Comprehensive Plan Encourages Voice of Residents

The Planning Commission hosted the first of two public input open houses for the Williamsburg Community Comprehensive Plan at the borough building last Wednesday, Oct. 26. The purpose of a comprehensive plan is to guide decision making for the community and to recognize items that have impacted the community, such as Rails to Trails.

“The trails and the popularity of the notion of a trail town really kicked this comprehensive plan into high gear,” said Blair County Planning Commission’s Dave McFarland.

McFarland said that future, “more specific” plans are in the works. These plans include addressing the recreation in the community and marketing the businesses that make up the community.

Previous comprehensive plan

The last comprehensive plan was made in 1972. It was one of the first joint comprehensive plans in the state including the Borough of Williamsburg and the two townships, Catharine and Woodbury.

McFarland said that the plan, although aged, is still “mostly valid. It definitely speaks to the area very well.”

Some of the items addressed in the plan are quite similar to today’s Williamsburg: the agriculture prevalence in the townships, the rivers, the housing issues, the remaining industry in town, the physical geography of Williamsburg and the political aspect of the town with three separate governing bodies.

“We need to build on them, and make changes that have proven to be current issues,” McFarland said, noting issues such as local governments’ responsibility for public health, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Open house

During the open house, the Planning Commission worked on five main topics and collected comments on index cards regarding the topics. The topics included:

• Natural and historic resources

• Active learning

• Our neighborhoods

• Public services

• On the go

The objectives included the growth, preservation and health of future development in Williamsburg.

“This is just one of a number of efforts for public input for developing properly,” McFarland said.

Although he lives in Catharine Township, McFarland admits he has a “good idea” of what the community needs, but is eager to see the results of the feedback.

Lizzy Isenberg, a resident of Williamsburg, attended the open house and talked about the similarities between Williamsburg and Confluence, PA. While touring Confluence, Isenberg noticed all the signage there that told visitors and current residents about all the locations.

“We have such beautiful locations here. We have restaurants and a park, but people don’t know they’re here,” Isenberg said.

Borough Councilmember Jim Foreso agreed. “Signage, and the lack thereof, is definitely an issue that could be addressed.”

Some of the other issues that were discussed included broadband, the lack of communication capabilities and the idea of municipality sharing.

“Broadband is definitely a huge issue,” McFarland said.

According to McFarland, Williamsburg’s lack of broadband and quality cell service has been discussed at other meetings for Blair County.

McFarland said that another issue brought up by the residents was the lack of complete sidewalks and quality of housing, both issues surprising McFarland.

“The housing availability score was very good, but the quality of housing ranked a little lower than we expected. We will have to dig into that a little deeper,” McFarland said.

Each of the categories asked residents to rate questions about the category on a scale.

This is the first of two meetings. The second meeting, according to McFarland will be in January. The townships and borough will do a formal adoption of the Comprehensive Plan in early spring.