1. The planning team began by reviewing some of the comments that we heard from the high school and college students earlier in the day.
2. The high school students have trouble defining where they live. They don't know where the lines are, but they all say that they live in Bradford. There is also gloominess about the town that the kids express, too. They think that others look down on Bradford and they think that anything nice will be trashed. On a positive note, they don’t want a mall if it would mean sacrificing downtown. They are also 'bored' and the discussion about wanting a mall seems to be more about a place to have fun, hang-out, eat, and be seen. It is an active and interesting place where they can be involved in what goes on. The students also expressed a lot of concern about the drug problem and a lack of policing. They speak as though they have plenty of disposable income, and they describe downtown as an old place. They see the University as a town asset.
3. The University students think that the bars in town are dumps, and they don’t go there because they are too dirty. Their reasons for not using town include inconvenient parking (they say that the shuttle is unreliable, so most of them drive), dated products in old stores and nothing to attract them. The go to Wal-mart to shop or they leave town. They would love to have an off-campus-gathering place with similar atmosphere to a Barnes & Noble or Frame-Westerberg Commons.
4. Mr. Filoni asked if we have missed anything in the Topics of Discussion list from our last meeting.

1. Instead of ‘The Wilds’ it should be "PA" Wilds
2. Education and Workforce Development (vocational training – Simon would like to meeting with the high school vocational teachers)
3. Churches
4. Town and Gown relationship
5. Parks and Recreation – Green space (trails, forest, etc.)
6. Leisure activities

5.  Mr. Filoni asked if we have missed anything in the Shared list from our last meeting

1. Land Use – It would be good if the zoning was coordinated to ignore municipal boundaries
2. Schools - Students think of themselves as one
3. Recreation
4. The Creek – The planning team heard comments today that people are discouraged from being in or near the creek. This is an obstacle and Mr. Peterson commented that there is no reason for people to be discouraged from being in the water
5. Maybe we should separate adult recreation from youth recreation on the list, since the youth see ‘hanging out’ as a form of recreation. (The idea of a mall as the new town piazza)
6. Places of employment and job opportunities
7. Resources – fire, police, ems – the amount that these services are shared is more extensive than some people realized
8. Negative views of the area – The planning team has encountered this with every group we have talked to. How can the master plan help with this issue? We have heard "but it will never happen here" a number of times.
9. Shared possibilities and potential
10. Coffee shop – People have wanted one for a while, but they didn't think it could happen here
11. Transportation – The ATA buses is the only way to operate without a car. It primarily serves seniors but others could benefit. There is no taxi service. Many students have a part time job just to have a car.
12. Flood Control and the Creek
13. The Water System and the Water Authority (only a minority have wells)
14. The Sanitary System
15. The Trail System
16. The Road system – quality and maintenance varies but it provides connections
17. The Library
18. Housing is shared because many people live and work in different municipalities
19. Cultural events and arts programs
20. The list should show all services separately, instead of "government services"

6.  Mr. Tripp spoke for a few minutes about the sconomic analysis that has been accomplished so far. The full report will be posted to the website for anyone interested in reading it. The analysis compares McKean County and the Nine County Region against national statistics. The data is from 2004.

1. There are two sectors with specializations in the county – mining and manufacturing
2. Agriculture and forestry are doing well in the region but not strong in the county.
3. Information is not strong in the county or the region. This is a concern because mining is cyclical and there is a need for sectors to come up when resources naturally go down.
4. The employment analysis is the same plus agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting are doing well
5. The strong sectors are export industries
6. There are quite a few sectors with good productivity, but there is low productivity in mining and manufacturing. This could be because the workforce is older and at a higher wage level.
7. Mr. Tripp will look at all of this at a more detailed level next to try to figure out where the issues are.
8. There are clusters of concentrated economic activity, but there isn’t too much dependence on any sector.
9. There is still an intensive base of manufacturing.
10. In whatever decisions are made, we shouldn’t expect healthcare to drive growth.
11. He has some concern that there aren't many strong sectors in emerging strengths
12. The University isn't a research university, so this might be the sector to look at as gateway community idea.

