Uniontown holds hearing on comprehensive plan
Uniontown is nearing an update to the city’s comprehensive plan.
The city held a public hearing on a draft of the plan following Thursday night’s regular council meeting.
Although updates are recommended every 10 years, it’s been 20 since the last update, said city Solicitor Tim Witt.
The plan includes recommendations for land use, housing, infrastructure and other areas.
Parts of the plan looked at ways to develop the Sheepskin Trail throughout the city and promote it by coordinating events such as community bike rides and incorporating the trail into downtown events.
To encourage economic growth in downtown, the plan also suggested amending the city’s zoning ordinance to allow mixed-use development in the downtown, which they said could help lessen traffic and revitalize the corridor of Main and Fayette streets.
Combatting blight was another key part of the plan. It includes a variety of sticks (adopting the International Property Maintenance Code, adopting a ticketing ordinance for quality-of-life violations) and carrots (a program that freezes property taxes for homeowners who make improvements that add value to their property).
In the brief public hearing Thursday, two members of the Fayette Trail Coalition gave a thumbs-up to the plan.
Eric Snyder said he liked the idea of adding a city planner. It’s led to improvements elsewhere, he said, pointing to the Fairmont, W.Va., planner’s role in opening up funding for trail connections there.
“Having that spearhead to kind of drive things home is, in my opinion, a big linchpin of this plan,” Snyder said.
The city is developing its Strategic Management Planning Program, which is looking at the functions of city government. Councilman John Schoener said he and other council members are fans of implementing a city manager, who would handle an administrative role in the city.
“I don’t know that we can pull off a city planner and a city manager,” he said. “I think it’ll have to be combined.”
Bill Talkington appreciated the repeated focus on completing trails in the city and the impact it could have on tourism and economic development.
He also appreciated the goal of building up new housing on underdeveloped lots. One proposal in the plan would amend the zoning ordinance to make it easier to create infill development in residential areas, which currently requires a variance hearing.
Another feature that caught his attention was formalizing reduced setbacks for houses.
“One thing that I appreciate about Uniontown and the legacy communities in the commonwealth are the street feel of small setbacks, versus where I live back in one of the surrounding townships where the setbacks are 50 to 60 feet or so,” he said.
Seven public meetings were held in each of the city’s neighborhoods last year. Discussions also included the city planning commission, city redevelopment authority, Downtown Business District Authority and Fayette County Chamber of Commerce.
Witt said depending on when the final draft of the plan is finished, it will come to the council for approval at either its September or October meeting.