Consultant addresses public spaces and placemaking in city

By Mike Crowley

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

Standing at the corner of Park Avenue and Arch Street on Friday, four current and former Meadville city officials took in their surroundings: the parking lot of a Meadville Medical Center location behind them; Rite Aid and its parking lot across the street; affordable housing diagonally across from them in the Snodgrass Building; the side of a brick structure that houses an insurance office in front of them.

Further up the street were McClure’s Fish House & More; a glimpse of green space in the vacant lot left by the 2023 demolition of the Park Avenue Cinema; another brick building vacant since the departure of the most recentAsian restaurant to occupy it; and then larger buildings that make up part of the core of downtown Meadville.

To the south, trees lined both sides of the street while to the north the greenery was limited to one large tree in front of the Snodgrass Building and another opposite it that had recently undergone a significant See CONSULTANT, Page A7

LEFT: Placemaking consultant Phil Myrick leads a workshop Friday in the auditorium of the Meadville Medical Center City Center Campus. RIGHT: Amara Geffen, board chair of Meadville Community Revitalization Corp., shows a design proposal that would convert the vacant lot at the site of the former Park Avenue Cinema into an inviting public space during the workshop.

MIKE CROWLEY/Meadville Tribune photos

Meadville Shade Tree Commission Chair Joe Galbo, Allegheny College professor Brian Miller and Planning Commission member Jack Harkless consider the richness of the streetscape around the Market House during the workshop.

Continued from Page A1 pruning regimen. Traffic flowed by steadily but only one or two pedestrians were evident besides the group looking up and down the street.

The scene before them was hardly grim, but in terms of first impressions?

“It’s not inviting,” City Manager Maryann Menanno said.

On the scale of 0 to 3 being used by Menanno, City Planner Peter Grella, Shade Tree Commission Liaison Alice Sjolander and Meadville Community Revitalization Corp. (MCRC) Executive Director Andy Walker, the lower end of the scale (0 = very poor, 1 = needs improvement) was getting more of a workout than the upper end (2 = functional but not ideal, 3 = excellent) in the early going of their walk up the Park Avenue corridor through downtown.

The informal evaluation was part of a placemaking workshop on “Building Walkable Communities — What Really Makes a Difference” led by consultant Phil Myrick and organized by MCRC, the nonprofit launched last fall to lead downtown development. Placemaking is a community- led approach to shaping public spaces that seeks to create vibrant spaces that prioritize people and promote well-being.

Representatives of MCRC, city government, Crawford County economic development agencies, Allegheny College and downtown businesses met at the Meadville Medical Center City Center Campus then fanned out to four nearby portions of downtown to turn a new eye to what design elements work in the city — and what could work better.

Citing the downtown area’s “really good bones,” the presence of the Market House and the more recent addition of The Arc Community Greenspace, Myrick, the former CEO of New York-based nonprofit Project for Public Spaces, began by emphasizing “all this good stuff going on.”

“But, like every town, you’ve got some opportunities,” he continued. “Some of the public spaces, some of the streetscapes, some of the intersections — you’re not special in that regard, unfortunately. We’ve all got these spaces where it’s like, ‘What’s wrong here? What else can we do?’” Figuring out how to create a sense of place in such spaces that will foster community is not solely the responsibility of urban planners and industrial designers, according to Myrick.

“We all have a sixth sense, an innate instinct for what places feel good — and we find them, and it’s where you spend your time when you have free time,” he said, “and you avoid the rest. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of the rest.”

As teams spread out over portions of Park Avenue, Market, Water and Arch streets, they found varying returns.

Continuing north on ParkAvenue past Chestnut Street, the scores from Menanno’s team began to go up a bit as they encountered a few more inviting storefronts and “Meadville at the Crossroads,” the 72-by-12foot public mural on the side of the Hovis Interiors Annex; and access to public transportation. At the same time, however, the spaces along the thoroughfare did little to facilitate visitors gathering and socializing; there was little in the way of greenery and even less that might inspire spontaneous play opportunities for kids.

A block west on Market Street, MCRC Chair Amara Geffen, Shade Tree Commission Chair Joe Galbo, Planning Commission member Jack Harkless, and Brian Miller, director of Allegheny’s Community Impact Hub, were getting a better impression of the richness of the public environment around the Market House.

Looking to the north, where the former locations of Roda’s Shoes and the Neon Moon bar have stood vacant for years, Geffen was at first more skeptical, but as the group considered the potential of the space, the existing amenities around the Market House, and the schedule of activities in the area during the warmer months, the group’s evaluation grew more positive.

“I don’t know of very many areas that would be superior,” Galbo said, “I’m hard-pressed — other than Diamond Park — to think of any other place that lends itself as well.”

The increased focus on placemaking and walkability in downtown Meadville comes as several related projects have come or are coming to fruition: the completion last year of the Bessemer Trail, which winds between French Creek and Bessemer Street; the extension of Ernst Trail closer to downtown; and the ongoing conversion of a 2.5mile two-lane section of the French Creek Parkway into a walking trail.

Walker was optimistic that overall “connectivity” would reach a tipping point over the next five years — one that would act as an economic catalyst for Meadville’s city center.

“That’s what we’re all pushing — this becomes a real meaningful asset in driving traffic,” Walker said. “So then how do we access and bring that traffic to downtown? That’s part of the rationale of why here, why this space?”

As for what next, as the groups reassembled in the Meadville Medical Center City Center auditorium, Walker and Geffen told the group that the MCRC and Meadville Redevelopment Authority are working on a proposal to convert the vacant lot on the site of the former Park Avenue Cinema into a more inviting public space. The site is unlikely to lure private developers in the near term, they said, but improvements to what is now a simple lawn could make the spot adjacent to The Arc Community Greenspace a more vibrant and useful destination.

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune. com.

Meadville City Planner Peter Grella, Shade Tree Commission liaison Alice Sjolander and Meadville Community Revitalization Corporation Executive Director Andy Walker survey the scene Friday at the intersection of Park Avenue and Clinton Court during the placemaking workshop.

MIKE CROWLEY/Meadville Tribune