Brooklyn Firm to Draft Easton's New Comprehensive Plan

By Christina Georgiou

Easton's new comprehensive plan, which affects not only
zoning, but lays out a vision for the future of the city
and its neighborhoods, will be drafted by the Brooklyn-based
planning and architecture firm Urban Matrix, Planning
Commission members unanimously agreed Wednesday evening.

Easton's new comprehensive plan is once again moving forward with the city's planning commission voting unanimously Wednesday evening in favor of contracting the undertaking to a Brooklyn-based architecture and planning company.

Urban Matrix Architecture and Planning PC beat out 13 other firms' proposals and will draft the city's new comprehensive plan for $160,000. The price includes not only the plan itself, but also an executive summary, and an interactive website outlining the plan when it's complete. The firm will also work with the city's engineers, Pennoni and Associates, said the city's Chief Planner Carl Manges.

Submitted proposals and bids ranged greatly, he noted, with the highest coming in at $630,000. The next highest was $200,000, he added.

The $160,000 cost of the work to be done by Urban Matrix will be borne by funding from the HUD Sustainable Communities Program, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Municipal Assistance Program, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, grants the city has already been approved for, though some of the funding is set to expire if it's not used by mid-2014. Some of the funding too is tied into the silk mill revitalization project, which also needs to move forward in order that those funds do not expire as well, Manges said.

The process of selecting Urban Matrix involved two rounds of interviews. Thirteen initial proposals were narrowed down to five, and then a steering committee comprised of city staff and planning commission members worked down to two finalists.

"It actually came down to two firms that we really liked, and I locked them in a room and told them to fight it out," Manges said, adding that the firm that was ultimately passed over occasionally subcontracts for Urban Matrix and that he'd have been happy to work with either of the two companies.

"They were really impressive, and I'm really excited to work with them," Manges said of Urban Matrix.

Planning Commission chairman Charles Elliott said he's confident the city's comprehensive plan rewrite is in good hands.

"I think it was our sense that Urban Matrix understood Easton more than the other firms did," he said. "They have an experience working with complex issues and a great attention to detail...I think they're going to give us an excellent product."

Representatives from Urban Matrix will attend at least four planning commission meetings next year and work closely with planning staff as the new comprehensive plan is drafted. Public input that has already been gathered from members of the community and selected stakeholders toward the project will be incorporated into the final product, and Urban Matrix will also be gathering more input from the public during the process, Manges said.

Planning commission member Ron Shipman praised Urban Matrix, noting that the firm was also engaged by the City of Allentown in May for its planning expertise, for their vision and attention to detail.

"I was really impressed that they worked on Battery Park City," he said. "I don't think that project is anything like this, but it's beautiful."

Planning Commission members Robert Sun and Dennis Lieb, along with Shipman, said that the new comprehensive plan needs to consider the needs of the whole of Easton equally and also consider the individual needs of the city's different neighborhoods. The propensity for crime, public transportation, and individual neighborhood characteristics are all factors that need to be considered as the new plan is drafted, they said.

Manges said Urban Matrix seems particularly receptive to the wants and needs of their clients, and that all the factors the commission deemed important could be worked into the new document.

"This is not going to be a cookie cutter comprehensive plan," he said.

Manges estimated the plan will be complete by December of 2014.

The city's comprehensive plan hasn't been updated since 1997, and though such documents are meant to typically cover a 20 year span, Easton's growth and numerous changes in the last 16 years have left the current plan outdated, city planners have previously said. The planning department has attempted to outline an updated vision for the city for the last several years, only have the project set back by more pressing issues.

Last year, a new push by the planning department to complete the new plan in-house was begun in earnest, and headway towards that goal was in fact made. However, the departure of city Planning Director Becky Bradley to head the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission  and chief planner Brian Gish leaving to pursue advanced academic goals this past summer left the department short of staff and resources to complete the task in time to take advantage of grant funding earmarked for the undertaking, city officials said.

Those wishing to participate in an online survey about Easton's future, the results of which are expected to be considered for the comprehensive plan rewrite, can do so by clicking here.

Updates on the progress of the comprehensive plan rewrite are also expected to be posted on the Easton Planning Department's Twitter account.

