities with reference to the location of any buildings, structure, or works to be erected or constructed by them.
53 P.S. § 12129