Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – Warren City Council voted unanimously to adopt the comprehensive plan during its regular meeting Monday night.
The vote came after a public hearing was held prior to the regular meeting. No one present at the public hearing spoke, but the city did receive one piece of correspondence which was read into the record by Randall Rossey.
“(I) approve of the comprehensive plan, especially in terms of business support, housing, and amenities,” Jane Dunshie wrote. “It is a good framework for going forward.”
Most of council’s discussion regarding the comprehensive plan centered on who would be responsible for implementing it.
“I believe in the comprehensive plan they have recommended the Planning Commission of the City of Warren be assigned so they can oversee it and I assume start making assignments and prioritizing,” Councilman Maurice Cashman said.
Rossey agreed that the “primary responsibility” for overseeing the plan lies with the Planning Commission.
Mayor Dave Wortman added that council would be heavily involved in moving the plan forward.
“It’s not just one entity, that’s going to be responsible for how this is going to work,” Wortman said. “It’s going to take business and industry. It’s going to take the city council. It’s going to take the Planning Commission and the efforts of everybody that’s involved to further that plan within the city.”
Councilwoman Wendy McCain raised a concern that having bodies like City Council and the Planning Commission generally, instead of specific individuals tasked with ensuring the plan moves forward would make it too “nebulous.”
“I don’t think that is nebulous, because that’s the way the plan was written,” Wortman responded. “And the way it is written is that those entities working in conjunction with each other. But yes, this body (council), headed by the mayor’s office, is primarily responsible for the implementation of the city plan.”
Once the motion to adopt the comprehensive plan passed, Wortman took a moment to thank all those who had worked on or provided input into the plan.
“I want to congratulate everybody on bringing that great product to the city,” Wortman said. “And, more importantly, all the time and the effort that was required to do that work. There was a lot of enthusiasm associated with that process. And hopefully, we’ll be able to continue on with that enthusiasm into the implementation.”
The full plan can be seen here.
