By Brian O’Leary, AICP

Over the past decade, many communities in Northwestern Pennsylvania, including Erie, have been doing excellent planning work that is original, innovative, transferable, and effective. Four of these efforts have received awards from the chapter, and a fifth one will be receiving an award at October’s chapter conference. The four past award winner’s are described below, and you’ll hear more about the upcoming award at the conference.

• 2019 Award for a Plan:  Albion’s Plan
  Albion’s Plan is a shining example of implementable planning for a small town of 1,500 people. The plan was done in partnership with Erie County planning staff with no paid consultant. It focuses on four community priorities, determined by extensive input from citizens, written in their words not in plannerese, with each priority having talking points, goals, realistic action plans, and sections indicating how residents, businesses, and organizations can help. It spurred early action, with a zoning ordinance update underway before the plan was finished.
• 2019 Award for a Plan: Embrace Millcreek
  Embrace Millcreek was undertaken to help the 53,000-population suburb of Erie face potential disinvestment and decline after decades of development and prosperity. The plan is fearless in addressing challenges. It combined a field survey of 19,000 properties with market data to develop surgical strategies for neighborhoods. It defines core values arising from neighborhood and stakeholder meetings, and “We will…” statements of planning principles to guide township decisions and actions. Embrace Millcreek was informed by and aligned with recently-updated plans for neighboring Erie City and Summit Township.
• 2018 Award for a Project, Program or Practice: My Meadville
  My Meadville is a community-based initiative that helped the City of Meadville in Crawford County devise a plan for the city’s future. My Meadville used the Orton Community Heat & Soul process grounded in storytelling, discussion of shared values, and collaboration towards positive change. Over two years, My Meadville organized potlucks, staged story-collecting booths and story circles, and did surveys and interviews, amassing 1,400 data points leading to eight community value statements with achievable actions for the city. My Meadville’s work helped spur a city zoning ordinance update, including urban ag provisions, a façade improvement program, entrepreneur program, and a human services “neighborhood hub.”
• 2016 Daniel Burnham Award for Comprehensive Plan: Erie Refocused: Comprehensive Plan & Community Decision-Making Guide
  The City of Erie Comprehensive Plan, adopted in March 2016, has a presentation style that brings clarity to the city’s recent weak market conditions and spreading disinvestment, and invokes the need to right-size and prioritize. A “trade-off exercise” helped make difficult choices about deployment of limited resources. The plan provides strategies tailored to specific sub-markets. It provides principles for decision-making, including “civic dos and don’ts,” to guide city council, departments, and local organizations in investing in and improving the city.