Table of Contents

Page Number

Project History and Introduction 1

Part 1 – The Current State of the Business District 1

Market Area Demographics 1

Population Change 2

Key Facts 3

Demographics and Regional Retail Performance 3

Key Facts 5

Regional Retail Economics 5

Key Facts 8

Other Socio-Economics Issues 8

Previous and Related Planning Initiatives 8

Downtown Development Priorities from the County Economic Roadmap 11

Public Input – Surveys of the Community 11

Surveys 11

Merchant Survey 12

High Priority Merchant Suggestions 12

Moderate Priority Merchant Suggestions 12

Low Priority Merchant Suggestions 13

Shopper Survey 13

Key Facts 15

Physical Development Issues: Land Use, Zoning Streets and Building Utilization 16

Physical Development Issues 16

Land Use and Zoning 16

Streets and Landscape 19

Building Utilization/Building Façade/Commercial Features 19

Part 2 – Meadville Business District Strategy and Recommendations 24

Overall Goals 24

Urban Design Action Plan 25

Gateways 26

Public Space 28

Mill Run 30

Retail Core 30

Streetscapes 31

Parking 33

Key Initial Urban Design Actions 33

Business and Market Development Action Plan 34

Demographics 34

Zoning and Land Regulations 35

Main Street Program 36

Elm Street Program 37

Five-Year Business District Action Plan Summary 37

Year One 37

Year Two 38

Year Three 38

Year Four 39

Year Five 39

Tables

Population of Vernon Township, Crawford County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 2

Age Groups, 1990 3

Comparative MHI: Selected Communities 4

Detailed Household Income: City of Meadville 1989 and 1999 4

1999 Household Income by Percentage: Central Crawford Region 5

Retail Sales in Crawford County 1997-2002 6

Retail Sales by Type: City of Meadville 1997-2002 7

Prepared Food and Beverage Sales, Crawford County 1997-2002 8

1993 Comprehensive Plan Recommendations – 2006 Status and Results 9

1997 BDAP Goals – 2006 Results/Status 10

1997 Buildings/Projects – 2006 Status/Results 10

Merchants Survey Response to Public Services in Downtown Meadville 12

Actions Business Owners Would Support 13

Shoppers’ Survey Responses 14

Typical Developer’s RFP Incentives and Requirements 30

Maps

City of Meadville Business District Action Plan Project Area Follows Page 9

City of Meadville Business District Action Plan Project Area Land Use Follows Page1 6

City of Meadville Historic District Follows Page 30
City of Meadville Business District Action Plan Gateway, Streetscape and Public

Space Priorities – Downtown Priorities Follows Page 26

City of Meadville Business Action Plan Priority Blocks for New Development Follows Page 29
City of Meadville Business District Action Plan Potential Main Street and Elm Street Areas Follows Page 32

Glossary of Terms

BID – Business Improvement District: A special sub-municipal taxing district where additional property taxes are only spent within the district.

BDAP: Common acronym for Business District Action Plan.

CONTEXT SENSITIVE DESIGN: A movement by traffic engineers to make street systems fit better into their surroundings.

CORE COMMUNITY: A planning term for older cities and boroughs that traditionally served as business and government centers.

ELM STREET PROGRAM: A Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Program to revitalize residential areas adjacent to downtowns in core communities.

HOMETOWN STREETS: A Pennsylvania grant program that uses federal transportation funds to improve sidewalks, streetlights, street furniture public spaces, and pedestrian safety in Pennsylvania’s older downtown areas.

Meadville Business District Action Plan Update

Project History and Introduction: This document represents an update to the City of Meadville Business District Action Plan (BDAP). The purpose of the BDAP is to serve as a relatively brief, action-oriented planning document.

As the title indicates, this is actually an update of an existing Business District Action Plan. That plan was prepared and adopted in 1997. This Plan attempts to build upon that foundation, rather than repeating that effort. The main difference in approach was a greater emphasis on urban design issues.

The decision to update the Business District Action Plan coincided with a multi-municipal comprehensive plan update that involved the City of Meadville, Vernon Township, Sadsbury Township, and Conneaut Lake Borough. This multi-municipal planning effort created the possibility for the City to play an active role in decisions about future growth and development in the greater region. Early in the process, local government officials from all four municipalities expressed a desire that Meadville remain a strong, vibrant core community. It is hoped that by integrating actions and policies from this document into the overall regional plan, it will be easier to pool resources and successfully implement this Plan.