7.  Ms. Romanowski spoke for a few minutes about the partnerships going on with the public school system. There is a new robotics program at the high school with a CMU partnership that has a waiting list to get involved. The career and technical programs at the high school were rated #1 in a survey of recent graduates and there is a big advantage to having those programs in the building. The hope is that private and public partnerships can make the vocational programs even better. There are new programs with Dresser and the oil/gas industries. There is no community college north of I-80, so for some vocational education is critical. There are many local kids who go to UPB and choose to stay in Bradford after they graduate. And those who come back after a time away are committed to making Bradford a better place and seeing the positives of the place.

8. Mr. Filoni brought up the topic of "Entrance". This is the first designed element that the team wants to tackle and there will be drawings for discussion at the next committee meeting. So we should discuss this issue to get a framework for what to focus on. The visual elements of town are important, both to new visitors and established residents.

1. The planning team has the impression that the 219 bypass has created a separation.
2. Mr. Peterson commented that he thinks the building of the 219 bypass was the start of Bradford's problems, although there was always an East Bradford although the division doesn't necessarily occur at the bypass. When it was built, only 10% of those displaced could find new housing in the city.
3. From Fosterbrook, it is faster to go down 219 to get to downtown when the road isn't under construction and this isn't good for commercial interests.
4. There is a bottleneck at East Main and High street. It is a bad intersection.
5. For an outsider, the various exits from 219 are the entrances to the city. It is confusing that the entrance and exit ramps aren't at the same intersections. The entrance from the north on 219 is more problematic because it is much more industrial.
6. The other ramp is by the two hotels. There are no restaurants by the hotels. Maybe there are some opportunities in that area by TOPS and the railroad.
7. If you're coming to Bradford from Allegheny State Park, you enter town via Interstate Parkway.
8. Good signage at all exits from 219 is critical, especially at Fosterbrook because there is so much going on and there isn't a clear way to downtown Bradford from there. Overall way-finding signage is needed throughout the area.

9. There are issues related to 'entrance' and 'front door'

1. For a 1^st time visitor, a tourist or traveler who decides to stop, what do they think?
2. For a resident or regular visitor, does the lack of attractive-ness feed local negativity?

10.  How is the treatment of entrances affected by the three different municipalities? How do we go beyond political boundaries or can we? Are signs even needed for all three municipalities or just "Bradford" signage? A few people commented that they don't think residents care about the boundaries except when it comes to their taxes. Only the politicians might have a problem if the boundaries are ignored. In the view of the planning team, entrance signs for the townships don't help the regional strategy, so they aren't on the table.

11.  Maybe the entrance should be marked with "Welcome to the Bradford Area School District" - it is something that everyone can get behind and it is prideful for the kids.

12.  MCF will make some proposals next time for these issues. It is possible to live in a place and not see things. Committee member should go on some driving visits or walking visits of Bradford to get a better sense of how things really look.

13.  Another critical topic in Bradford is Housing

1. The pictures in the MCF slideshow don't represent some of the really nice houses in the area.
2. The team has heard many mentions of bad properties next to nice ones and we have been told that there is need for more new housing even though the population is decreasing.
3. Is part of the problem finding owners willing to renovate older homes? That is part of it, and there are also lots of older homes with on street parking, which is less desirable.
4. There are also issues with the public and kiwanis housing.
5. Based on the planning team's meeting with the housing authority, there are only two families in their units that perpetuate welfare usage from generation to generation. Also, they mentioned that they could now screen residents (unlike before) and they don't see their residents as a "problem" in town. The Bradford Housing Authority units are in good shape on the outside, and they are all full and in demand.
6. A committee member responded that 90% of police calls go to public housing area. The issue is not about how the buildings look, but the actions that are happening inside. Also, the low cost of housing is attractive to systematic welfare users.

