Zoning Hearing Board - Regular Meeting

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Heat. Heat. call the meeting uh to order. Uh welcome to today's planning commission meeting. Um Cooper, you want to start with a call to order and roll call? Sure. Um, chair Rich Spiker here. Vice Chair Colin Russ

here. Commissioner Carl Anderson, Commissioner Jason Woric here, and Commissioner Douglas Bazari here, director Jaclyn Spry is here, and assistant man secretary Kmore. Okay. Um, first order of business is approval of the minutes from the meeting of uh, Tuesday, November 18th. Um, so we have a motion for approval. Motion to approve. Second. Second. A motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I.

Move on to Is there any public comment or correspondence? public office.

Okay, thank you. Item three, Salvo website, old business. Yes, this is just an update um to say that the the new Salo page on our website is probably 98% completed. I think we have a couple of tweaks. Um but we've uploaded all of the information about the amendments as well as the original ordinance. We've made flowcharts and diagrams and we have some frequently asked questions um and we're hoping that that will be a resource to provide clarity um both on the city side and the developer side and we encourage you to look at that at your own convenience.

All right, thank you very much. Uh item five, new business uh subdivision and land development. The first item is Bay View Heights Preliminary Land Development.

Yes. Um I believe Steve, if that's if you're going to do a presentation, Cooper, can you hear me? This is Steve. Yes. Do you guys have a drawing on the screen or do you like me to share a drawing or how? Um I do. I will share. Would you like just the kind of one page development plan? Fine. Okay. Yep. Sounds good.

All right. Can you see that?

I can see that. So, in front of you guys today is the land development plan for the Bay View Heights development. uh is very similar to the project that you've seen go through the waterfront conditional uh process. We've now further detailed out uh as you can see there in kind of the center of the screen the storm water management system that's beneath the parking. Uh there's some conveyance connected to the various units. uh and it'll it's an infiltrations type system and it reconnects back into the city's uh MS4 storm system uh along Third Street. Uh there's various units throughout uh the town houses, the multifamily, the the duplexes, the forplexes, all that really hasn't changed from the original uh information that you were provided in the early on process. Uh the only things now that have been added really are the storm, the sanitary, and the water connections. Uh so if there's any other questions you guys may have with regards to the development, I'm happy to answer those. We've met the the zoning requirements for parking. Uh we have some trees and screening provided. Uh set of engineering plans have been submitted to city engineering for review and comment and we have not received any comments back yet. And I'm happy to answer any other questions that uh you guys may have.

So Cooper, is our action today to approve? Yes, this would be approval for the preliminary plan. Um and then they would submit the final plan for a future meeting. Uh but I can also say that the city's reviews um have been completed and were satisfactory. Any comments for changes between the preliminary and the final will be provided by city staff.

I recall one of the uh questions posed by the design review committee Dan Dmper was the about using uh native plants uh for trees and and such. Can you uh address that at all, Steve? Brian, are you available to We have a landscape architect on the project as well. I believe I saw his name pop up here. It would probably be better to speak to the landscaping part of it, but the intent would be to use native species. Yes, I'm I'm here if you can hear me.

Yep. Yes, we can hear you, Brian.

Great. Yeah, we we actually submitted a native uh landscaping um pallet uh a little while ago. I thought that was part of the submission. We I think we provided that along with the lighting requirements as well. But yes, the intention here is to use native planting. Um and native what I would call native adjacent planting. So these would be plantings that are uh native or native adjacent meaning that they do well in the urban conditions and are non-invasive and are uh pretty commonly found and used throughout Pennsylvania. So native where we can use them and then if we find that there are specific needs for plants that are more u need to be more tolerant to salt conditions and urban conditions then we would use plants that we consider native adjacent all of them approved um on the approved list for the city um in Pennsylvania.

All right. Thank you. Any other questions at this point? If not, I'll move issue a motion to uh approve the preliminary plan. Second. I'll second. All right. Um all those in favor uh in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Uh Cooper, please note because Murphy Fox is uh employed by the developer that I am abstaining. Noted. Thank you. Thank you guys. Thank you. Cooper, please note I was not an affirmative on that.

