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City’s view starting to come into view

A strategic plan for how to move forward with development in downtown Warren, including several properties owned by the city, is starting to come into view.

A joint effort of the city’s Planning Commission and Redevelopment Authority, an agreement was approved last year with CT Consultants for the study.

City Planner David Hildebrand provided an update to the RDA on Thursday morning.

He said that the consultants initially came to Warren about a month ago and met with 19 people – individuals and business people all affiliated with the downtown – formed into a steering committee and “reviewed some ideas for the downtown which went pretty well.”

Hildebrand said that the next step includes a total of four sessions in February.

The first is a meeting of the steering committee on the evening of February 6 followed by two focus groups on February 7 – one in the morning focused on business attraction and retention and one in the afternoon that will focus on the historic preservation of downtown.

The final session, which will be open to the public, is set for February 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Warren Public Library’s Slater Room where the steering committee and focus groups “will go further with different ideas and plans for the downtown.”

“I think it’s a good start,” he remarked. “(I) think it’s making some good progress.” The consulting firm has asked Hildebrand to assemble information in a couple of areas – the original downtown facade program that focused on Liberty St., Second Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave., as well as “some of the success of the Impact Warren project.”

Impact Warren, a project which brought new construction on the 300 block of Liberty St., as well as the townhouses that front the Allegheny River, surely doesn’t have a sterling reputation.

“A lot of people have different opinions,” Hildebrand said, but pointed to the Liberty West building and Allegheny Point, as well as the parking garage, as some of the success.

“We realize not everything worked out as it started,” Hildebrand said, but said that they want “to build off that, that the positives and build from there.”

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