Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced the first public meetings for PRESERVEPGH, the City's cultural heritage planning effort. These introductory public meetings will inform interested residents about the planning effort and gather information on the cultural and historic resources in the community and the ways they are cared for and protected.

"A critically important part of the planning process is community involvement," said Ravenstahl. "These meetings will allow residents to share their opinions about the historic resources they cherish - whether it's an important building, a park or other landscape feature, or memories and events related to the City's past. Their input will help the City make decisions about future historic preservation efforts."

The meetings will be nearly identical in content and will be held in three different locations across the City - Lawrenceville, West End and the North Side - so that residents can choose the one closest to their home. All meetings run from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. and are free and open to the public. (See below for locations)

In addition to the meetings, residents may also submit their input via an online web survey from April 10 to May 23, 2010 at www.planpgh.com. Paper copies of the survey will be made available at the public meetings or upon request to the Department of City Planning, 200 Ross St, 4th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 or by calling 412-255-2200.

A second round of public meetings will be held early next fall, when residents will have an opportunity to review and comment on preliminary recommendations that will be developed from: public input from the first round of meetings; interviews with experts in the field of historic preservation and cultural heritage conservation; background research on how other cities approach heritage conservation; analysis of existing lists of historic properties; and the processes the City uses to nominate, preserve, re-use and market historic buildings and properties.

The Department of City Planning will serve as the primary organizer of the effort, with assistance from T&B Planning Consultants Inc., a Murrysville based firm, as the lead consultant. The Walker Collaborative and Thomason & Associates, both based in Nashville, Tennessee, will also assist with the plan. The consultant team, which was selected through a competitive proposal process, boasts expertise in historic, and community character preservation, and public participation.

PRESERVEPGH is expected to take one year to complete. The budget for the plan is $133,000 with funding provided by the City of Pittsburgh, the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, the PA Historical and Museum Commission, and Preserve America program.

PRESERVEPGH Public Meetings

East:
Monday, April 12, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Estelle S. Campbell Boys and Girls Club
4600 Butler Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15201

South/West:
Thursday, April 15, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
James Center
327 South Main Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15220

North:
Monday, April 19, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
New Hazlett Theatre
6 Allegheny Square E
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

As one of the opening chapters to the City's developing Comprehensive Plan, PRESERVEPGH will provide the City with a working document that identifies historic and cultural assets; considers the issues, problems and opportunities associated with those resources; and develops goals, policies, and strategies for their appropriate use, conservation, preservation and protection.

Other components of PLANPGH, the City's Comprehensive Plan, such as Open Space, Parks, and Recreation, Transportation, Public Art, etc. are also being developed at this time. Once completed, all "chapters" will be integrated into a multi-purpose policy document that will set investment priorities, coordinate neighborhood-scale planning efforts, and guide the City's land use and development decision-making processes for many years to come.

For more information please contact Katherine Molnar, historic preservation planner, Department of City Planning at 412-255-2243 or Katherine.molnar@city.pittsburgh.pa.us.

T&B Planning brings 35 years of experience from the national perspective and has been consulting in Pennsylvania since 2006. Its staff is well versed with the issues of balancing growth and economic prosperity with community character and historic asset protection, and is a fervent advocate for plans that clearly outline strong implementation mechanisms.

The Walker Collaborative is an award-winning planning and historic preservation firm. It has worked on numerous historic preservation planning projects across the nation. Thomason & Associates is a firm devoted exclusively to historic preservation planning projects. Over the past 27 years, Thomason & Associates has completed more than 700 projects that include cultural resource surveys, preservation planning studies, tax act consultation, National Register nominations, and historic district design review guidelines and ordinances.