14.  We need to talk about what positions the master plan will take on housing.

1. One issue is the growth of rental properties around town.
2. Ms. Romanowski pointed out another issue. 52% of elementary students and 40% of the overall school district is on free and reduced lunch. There is growth every year of the number of disadvantaged children. They are not going away and nothing is being done to improve the situation. Mr. Tripp agreed and added that no one can just say, "they're the problem". Part of this process has to involve embracing the disadvantaged population as a part of the human capitol and the potential of the region. What opportunities does this challenge provide? Someone commented that changes to the NY welfare program have caused some people to cross the border. The planning team will get some real statistics about welfare and assistance programs to see if the problem really is more pronounced in Bradford. We need to explore the perception that this is the center for welfare support or SSD because really the welfare system is federal and should be about the same everywhere. This perception is as old and as pervasive as the negative attitude.
3. Ms. Devlin commented that another issue is the fact that the middle class has already shrunk. It seems like there are a lot of wealthy and poor in the area. The elderly poor living only on social security is an issue as well.
4. According to Standard and Poors, the school district has better resources than the area should be able to support. How can the same resources be attractive to the middle class? How do we engage the lower income community during the economic development process?
5. Another issue is that at least in Section 8 housing, there are minimum requirements that must be met. Those units are better than some of the offerings of local slum landlords.
6. Another housing issue is to determine what new housing is really needed and what types will work best for the community. Possibilities include infill with new homes, building townhouses, creating apartments above businesses, bring developers to build developments with a more suburban feel, apartment buildings (like the one up on the hill that was built as luxury housing), etc.
7. Mr. Peterson commented that a mixture of new housing types is needed. Upper, middle and apartments, as well as infill housing, too.
8. When it comes to the townships, should new homes be a mixture of housing types or stay predominantly single family housing? Several people responded that it would be nice to allow multi-family housing and allowing small commercial is okay so that you don't have to drive 10 minutes just for a market.
9. The housing mix is crucial to the growing University. With the last two freshman classes there has been a growing percentage of students coming from outside of the 6 county region. This past year the percentage is 60%, so more students need to live on campus and more are likely looking for off-campus housing. The University will need to tell students they can't be accommodated or try to find quality rental housing off campus. There are limited apartment complexes for young professionals coming in as staff and faculty members as well.
10. There is a lot of housing that is either expensive or not desirable. People making $40-$75,000/year are having trouble finding homes that they can afford. It is somewhat easier to find them in the townships, but those are still older homes that need maintenance. It is hard to find empty available lots. They exist in the townships, but there are areas without sewer and water, which makes individual homebuilding much more expensive. It is even hard for developer wanting to build multiple homes.
11. The master plan also has to consider what happens to the older housing stock that isn't being maintained or renovated new housing is being constructed. Also, if homes are demolished, what happens on those properties? Can they be reused and combined for new houses? Do they become yards for houses next door? And even if the land can be used, the city is probably losing tax revenue for each house that is lost, so new housing in the city is critical as old housing is lost. This is an issue that has to be considered by the zoning committee and the zoning board. We don't want town to look like a smile with a lot of teeth missing.
12. Foster Township is hurting because the Wal-mart property was reassessed. The taxes fell in half. But the townships also have to keep in mind that building housing developments costs municipalities more in infrastructure than the benefits that they get from the residents. If people really want more housing, they'll pay for the infrastructure. But will those people be attracted if the housing isn't already built?
13. The issue with downtown housing is figuring out where residents will park. Currently on-street parking is not legal overnight. Also, is the community walkable enough to make downtown housing attractive.

15.  Mr. Filoni reminded the committee that not everybody would get what they want. Given the current population it is unlikely that Bradford can have the mall and the downtown businesses. And given the geography of the area, there can't be a vibrant downtown and tons of single family homes on 5-acre lots. It isn't possible to have a downtown like "we used to" and have parking for every car. In Europe, the money is spent on the downtown core, transportation and things for the greater good.

16.  The planning team challenges everyone to come up with the priorities that they think are most important and achievable because not everything can be done. These lists should be made assuming that all three municipalities will work together. Also, everyone should post something in the forums and encourage others to post and read, too.

With no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned. The foregoing constitutes the major items accepted by the attendees. If there are any additions or corrections to these minutes, please notify the Architect.

Respectfully submitted,

MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.

Amy P. Maceyko, AIA, LEED AP