The first part of the BDAP update looks at four issues:

· Market Area Demographics

· Regional Retail Economics

· Other Socio-Economic Issues

· Physical Development Issues

This section comprises a snapshot of existing conditions at the time of this update. The data collected was used to develop the actual Action Plan recommendations, which comprises Part 2 of this document. The Action Plan contains lists of possible activities, and an explanation of the specific public policies and actions for continuing the revitalization of the heart of Meadville.

Part 1 -- The Current State of the Business District

Market Area Demographics

The most basic measurement of retail capacity is the population of the Study Area. The number of people who comprise the market are important in calculating possible retail market size, and whether the market is growing or declining. Much of the following data was collected for the multi-municipal comprehensive plan background report.

Population Change: For the study communities of Conneaut Lake Borough, Meadville City, and Sadsbury and Vernon Townships, the population has been in a state of flux ever since 1960. In that year, Meadville was the major population center of the Central Crawford County Region, with 16,671 residents. It represented over 70 percent of the Study Area’s total population of 23,561. Roughly, one in three Crawford County residents lived in these four municipalities.

Twenty years later, the booming manufacturing economy of northwestern Pennsylvania had swelled the regional population to 25,361, an increase of 1,800 persons, or 7.7 percent; nearly twice the statewide population increase. Meadville lost population to 15,544 persons, or 6.8 percent; but the other three municipalities all saw sizable increases in residents. This includes a nearly 40 percent increase in Vernon Township’s population from 1960 to 1980.

However, the seeds of the Region’s decline were already planted by 1980. The beginning of the national recession of the early 1980s could be seen in western Pennsylvania in the mid-1970s, the most severe economic downturn nationally since the Great Depression. This recession was the catalyst for a large rust belt out-migration. Crawford County and the Study Area were not immune to this trend. The population of the four communities tumbled to 22,833 persons in 2000, a decline of 2,528 residents, or 10.0 percent. Meadville had the most significant decline over these twenty years in absolute terms, of 1,859 persons. Surprisingly, in percentage terms, Vernon Township’s decline of 13.4 percent was a bit larger than the 12.9 percent decline of the City. Sadsbury Township was the big winner over the last twenty years of the century, with an overall population increase of 239 persons, or 8.8 percent.

Population of Crawford Central Region, Crawford County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
	1960	1970	Percent Change	1980	Percent Change	1990	Percent Change	2000	Percent Change
Conneaut Lake Borough	700	745	6.0	767	3.0	699	8.9	708	1.3
Meadville City	16,671	16,573	-0.6	15,544	-6.2	14,318	-7.9	13,685	-4.4
Sadsbury Township	1,601	2,221	38.7	2,702	21.7	2,575	-4.7	2,941	12.4
Vernon Township	4,589	5,264	14.7	6,348	20.6	5,605	-11.7	5,499	-1.9
Regional Totals	23,561	24,803	5.3	25,361	2.2	23,197	-8.5	22,833	-1.6
Crawford County	77,956	81,342	4.3	88,869	9.25	86,169	-3.0	90,366	4.2
Pennsylvania	11,319,366	11,793,909	4.9	11,863,895	0.6	11,881,643	0.1	12,281,054	3.4
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Age patterns within a population have an enormous effect on future population growth. Populations with higher proportions of people beyond childbearing have more difficulty in replacing persons, and can begin declining. The next table compares the multi-municipal plan study communities with the county and state over the past two decennial census counts.