Envision Lehigh Valley Meeting in Easton Draws a Crowd



Holly Edinger, director of sustainable development
 for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation,
 talks to a crowd of about 50 Easton residents gathered
at the Easton Area Community Center  Thursday evening.

By Christina Georgiou

The Lehigh Valley is the third largest metro area in Pennsylvania, and its population is growing.

 

But without a vision and planning for that growth, the full potential prosperity that could come with it isn't so likely to happen.

 

"We really need to set the structure for the future," Holly Edinger, director of sustainable development for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, told a crowd of about 50 Easton residents gathered at the Easton Area Community Center  Thursday evening. "We really need to set the structure for the future."



Click on any image for a better view



The Lehigh Valley was one of only 47 communities nationally to receive a federal planning  grant, and it was among the largest--$8.4 million. That money will be used to gather input from citizens and to create and implement a vision for the region's future, she said.

 

"Hopefully, if we do our job well, it will put us on the national stage and help with things like job creation," Edinger said.

 

Citizen engagement and input is key to any comprehensive plan to be a sucess, she said.

 

"Plans are not good unless they have buy-in and commitment," Edinger said. "They become doorstops otherwise."

 

The planning project, Envision Lehigh Valley, is conducting numerous public input meetings across the Valley, gathering ideas and hearing citizens' thoughts on what works and what doesn't, what their concerns and experiences are, and what they'd like to see for the future.

 

Thursday evening's meeting is the first of a total of four planned in the city, and others in the greater Easton area, as well as in and around Bethlehem and Allentown,  have happened and are planned for the coming months.

 

The project will study everything from housing to jobs to transportation, as well as other quality of life matters, such as food access and environmental issues, she said.

 

Defined by the criteria of low- to moderate-income neighborhoods being more than one mile away from a grocery store, Envision Lehigh Valley has identified "food deserts" in the region.

 

"There are four 'food deserts' in the Lehigh Valley, but none of them are in Easton," Edinger said, though she added that the city could use a second grocery store to be ideal.

 

As the region grows from being home to nearly 650,000 today to a projected 800,000+ population in 2030, based on its current demographic profile, the area will "age" too, she said.

 

"And that means more LANTA riders and less drivers," Edinger added.

Mayor Sal Panto said he supports the goals of Envision LV, particularly since he thinks the initiative will help with job creation.

 

"The Lehigh Valley really is one community. Maybe not one neighborhood, but one community," Panto said. "Unfortunately, sometimes we don't work (together) as a valley. That wasn't the case 20 years ago, and I think we need to get back to that."

 

However, both Panto and Edinger, along with Easton Planning Director Becky Bradley, said what really matters when it comes to the city's future and its role in the region is what its residents think.

 

"What do you really want your community to be?" Panto asked. "Not me, you, as a stakeholder."

 

Bradley said she thinks Easton's future is a bright one, and the city has a lot of the elements of a successful future already in place.

 

"Even though Easton is a (population) dense place, you don't have to choose between growth and sustainability," she said. "Actually, it already (has both)."

 

The city's transportation infrastructure is also a plus, she added.

 

"Another wonderful thing about Easton is we have a wonderful grid system and sidewalks, which give a lot of ways to get around," she said.

 

While some of the meeting presented facts, most of it was spent with local residents from all four city neighborhoods discussing their ideas and sharing observations about the city's strengths and weaknesses, while facilitators from the Envision LV project recorded their discussions.

 

Quality of life issues, such as neighborhood environment, transportation and walkability of the area, traffic, and job availability seemed to dominate a number of discussions.

 

Future meetings to gather public input will follow a similar format, Edinger said.

 

Three more public input gathering sessions are planned:

• Monday, January 7, from 6 to 8 p.m., at St. John's Lutheran Church, 330 Ferry St.
• Thursday, January 10, from 6 to 8 p.m., at Shiloh Baptist church, 403 Davis St.
• Thursday, January 17, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at College Hill Presbyterian Church, 501 Brodhead St.

Participants don't have to be from the neighborhood the meeting is held in to attend, officials noted--all are open to all local residents.

 

Those that cannot attend the meetings or missed the ones in other communities in the greater Easton area are still encouraged to participate by completing Envision LV online surveys and communicating ideas though the project's website, Edinger added.

 

To learn more about the Envision Lehigh Valley project, visit www.envisionlehighvalley.com