Times Observer file photo City of Warren map of different areas of development in the riverfront project.

Warren officials have submitted a $1 million grant to the Appalachian Regional Commission they hope will be the final piece of funding for the first phase of Allegheny Riverfront development.

The first phase of the project is the installation of a boat ramp to allow easy ingress/egress to the Allegheny River. In addition, there will be a stairway and floating dock to facilitate boater and pedestrian access.

Chad Yurisic, city engineer, replied to a question from Mayor Dave Wortman and said the city has reached what Yurisic termed the third hurdle for the initial phase of the project.

“This isn’t just a total shot in the dark,” Yurisic said. “We think we’re getting closer. The problem is it’s also tied into the federal budget – well, the federal budget with the Congress is not working or the government has shut down.”

“That’s good, (it’s) great news,” Wortman said. “I know that persistence pays off, hopefully in this case. We’ve been working at this one for a while.”

Yurisic said JPI is conducting a final review of the boat launch plans and will submit them to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission within the next six weeks or so. That will close out JPI’s grant-funded design portion of the boat launch project.

Possibly securing final funding for the first phase of the project led to a discussion of the next phases of the project.

Area 2 will focus on the area known as Breezepoint Landing. The existing gazebo and restroom may be removed to allow for construction of a more user-friendly restroom and to provide space for additional amenities that will complement the boat ramp and dock as well as increase activity in the city’s downtown area.

Area 3 will focus on development of a walking trail which will extend eastward from the existing walkway along the Allegheny Riverfront. Area 4 will focus on development of City-owned property which is adjacent to the eastern end of the Transit Authority of Warren County (TAWC) facility.

Those are broad-brush ideas. Councilwoman Wendy McCain asked what happens once the first phase of the riverfront project goes out to bid.

“Area two, three and four, based on the input that we have gotten from the last public meetings, there will be probably in the November meeting decisions on firms that we are going to employ to do the renderings of what those areas might look like based on what we’ve gotten in terms of feedback from the public,” Wortman said. “No decisions (have been) made. However, you know, this is what it could be.”

Wortman said the renderings will help the city have conversations in terms of funding the next three phases of the riverfront development project. McCain asked if the companies will be bidding to create a master plan for the rest of the riverfront, with Wortman saying it’s not necessarily a master plan because city officials and area residents will control what goes into the final riverfront plan.

“They would be basically taking the ideas that we have generated so far and professionally depict what that would look like,” Wortman said. “That would then generate additional discussions in terms of, ‘Well, this organization would be very interested in area two,’ for instance. … Those firms are just firms to do that so that we can take those ideas back to the public and say this is what it would look like. This is how it would lay out. These are ideas, your ideas, and what it would look like. And then we can, from that,make final decisions on what that riverfront development project in total is going to look like.”

McCain said she wanted to make sure the four phases of the riverfront project fit together rather than being put together haphazardly as well as making sure that there is a bridge from the riverfront to downtown Warren.

“That’s the intent,” Wortman said. “The big difference is being able to take a look at it from a holistic perspective. This is what it could look like.”