All right. Next item. Uh item B, Housing Authority of the City of Erie, preliminary land development. Yeah. Yeah. If you mind someone so I can speak on like the land development, the parking layout and stuff like that. It's it's a plan for the housing authority of the city of Erie to build a three-story office building. Um, see here's the the parking layout, the the access for for handicap and the sidewalk along the north side and then an underground uh storm system with irrigation that uh discharges back out into uh the uh Parade Street and down to the existing catch basin near the corner of Tenth and Parade. Um, I guess if you guys have any questions about that part of it, I'm happy to answer that. And then, uh, Christiey's here as well, kind of if you have any questions on the building, um, layouts or any any questions about that.

Can we get I guess just um, maybe I missed it, but a little background. What's the obviously it's new offices, but what's what are they going to be used for? What is it replacing or updating? Kind of just some background on project.

Sure. So, all of the Erie Housing Authority Administration offices would move to this building. Um, they're currently located at 606 Holland Street. Their section 8 and um, HUD related offices are also moving to this building. There would be some storage areas in it. Um, they'll use it for a training. If they have trainings for the HUD or HUD activities, uh, different things, but it's all staff related type training. the public would need to be able to come in there to apply for HUD housing, uh the section 8 housing, that kind of thing. So, it's just consolidation of existing facilities.

Fantastic. What What happens to the existing space in at 606 Holland? Yeah. I'm not sure what their plan is to do with that at the moment. Um I can find out and let you know but all all kind of operations and functions there would move to this new facility. Okay. Now that building also has multiple apartments. I it's a six or eight story building down there. Yeah. Um their apartments and things would stay there. Sure. Understand. Okay. Other questions anybody might have at this point? You passed the preliminary review. Okay.

Yes, the city completed their preliminary review and it all checked out. Um and again, any comments would be provided by city staff between preliminary and final. Okay. Uh I'll entertain a motion for approval. Motion to approve. Second. Motion a second. All favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Any opposition? There being none, the motion is carried.

Thank you. No resonings this month. Uh no conditional waterfront uses. Uh no blighted property designations on our um so we go to E historic nomination regarding Eerie Cemetery. Commissioners, uh, Matthew Falconee. I'm the city's historic preservation planner. Uh, the city received a nomination for Erie Cemetery a little while ago. I know it's been quite a bit since we've done a historic nomination and had that go through planning commission. So, if you'll bear with me. Next slide. So this slide and the next gives you a sense of where Erie Cemetery lies within the city of Erie. Next slide. It's within Little Italy's neighborhood. Next slide. This is a site plan of the cemetery itself. Um each one of those numbers correspond to uh photographic documentation that went into the nomination. Next slide. So uh to review this is where we are at in the process. So the nomination was received by the historic review commission and um on uh 121 they determined that there was reasonable cause for the nomination to move forward. They also considered the nomination itself and made a positive recommendation to city council. So that takes us to today where the nomination is before you um where you're able to give it consideration in uh regarding

the city's plans and how it fits into those plans and then also make a recommendation to council. Next slide. So the findings from the historic review commission was that they provided a positive recommendation to council that Erie Cemetery be listed on the city of Erie's register of historic places as it conveys historic significance through criteria B, C, and F and maintains significant historic integrity, convey its significance. those criteria map back to um that it is uh represent affiliated I'm sorry affiliated with the life of Emma Haye who was a superintendent of the cemetery and actually one of the first women um to be a superintendent of a large American cemetery. It also reflects uh criteria C which is overall design that the cemetery itself is an example of the rural cemetery movement and then finally criteria F is that it is uh a wellestablished visual feature within the neighborhood and with the city of Erie. Next slide. Um that takes us to planning commission. So, as a reminder, in the historic preservation ordinance, uh the planning commission shall consider whether the designation is consistent with the municipality's comprehensive plan, other development plans and policies only, and transmit a report detailing its recommendations to city council. So, that takes us then to um the next slide, our comprehensive plan. So, within the city's comprehensive plan, Erie refocused, uh, I know it's a bit difficult to see, but the cemetery is actually already identified as a historic resource. It's the large blue square that's circled in red. Um, within the plan itself, it it calls for um, uh,

