Wheeling Comprehensive Plan Development Examines Population, Jobs Trends
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WHEELING - The process of developing the city of Wheeling’s next 10-year Comprehensive Plan is moving forward, as consultants are transitioning into the next phase of the multifaceted effort.
The Development Committee of Wheeling City Council recently met to participate in a Comprehensive Plan update provided by Evolve: Environment & Architecture, the Pittsburgh-based consulting firm hired by the city to help develop the plan.
Comprehensive Plans make recommendations that can inform land use regulations and help guide growth and development for up to a 10-year period. Evolve, which specializes in envisioning how communities can best adapt to change, has been working to develop the next Comprehensive Plan for the city since late last year.
"We’re excited to continue this process," said Ashley Cox of Evolve, who appeared via Zoom to provide city officials with information on the latest update. "There are so many people, organizations, institutions and entities that make up what we understand as a city. This process is very much about getting those folks together and trying to articulate the things that they have in common so we can move forward."
During the four-part planning process, members of the community have been able to participate by providing input via surveys and public meetings. Officials said this gives everyone the opportunity to help shape city-wide priorities for the future. The plan will address the topics of youth and education, aging in place, housing, arts and culture, community development, labor and industry, land use, transportation and resilience.
"There will be a constant stream of information from the community," Cox said, noting that Evolve will continue using this information for a "working draft" of the technical document until a final version is submitted later this year.
Wheeling City Council is expected to adopt the next Comprehensive Plan in November.
During the 14-month process of developing the plan, Evolve just recently completed the first phase - Articulating a Vision. The second phase which has just begun is Developing a Plan. Beginning in June, phase three will be Deepening Priorities, and thereafter, phase four will be Launching Into Action.
The consultant also considers a wealth of data about the greater Wheeling area, which will be factored into the plan.
"While the city is losing population, it’s at a lower rate than the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and is showing signs of growth - meaning that the decline is slowing," Cox said. "The population of people who are empty nesters or mostly retired is dramatically increasing, whereas some of the other populations such as early stage families have stabilized in the rate of change."
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott indicated he has been hopeful that the city’s decades-long population decline would soon plateau and eventually turn around. While outward migration seems to be slowing, the rate of replacement of the area’s older population may not necessarily be in line with the rate of births, unfortunately.
Ashley Cox of Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Evolve: Environment & Architecture appears during a Zoom meeting before the Development Committee and other members of Wheeling City Council, the Wheeling Planning Commission and members of the city administration and staff for an update on the development of Wheeling’s next Comprehensive Plan. (Photo by Eric Ayres)
"I believe anecdotally that more people are moving into Wheeling than are leaving these days, but because we’re so much older than the rest of the country, we’re just going to see so much more deaths than births just because of our demographic breakdown," Elliott said.
In terms of employment, Cox said more than 30% of jobs available in the Wheeling MSA are below living wage.
"Industries with the highest wages in the region require a professional degree," she noted, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Many folks are concerned about the ability to continue to afford a high quality of life."
Cox said residents in the area "feel anxiety" about the economic shifts in the Ohio Valley, which over the decades has drifted away from its identity as a hub for industry and energy jobs. Today, the top employers are "Eds and Meds" - or educational and health care industries.
"Even so, Wheeling is the job center for the greater MSA," Cox said, noting that WVU Medicine is the area’s biggest employer. It is the state’s largest employer, as well.
"We would like to see parts of our manufacturing past come back," Elliott said.
Workforce development training will be important for the area to stay ahead of economic trends, Cox noted, explaining that the state of West Virginia has been working to present itself as an ideal place to open manufacturing locations, not only for out-of-state companies but also those based outside of the country.
"There’s a real culture of support and care in the city of Wheeling that I think is a major driver for why people decide to stay," Cox said. "The city of Wheeling is leveraging its legacy while remaining competitive in a rapidly changing world."
Elliott said it may be helpful to look at cities of similar size to Wheeling and compare similar assets and challenges. Officials said the city often looks to communities in the U.S. that have seen revitalization in recent years and recent decades, such as Greenville, South Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Asheville, North Carolina.
"It would be helpful to see some comparisons of like-sized cities facing some similar challenges," Elliott said. "Comparisons to some of the larger cities aren’t always apples to apples just because of the different opportunities they may have and the challenges, as well. I think we have a very nice mix of community assets for a city of 27,000."
City officials are in touch with members of the Evolve team regularly. In the coming months, the consultant will continue to evaluate the "visions and values" of the area, develop scenarios for land uses and their potential benefits and pitfalls, and continue working to develop other areas of the city’s next Comprehensive Plan.
Ashley Cox of Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Evolve: Environment & Architecture addresses a crowd on hand in February at West Virginia Northern Community College, where a public workshop was held to gather community input on the city of Wheeling’s next 10-year Comprehensive Plan. (File Photo by Eric Ayres)