Ashley Cox of Pittsburgh-based consulting firm evolve: Environment & Architecture conducts the city of Wheeling's second public meeting on its 10-year Comprehensive Plan update Thursday night in Wheeling University's Troy Theatre. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING – Creating a road map for the next decade in the city takes input from the entire community, and the public once again got a chance to let their voice be heard Thursday night at Wheeling University when the city hosted its second public hearing on its Comprehensive Plan update.

Dozens of interested citizens and local officials gathered inside the university’s Troy Theatre on Thursday night for the second of four public input sessions geared toward helping develop and implement the city’s next 10-year plan.

Participants reviewed results from the public session held this past winter during Phase 1 of the plan’s development and took steps toward helping create a community vision for the next 10 years and the steps needed to make that vision become a reality.

“I think this is a great exercise, and the timing couldn’t be any better,” said Wheeling Planning Commission President Jeremy West, who welcomed participants to the session. “I’ve been here my entire life, and I’ve yet to see a time in this town that so much is going on.”

The city’s Comprehensive Plan will focus on revitalization and reinvestment in public spaces, business districts and neighborhoods. Its recommendations can inform land use regulations and help guide growth and development in the city over the course of the next decade.

Wheeling’s Comprehensive Plan is scheduled to be adopted by city council in October and implemented thereafter. There will be other public input sessions in the coming months.

Wheeling Planning Commission President Jeremy West welcomes a crowd to Thursday night’s Comprehensive Plan public meeting Thursday night at Wheeling University’s Troy Theatre. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

“There are two more meetings – there will be one in August for Phase 3, and there will be one in December or January,” said B.J. Delbert, Wheeling’s building and planning director. “Council will have to vote on it by December, but that fourth and final public meeting will be on how we are going to put it into action.”

Delbert noted that having the public participate in the development of the plan is invaluable.

“If the community is involved in the plan, then they’re going to be involved in the action,” she said. “So if we bring them in on the front end and they know what’s going on, they have some buy-in. We can’t do it alone, council can’t do it alone, so if we have citizens engaged in the plan, then they’ll be more likely to be engaged in the action.”

While the crowd at Thursday night’s meeting was smaller than the near capacity crowd that attended the first public meeting at West Virginia Northern Community College in February, input from the public is still being received. Delbert said the city has gotten a lot of feedback through online surveys that are still active and available on the city’s website.

The city of Wheeling’s consultant for the development of its 10-year Comprehensive Plan update is Pittsburgh-based firm evolve: Environment & Architecture. Officials from evolve have been compiling information, crunching numbers and putting together data that has been gathered in the process over the last several months. Project Manager Ashley Cox and evolve Principal Christine Mondor led the team during Thursday night’s session.

“The city of Wheeling is a regional center that builds connections between people, businesses and institutions,” Cox said, reviewing data compiled from the previous public sessions and surveys. “In order to improve the city’s resilience, we must improve the health of our environmental assets, improve access to essential services and improve access to quality parks and recreational amenities.”

City resident Michael Borsuk speaks during a group session Thursday night at Wheeling University as part of the city of Wheeling’s second public meeting on the development of the city’s 10-year Comprehensive Plan update. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Surveys focused on ways to improve some of the city’s key drivers, such as its mobility, economy, development, culture and housing. Goals include attracting high-paying jobs and industries, supporting local businesses and entrepreneurial startups, supporting both a daytime and nighttime economy in the downtown historic district, creating a clear process for preservation of underutilized properties, retaining emerging local talent with opportunities to stay home and attracting professionals and families into the city.

“We have all of these goals and strategies listed in the Phase 1 summary report that is available online on the city’s website,” Cox noted.

The project manager said things such as the buildings and infrastructure of a community are like the hardware, while people in the community working and collaborating together were more like the software – both elements that are critical in making a city vibrant and functional.

Participants in Thursday’s session broke up into smaller work groups and participated in additional comprehensive survey activities during the session. Results of these Phase 2 surveys are expected to be reviewed during the next Comprehensive Plan public meeting in August.

Hands-on surveys conducted by the city of Wheeling’s consultant evolve: Environment & Architecture strategically help gather a wealth of input from the public, which officials said is a crucial part of developing a new Comprehensive Plan. (Photo by Eric Ayres)