identifying historic resources in neighborhoods and having them be anchors of the community. So in effect uh the Erie Cemetery is already identified as a historic resource. This process gives it official recognition. Next slide. Um so we're moving now from um actually no I'm sorry. We're still in eerie refocused. Um in eerie refocused the section that specifies Little Italy especially this part of Little Italy. You can see again um that circled on the right hand side the cemetery is identified as a historic asset. The plan itself heavily focuses on the surrounding community and reinvestment. Um there's not a whole lot of uh uh continuity between the process that we're going through now and this plan. Uh next looking at uh the neighborhood plan which is put together by uh the Sisters of St. Joseph uh neighborhood network. You can see here too, excuse me, um that the Erie Cemetery has been identified as a major neighborhood resource not only for its historic asset um or as a historic asset, but because it is also a tremendous uh green space for the neighborhood and used akin to a city park. Next slide. Um again, uh kind of sifting through their plan. Um we can see that one of their uh goals is to establish neighborhood corridors. And here connecting the neighborhood um to the park and making sure that there's walkability and accessibility is important to the neighborhood. Next slide. And then finally, in our own

historic preservation plan, next slide. Um there are two specific initiatives that tie directly to this nomination. One is designating new local landmarks and um creating historic district overlays. The other is list helping list things to the national register. Um I'm very happy to say that the area cemetery association has been uh excellent partners in this process and in addition to pursuing this designation with the city, they're also pursuing a designation on the national register of historic places. Next slide. Uh there's a section in our preservation plan that talks about um telling Eerie's diverse stories. The criteria by which that this is coming to you um is in part a manifestation of that that we're able to elevate Emma Haye's story and identify her as someone who made significant contributions both within the city and then also to the country um are pretty substantial narratives. Next slide. So, it is my recommendation um that Erie Cemetery be um uh listed on the city of Erie's uh register of historic places um because it is consistent both with our comprehensive plan with the Sisters of St. Joseph's neighborhood network plan and our historic preservation plan. Next slide. Um before you is a suggested motion uh should you like to advance this application. Uh I do know that we have a representative here from the cemetery Erie cemetery association that may also want to speak on the cemetery's behalf. Um I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have before I yield the floor. Well, the question would be how does designation affect the uh cemetery's ongoing operations and use?

Um it doesn't have any impact on use. Uh so uh historic designation is uh simply a a zoning overlay that looks at the aesthetics. And so in this case, they would be treated like any other historic designation that anything that's visible from a public right of way would be reviewed. Um the cemetery itself is still an active cemetery. There are still people being buried in it. Um because the uh that change is consistent with the visual nature of the cemetery itself. uh reviews are done over the counter and with cemeteries uh it works a bit differently than it does with individual houses or landmarks um by which we are able to work with them to create basically a uh blanket COA where they're able to continue with ongoing use um things that would rise to the level of uh more particular review is that if anything were done uh to the exterior of the buildings that are um on believe Chestnut and 18th. Um those would look a little bit more like a traditional review by the HRC.

So it would restrict So let me make sure I'm phrasing this as a question. Would it restrict what owners properties adjacent to the cemetery can do with their properties in terms of renovations? It only has an impact on the cemetery itself.

That's what I thought I want to make sure. There are a I think a few empty lots there still. If somebody were to want to build a new correct term, mausoleium or uh it would have to adhere to some historic aesthetic to match and coincide with the what we're honoring now.

Um with that, it wouldn't um because we're not designating this for aesthetic qualities. um it relates back to the site as a whole. So if someone wanted to build a new mausoleum, they're able to do so. It doesn't need to look historic. It doesn't need to uh have kind of an artificial sense of that it's always been there. Um that it is a manifestation of the use and incorporated into the overall design of the cemetery is enough. I think we'd want any there's only a few lots, right? But we'd want it to be in sync and not be in a a modern um

something pink in there, right? There's actually uh when it comes to mausoleiums within the cemetery, there's a lot of uh difference in architectural design. They have a um there is an art deco. Actually, there are several I love art deco, so I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just saying that sticks out is maybe different. They also have an art nuvo mausoleum. Uh, so the design styles are it's really a spectrum within the cemetery. They're of their time indeed. Well, there's one up there waiting, right? Yeah. Somebody

