Monessen develops plan for the future

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

What could the City of Monessen be like in 2030?

Over the past few years, the city’s comprehensive plan advisory committee has worked with residents, business owners and consultants to figure that out.

It’s a big question, and the work of figuring out those answers began when the committee started asking stakeholders in the community what means the most to them when they think of the future of the city.

The final plan was presented to city council and residents during a virtual meeting last week. People can review and offer comments on the plan until February, when it is up for formal adoption.

A lot of the committee’s work took place in the form of focus groups and community meetings where members asked the people who live and work in Monessen which issues a comprehensive plan should address.

“I applaud the work of the Monessen Planning Commission for making such a professional and straightforward presentation,” Mayor Matt Shorraw said. “The data in the plan speaks for itself.

“We’ve had so many levels of input on the plan … from community members, stakeholders, county and state officials, regional organizations, neighboring communities and Monessen officials — I think we have found a plan that everyone can unite around. I am very proud of it.”

There were a dozen main problems that were consistently discussed, including the city’s overwhelming blight, a shrinking tax base, a lack of jobs, failing infrastructure, illegal drugs, a lack of leadership and unity in city government, few entertainment options in town and a bad public perception of Monessen.

Using those discussions, the advisory committee narrowed the list to three goals for the 2030 Comprehensive Plan — revitalizing downtown, eliminating blight and building capacity for implementation.

The Monessen 2030 vision statement is “We will work together to revitalize our city. Our focus is the redevelopment of our downtown and offering safe neighborhoods through blight renewal.”

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