Jun 15, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough residents will have a chance to provide input on draft recommendations for the revision of the borough’s comprehensive plan, the development of which has been in the works for the last year and a half.

An open house will be held on the recommendations from 5 to 7 p.m. June 27 in Waynesburg University’s Benedum Dining Hall.

A steering committee formed to develop the plan is now nearing completion of its work.

“We’re actually just about ready to present a formal plan,” said borough Councilwoman Lynne Snyder, who serves on the steering committee. “We just need a little bit more public information.”

The steering committee is revising a plan last amended in the mid-1960s. The committee includes representatives of borough council, Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful, Waynesburg University and Greene County. The group has been assisted by Mackin Engineering, which was hired as a consultant.

A comprehensive plan will give the borough a blueprint for the future.

“It provides a broad vision of where we want to be 20 to 30 years down the road,” Snyder said.

The scope of work for the plan revision called for conducting background studies and needs analysis on issues regarding housing, recreation, parking, transportation, economic development and downtown land use.

It also called for conducting an analysis of what needs to be done to attract new business to the downtown area and for reviewing the borough’s current zoning ordinance.

“We really emphasized a discussion on the parking problem in Waynesburg and on how we can attract more business to the borough by trying to improve what we have and enhance it,” Snyder said.

The committee considered numerous recommendations for addressing various issues involving the focus of the plan and prioritized those recommendations, she said.

Several of the committee’s priorities include enhancing small business development, addressing the need for parking, promoting the borough and improving the “gateways” into the borough along Route 19, Route 21 and Route 218.

The committee wants public input, Snyder said.

The meeting is being held in an open house format to accommodate residents’ schedules. Those interested can stop during an open house to review the plan and provide input.

The work is being funded partly with a $45,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development. The borough also is to contribute $30,000 and the university $20,000 toward the plan’s development. Personnel from the county also are assisting in the effort.

“We are at the point now where we would like to gather input from the public regarding priority projects,” said council President Larry Marshall, also a steering committee member.

“We are encouraging everyone to come out to participate in planning the future of the borough,” he said.

For more information about the meeting or the plan, call Brandi Rosselli at Mackin Engineering at 412-788-0472 or email brosselli@mackinengineering.com; or call the borough at 724-627-8111 or email wbgboro@wbgboro.comcastbiz.net.