one of the interesting um kind of threads that came out of the research for the cemetery was that it relates back to the city of the planning history. So the cemetery itself was created um 1850 and uh it was a product of um public health concerns that the graveyards that existed within the city had basically become full and that there was a conscious e effort over the course of decades to um exume bodies and then move them into eerie cemetery. Uh what was particularly interesting is that um in recent history we have uncovered bodies that did not make that transition. Um, and so it's uh, uh, a fascinating, if not um, sensitive piece I think of Erie's history and something to keep in mind as we're looking at new development and excavation work within the downtown core that there's often a lot more underfoot than we recognize. Can you speak at all, I guess, more generally, in terms of um cemeteries receiving a historic designation like we're asking for. I mean, I I in full, you know, cander, I not what I was expecting um kind of in terms of getting, you know, historic designations. I think we more generally we think of buildings. I mean, obviously it makes sense, you know, the context you provided, but can you maybe speak more broadly to is this, you know, a fairly common practice or, you know, what that looks like elsewhere?

Uh, yes, very much so. Um, I can say that, uh, in Pittsburgh, uh, within the past several years, there was a multiple cemeteries that formed a complex of about 18 acres that received a designation. um that was more for cultural heritage because they were all uh Jewish burial grounds. Um I know that in Johnstown uh within the past three years um their cemetery was designated in part because of the history that's related to the Johnstown flood and the people who were buried there. Um, and I know that within the the Commonwealth, uh, every uh, three months or so, they've uh, PHMC, the Historic Commission, has considered um, different burial sites related to African-American history. So, it's pretty common. Um, this is, of course, the first ini. Um, and for us, uh, it's, um, not an unusual way to look at historic preservation. It really ties back into places that are important to people and why. And with this instance, with the cemetery, there's multiple threads of why this place is important. Um, and I would think that over the next several years or so, you're going to see a lot of things that um aren't, I think, what people think of when they think of historic preservation of, you know, this is a pretty Victorian house. We're going to designate it. Looks like snow globe. Um, no, it's really a much broader field and and it ties back specifically to whatever resource exists. So, in this case, the cemetery meets a many different criteria for us and we're happy to support them in their endeavor. Will this designation support the mission of the cemetery by

enabling it to pursue uh state or federal funds, grants?

Indeed. Um part of the mission of the cemetery actually involves preservation work. Um and uh we are are very fortunate in that Erie Cemetery um has within the past several years taken a very active role in forming um public programming and through their offerings you're able to dine amongst the departed to go on different cemetery tours to learn about different irriites um as well as different parts of the cemetery. So they're very much looking at it as um a cultural resource and this designation and this process very much helps uplift I think that narrative and initiative for the cemetery. To your point though, um yes, uh the p uh pursuit of this designation and also listing on the national register will help them access funding uh to keep up and do restoration work especially on um buildings, mausoleiums um that are inherent in the site.

Okay. Does the geography of this in designation include that separate off of 26th? I don't know how to refer to it, but there's like a another historic part of the cemetery that's like a half a block over on 26 that doesn't include that. The Jewish cemetery. Yeah, that's a there's a Jewish cemetery there. Um totally separate entity. Um not including of the same era but not rel unrelated. Exactly that.

Okay. Any other questions? Um, I'm certainly willing to provide uh recommend a motion um as uh included in the presentation. Thank you, commissioners. Um, I yield the floor and uh remind you that there's also a representative fjord on behalf of the cemetery if you'd like to uh take the say a few words before we

Good afternoon. My name is Becky Wiser and I work with the Erie Cemetery Association and people have been dying to get into Cemetery for 175 years now. My kids hate when I make that joke.

Um, the reason we're pursuing, the main reason we're pursuing any kind of historic designation with the city, state, and potentially federal is that we want to engage the community in different ways in area cemetery. We don't have a lot of room left to bury. We have some um quite often we try to refer people to Laurel Hill or Wintergreen Gorge, which are also part of our association, but we do have some space left. So, we need to come up with other ways to bring the community in to enjoy the space to learn about who we are as Eerites. So, we've expanded, as Matthew explained, all of the programming that we have. We also have a um new Facebook series called Mausoleum Mondays. So each week we we feature a different mausoleum and the people who are inside, what they did, why we don't know why they built the building that they are interred in now versus going into the ground, but just to bring to life these stories that we've never heard as residents of the city. As Matthew also explained, we have older burials in our cemetery than the cemetery itself due to disenturing these old church graveyards and moving the bodies. Mainly the Protestant ones came to Erie Cemetery and the Catholic ones went to Trinity. Trinity is a few years newer than we are. So we take a lot of pride in our residents of the cemetery. We have people like Strong Vincent, Harry Burley, um the Reed family who started Eerie. So, we take a lot of pride in our space. It's very expensive to run a cemetery, as you can imagine. We try to maintain a beautiful space, and I believe we do. But we do have buildings that need care. They are old. The office building that

