The Community Land Use and Economics Group and its partner, Design Workshop, are pleased to help the City of Morgantown and its partners update Morgantown’s downtown. Our team has been impressed with the transformations that have taken place in downtown Morgantown over the past several decades.
Especially, after reviewing the 1994 downtown revitalization plan, the City’s 1999 comprehensive plan, and Main Street Morgantown’s urban design guidelines and public projects design guidelines, as well as the Greater Morgantown MPO 2030 Plan, demographic information, and information about proposed development projects, and the Responsible Hospitality Institute’s report. It looks as if downtown Morgantown now appears to be going through another period of transformation, with a host of new opportunities and challenges on the horizon.
The goals and objectives of this project are numerous:
- Define the desired character and vision of the downtown.
- Define the desired social, cultural, and economic connections between surrounding neighborhoods, downtown, and the region.
- Define the desired land use, development patterns, growth objectives, and urban design that will enhance and sustain a vibrant and attractive downtown.
- Provide economic development and revitalization tools.
- Define capital improvements and a regulatory framework that guide public and private investment toward this shared vision of the downtown.
One of the most importmant means we have of creating a successful project with a lasting legacy is through public participation. The project will incorporate several methods of meaningful, broad-based public participation. The scope of work provides for a steering committee, several public and stakeholder groups, intercept surveying, and web-based interfacing.
Our team has worked in hundreds of communities facing similar challenges, and we welcome the opportunity to work with the City of Morgantown and its partners to create an updated downtown that helps the district continue to adapt to changing market dynamics and to translate broad vision into an achievable implementation strategy.
Part 1