I'm in was built in 1897. It's gorgeous. Does it need help? Sure. Um, and we don't have as many burials in Erie to help support um, the mausoleum series that I just mentioned on Facebook. When I did photographs of all of the mausoleiums and you go and you see, wow, they need repointing. Well, that the mausoleum belongs to the family. But if the family is long gone, it now belongs to the cemetery in a sense. So we are the people to maintain this in perpetuity this space. We are developing what used to be our tulip gardens. I don't know if any of you are familiar, but Eerie Cemetery had for many years a sunken garden. We still have the sunken garden. It's near the pergola, but it was thousands upon thousands of tulips. Well, we can't do that anymore. The thousands upon thousands. We have planted 500 for the spring. So drive by to see those. But we are repurposing that space into more of an event space to have the community in, not just those in Little Italy, but of course the whole of Erie. So we are reimagining the space in a respectful way and we appreciate the city support for that. Any questions for me?

I have not. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, I'm happy to make the motion as proposed. I'll second. You You got it. Uh, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposition?

Thank you. Best of luck. I think of a few others that could probably do with designation, too. Thank you very much. Uh, okay. Item six, Department of Planning and Neighborhood Resources Updates.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Good afternoon. Just a few housekeeping items I just wanted to keep on the uh on the radar before I get to my report. Um one is that at the first of the year you would um take elections again. So that would go onto agenda. Um any training that you would like to see in 2026, we'd be happy to as we did I think it was this year or last this year. this year.

Um I'd be happy to coordinate with Cooper again um a refresher or a training session or potentially whatever whatever you may um be interested in. Um some of the things that are on in my report maybe will get your wheels turning in terms of what kind of training uh possibly might uh be available. also the annual report. Um I know that uh Cooper prepared and submitted that to you this year um just to keep that on the radar and possibly have that um completed and approved a little bit sooner than than I think in the years past. So um also reappointments or new appointments if needed. Uh I do believe that there's one right uh commissioner that uh your appointment is coming to an end. So um just to keep that in um in the works. So um any questions on that?

Have you had any interaction with the incoming administration about appointments? Uh well we we've had interaction with the incoming administration um and we h we haven't necessarily had a discussion around appointments um at least at least for planning commission. And I think in some of our other uh boards and councils we have um but uh we're going to have to because we only have one more council um council meeting which is tomorrow.

So any appointment that will go through for for next year um will have to be in in January. So um it will be a discussion. Correct. Yes. I have made the incoming administration aware that we will have a one vacancy. Okay. I I just I mean we've only just recently achieved a full commission. Yes, I know. It would be nice to stay that way. Sure. Sure. Much much easier to function.

Yeah. Okay. Um I did want to inform you that we did not receive the state map grant. Um, yes, it's a little uh was took took I took took it hard, but um uh the only actually the only um entity that received a state map grant in our region was uh Erie County for their Erie County housing plan. Um, I did speak with the state in in regards to why we did not receive this because I felt that we had a strong application. Um, it was recommended to us by the state. So, um, it was really disheartening. But some of the reasoning behind it, there were multiple reasons that there was an in just a an influx of applications that have that came in. Um we're seeing that in all areas just due to this the climate right now with grant funding. Um also uh I think there was some discussion at least at the review level that the city of ER's comp plan and I say in quotations qu comp plan is going to be 10 years old this year next year. Um and Lancaster received um funding for the same request, a zoning and salo update, and they um they received that funding and it was to build off their 2023 comprehensive plan. So, um, traditionally, it was told to me obviously traditionally the comp plan comes first and that then informs your zoning and your subdivision and land development. So, I think um I think we're we were maybe a little bit um misled in some ways because we went

after the zoning in Salo quickly. Um, that being said, um it's not going to stop us. We are the next round is the deadline is April 1st. Um so in between now and springtime the plan is to come up with some kind of communication strategy with the incoming administration with state with the governor's office and also with the planning department to make sure that we're all on the same page and that the support will be there for us come April. Um hopefully um so as we transition into this new administration, we we will make sure that that becomes a priority as to how we inform them of the importance of a of a comprehensive plan. um whatever that looks like that now they're called implementation plans but it's a citywide approach and visioning of um comprehselves well.

So we're looking for an update. It's not going to be an update most likely whole new one. It would be a new plan. Um, our Eerie refocus plan while it was very well written and and wellreceived at its time, it's really more of a plight remediation plan and housing plan. And so, um, this it needs to encompass much more than just that focus. We need an official map all there's probably a laundry list of other things that

Right. So I I would I would not call it an update to Eerie Refocus. Um I mean, you know, we'll see what happens with that, but I I would hope that whatever is in in Eerie Refocus that has not been accomplished will be also put into the if appropriate into the comprehensive plan. One of my takeaways from our training that you put us through is that we can be the instigating party of that, right? We I'm sorry. Right. The planning commission is supposed to be an instigating arm of this, right? So, can we start pushing now or we can we can actually have a vote right on it now to request that the city start looking into the to support that effort, right?

Yeah. I I think I I would encourage you as as the as the planning commission to be speaking also to our elected officials. Um any support around that? I I don't think it would hurt to have a official vote. Although I maybe maybe it would be best if we if we wait until we are into the new administration. But um as we're consulting with uh Michael Baker and we're having discussions obviously with the state, it seems as if this is the proper path forward a and potentially we could go out for funding um simultaneously to do the salo update um and the zoning update. But um yes, so there's also some things that we've discussed um in terms of internal um maybe internal um sort of pri how do I explain this? Having the the department focus in the next couple of months on priorities and need assessment of the city. Um a lot of that we already know because we're out in the field. We've done m multiple plans over the last couple of years. So, we are in tune with what the needs of the community are. Um there's still work to be had, but um if the department and the engagement team worked through that piece of it, perhaps we would have a shorter um a shorter project on our hands and we'd be able to accomplish the comprehensive plan in a one-year time limit versus a two-year time limit. and the RFP might look a little bit different because the engagement piece would be completed already. So, we're talking through some of those options um just because it's it's log logical to to go that route.

I mean, I don't think there's any harm in taking kind of an all the above approach in terms of us pushing on it. you guys obviously the plane department is clearly you know I I think the approach you just outlined makes sense taking everything you've learned and building on it but I'm kind of of the opinion that the more we can throw at it the better the odds of getting those grants awarded and more importantly making progress on these things that we know need to be addressed that's just me is it appropriate to do it as a as a motion of the commission Or

I think we can instigate it now, right? We to we want to put it on the new administration on day one that this is hyper critical whatever the process ends up being. We need a process. I mean, if there there's only the one council meeting left, so, you know, this isn't going to go on that. This, you know, would be something that kind of hits them first thing in the new year. It But is it more appropriate to recommend to the incoming uh make it a recommendation to the incoming administration as opposed to Yeah, man. We we could all talk about it all day. I think how out ofd it is and how it's

half of what we needed. Perhaps you uh collectively um write a letter to the incoming administration and then we could also do a resolution. We could put a resolution in January or February stating that the planning commission would like to move forward with um whatever that may may sound like. Move forward with comprehensive planning research or you know discussing the comprehensive plan or we could do we could do something like that. I'm up for anything right now just to get it going. We can be on I got nothing. I'm out of here. Are we I mean I'm comfortable writing a letter. Yeah.

Yeah. If you're sign with you. Yeah. Okay. Circulated first agreement or sex signatures. How do we do that? With the letter. Yeah. Um how do we coordinate? Typically what we've done in the past is we've had um Commissioner Spiker uh send the letter on behalf of the planning commission and then he signs it as chair. Um or you could all sign it if you wish to. We're not allowed to coordinate on it outside of this meeting though, right? Yeah. There are there any issues with this? No, but but you're just having the discussion here at planning commission, right?

And then you would write the letter on behalf of the planning commission. I I think that and what we want to accomplish is I think to see the city's comp plan um become an important part of moving the city forward in addition to the uh salo subdivision and and zoning um updates. You know, it it's

it is, you know, it's 10 years since I first sat at a meeting with Buuki where um the the idea of the comp plan in process happened. It's hard to believe it's been that long. And we had uh the planning commissioner at that time had no role in um pushing for the development of a comp plan at all. Think at that time anybody knew what that was?

And it was the first time in my understanding that a comp plan had been developed for the city. I I'd like to go back to your kind of retracting the engagement part and I think it's important that we have a a hyper engaged exercise again. I think that when when Bookie was here and we were having they're referred to as adult conversations. Yeah. Uh I think it's important that we we have those conversations again with it. We're in a different place than we were 10 years ago. I wasn't necessarily uh saying that we wouldn't have those engagement sessions or those those conversations, but that we could do more of that upfront before we moved into the with the consultant. Yeah.

Because we have the ability, we have the connections, we have an engagement team, we have neighborhood resources and and we're out in the community. I mean, we're our engagement team is out weekly at neighborhood watch meetings, neighborhood groups. So um the pulse of the community is very much yeah the the catchment of there I think is limited though versus when Boogie was here and it he whatever was happening then we I've sat through some of those too and they they were very excited groups of people

that I don't think are as involved in the in the neighborhood plans as much. Uh, I think when you're thinking citywide, there's a lot more people that get get more excited to be involved in that discussion. And um, but I I understand the idea of wanting to get done as quick as possible, but I think we should kind of the pace that we did last time. It worked. It made sense and people were using focus for the first few years and unfortunately it seems to be be abandoned until today. It was the f first time I think in a long time we've seen anybody invoke it. Um uh but it's you know it's our plan. We should be using it and there's a lot of projects around town that have ignored it and then it's also been weaponized for some of those projects to support them. Uh

we do use Eerie Refocus sometimes on a daily basis and in all of the plans that we've produced over the last couple of years they've always vetted through that as a as the comprehensive plan that the city has. So the recommendations and implementation that is part of that document finds itself in our safety action plan in other plans that we've in the parks plan they vetted through it. I know it's not being used in the same way but even the character error analysis they vetted through the the the plan in order to come up with the development trends. Yeah. So, I guess it you may I'm sure certain you use it all the time internally, but uh as far as its outward facing use, I think that's non-existent. I I would offer

that the last mayoral campaign, I don't think I heard any of the candidates mention it, but previous campaigns it was touted by both parties as something to adhere to. And uh I think at every political cycle uh we should be acknowledging its benefits and and gaps and uh whatever version the outcome is in the future. Uh I hope that it doesn't become as quickly forgotten as the previous ones seem to have been again outwardly facing. Well certainly at at 10 years it's long in the tooth. I mean so a very different world. Yeah. Very different world. very different reality now. Oh yeah. Than that. With a pandemic in the middle of it.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's you know a f a plan ought to be done every five years and it at most you know three years it's already gotten old and demographics have changed. Yeah. Yep. I I I mean I think that that uh we've learned a great deal about um having and using plans um effectively and we need plans that are actionable.

Actionable, right? I mean, u more than even here comp the comprehensive plan was um it was more like uh grabbing the city by the shoulders and and saying wake up. You know, there's things you need to uh realize and address about uh what's happening um to your community. And so um it's time to build on that and and move forward. Great. Okay. Okay. Right. Anything else?

Yes. A few other things. Um we plan to hold a salo the amendments to the salo. We plan to hold a session an info session either January 21st, 22nd or 23rd at noon. Um that session um will be mostly invite only. It will be for architects, developers, and land surveyors, and critical city staff. Um, planning commission will be invited, of course, to attend. Um, and we'll have Troy Trua Truax from um, Michael Baker also uh, there to support the presentation, answer any questions. Cooper and I will most likely um support Troy and then uh we'll go through the amendments, we'll go through the changes, we'll look at the website, the workflows, the checklists. Um we have a lot of projects continuing to come in. Um even this morning we had a another discussion with a developer, a local developer. And so even though the submitt the the information that we're requiring for the submitt hasn't changed on paper to but the process has changed and the amount of times that the developers coming in front of the planning commission has changed. So um it's going to be a learning process and uh and I think this hopefully will help. We're also working with Adam Trot to try to get um AIA continuing education credits for those that are interested. So, um stay tuned and we'll be sending something out the first week of January to let you know all about that. I think it'll be helpful for for you as well to sit through those those that process again. Um I know I had one more thing.

talked about the conference plan. Um I think that's it in terms of information. I mean we have an ongoing parks plan obviously that we're still working through. Um we've we've been working with the consultant really on analysis and mapping a lot of mapping in terms of conservation land um bird observatories um um stream banks uh daylight daylight streams versus um underground streams. Um we've been working also with um uh the consultants on continuing to engage stakeholders. We did have a round of stakeholder meetings about a month ago and we had a bit of low attendance and so now we're again going back out and reaching out many of us on the team um to try to have either one-on-one discussions or to have um discussions in a small group. Tomorrow we're meeting at Sisters of St. Joseph with a youth um uh a youth uh with with the youth. Um we've we've had a lot of contact with younger younger children and we've kind of missed a little bit of the teenage years, if you will. Um and so tomorrow we have a a group that we're meeting with um at Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network and we hope to get a lot of good information out from there. Um, so that's continuing on. I also wanted to mention that um, we did use the safety action plan multiple times over the course of the last couple of months. Uh, one of the things that we did use the safety action plan for was for PENDOT funding called HSIP. Um I just checked in with them and uh they're going to be announcing funding in

February, January, February. Um one of the uh projects that we put in for was improvements to um cherry cherry to uh walnut

sassifrass. Yes. um sidewalk improvements, barriers to the street because we know that's heavily trafficked by prep. Um students going up to the event center. Um also people moving into downtown. So um we've we've focused in on that area a little bit more. Um and then there's other uh other funding for vulnerable road users. So we absolutely opened that plan up. We looked at the implementation, the prioritization matrix and and built out our recommendations to PennDOT from there. So, um it's not sitting idle. I just wanted to make sure you know that's it. I just also wanted to thank you um for ser for your service. Thank you for being part of this board and for supporting the planning department. Um there's been a lot of changes over the last two years and u I know that we both are grateful for your support and um I hope to continue to work like this in the future. So thank you.

Thank you. Before you go, could you speak to um last week's housing committee plan meeting?

Sure. Um so last week uh you may be aware that um the city is working with MNL consultant on a citywide comprehensive housing strategy. Um and over the course of the last two weeks, um there's been engagement sessions both internally and also with neighborhood groups. Um and uh Commissioner Spiker was at the internal uh internal session that we had. Um at this moment, as far as I understand, the consultants are gathering data. they're gathering information and doing an analysis based on what they're at least receiving from the city and also in reports and then from these stakeholder sessions. Um my perception uh assumption I should say is that as we transition into the new administration things may change a bit with this housing strategy and and the way that we move forward. There's a lot more engagement that needs to be done. Um, and so there may be a bit of a pause and then a reinvigoration of it. So, um, I think there's a lot of work to be done still there and, um, I'm hoping that they'll just slow down a little bit. So,

can you and and thank you for that. I I guess off of piggybacking on that, as I recall, Infinite Erie had done quite a bit of research and study on it and had come up with um some estimates for housing requirements within the city or perhaps the region. Um was that part of these discussions? because it seems like that's a lot of valuable information that perhaps would lend itself to this discussion or are you talking about the h the housing data in terms of condition reports or are you talking about stuff that in

requirements you know what type of h housing needs housing needs yeah some information they had released at their yeah they not too long ago they've been that's that's part of their analysis I think They're looking at all of the data that um the missing middle um Yes. Yes. I I'm I'm assuming um that is part of their analysis when looking at that. I I know that they they've been um getting a lot of information from um the uh the realy the realy um MLS. Yeah.

So it is. Yes. So, um, yes, I don't have anything concrete to share with you because we haven't seen anything. We haven't seen any kind of draft analysis or existing conditions report or anything like that to be able to share at this time. The county is also doing an Erie Erie County housing plan and I am sitting on that steering committee. So I'm happy to report back to you um information from that from that plan as well where Erie does Erie obviously is included in it but um is included as just another municipality not necessarily a focus on Erie city.

Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. No further business. Um motion to adjurnn. Second. Okay. Make a motion, please. Okay. I made a motion and been seconded. All in favor say I. I. Thank you.