Age Groups, 1990
	Pennsylvania	Crawford County	Conneaut Lake Borough	Meadville City	Sadsbury Township	Vernon Township	Study Area
Under 5 Years	6.7%	6.8%	5.6%	5.5%	6.2%	5.3%	5.5%
5 to 19 Years	19.9%	22.8%	19.3%	22.1%	17.6%	18.2%	20.6%
20 to 34 Years	23.4%	21.0%	21.9%	24.5%	20.3%	19.4%	22.7%
35 to 64 Years	34.7%	34.0%	32.8%	28.5%	40.1%	39.0%	32.5%
65 Years and Older	15.4%	15.4%	20.5%	19.3%	15.7%	18.1%	18.6%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Age Groups, 2000
Under 5 Years	5.9%	5.9%	4.2%	5.5%	4.0%	5.0%	5.2%
5 to 19 Years	20.7%	22.0%	19.1%	21.1%	19.1%	17.7%	20.0%
20 to 34 Years	18.8%	17.7%	17.1%	23.6%	14.4%	15.2%	20.2%
35 to 64 Years	39.0%	38.7%	40.8%	31.0%	45.3%	43.9%	36.3%
65 Years and Older	15.6%	15.6%	18.8%	18.7%	17.1%	18.1%	18.3%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The first thing one sees is that there is a noticeable lack of young people in the overall community. Meadville itself fares better, but the bulk of the Allegheny College population is in this age group.

When looking at the individual communities, the low percentage in the young adult age group is troubling. In the two Townships and Conneaut Lake Borough, the size of the group is well below statewide norms. This is the age group that forms new families. They are very mobile until family formation begins, then the young adults tend to want consistency for their children, especially once schooling has begun. It makes future population expansion difficult without significant in-migration.

Key Facts

· The City faces a pattern of continual population loss. The reality for retail businesses is that the size of the local market is shrinking, and will be more dependent on the greater region and tourism.

· The Region now faces a long-term demographic crisis. If trends continue, the situation will not be one of a core community surrounded by demographic growth, but a rapidly declining city surrounded by stagnating townships.

· City Residents are much more likely to be elderly. From a market vantage, this creates opportunities in health-related businesses, and certain services.

· The City does maintain a large proportion of young persons, though many are associated with Allegheny College, and only part-time residents.

Demographics and Regional Retail Performance: From the perspective of planning for retail businesses and related services, a key statistic is household income. This will dictate how much potential

income residents of the market area have to spend on retail goods and service. It can also be used to establish marketing and geodemographic profiling measurements that move beyond how much a household has to spend and can project how the household will spend money.

Median household income for the City in the 1990 Census was $18,624. By the 2000 Census, this had changed to $25,402. Household income raised $6,778 over ten years. The economic performance of the City’s households stayed virtually constant to inflation (the adjusted 1990 Census median household income to 1999 dollars would be $25,453). However, the median remains the lowest in the Region.

Comparative MHI: Selected Communities
Community	MHI
Vernon Township	$38,264
Conneaut Lake Borough	$34,306
Greenwood Township	$35,250
Meadville City	$25,402
West Mead Township	$41,793
Hayfield Township	$39,702
Sadsbury Township	$38,207
Crawford County	$33,560

Since median household income is only a general indicator, it is useful to examine income by specific levels for the City’s households. The next table compares income for the last two census counts, with no adjustment for inflation.

Detailed Household Income: City of Meadville 1989 and 1999
	1989 Number	1989 Percent	1999 Number	1999 Percent	Number Change
Less Than $10,000	1,679	28.96	938	17.3	-741
$10,000 to $14,999	750	12.94	657	12.1	-93
$15,000 to $49,999	2,719	46.91	2,504	46.2	-215
$50,000 to $74,999	333	5.74	617	11.4	284
$75,000 to $99,999	165	2.85	336	6.2	171
$100,000+	151	2.6	361	6.7	210

It is interesting to note that while there are still large numbers of low income households, higher income households have risen significantly within the City.

This pattern of gaining high income households is confirmed when the City is compared to neighboring communities. The next table is from the Central Crawford Intergovernmental Action Plan. It compares

1999 (Census of 2000) annual household income for regional communities. Proportionally, Meadville residents are more likely to be at the upper or lower ends of the income spectrum, than in the middle.

1999 Household Income by Percentage: Central Crawford Region
Annual Income	Conneaut Lake	Crawford County	Sadsbury Township	Vernon Township	City of Meadville
Less than $10,000	3.9	5.3	2.5	2.2	8.6
$10-000-$14,999	3.9	4.8	4.0	3.5	6.8
$15,000-$24,999	12.2	14.9	13.4	13.9	18.1
$25,000-$34,999	19.3	16.5	17.6	14.0	13.3
$35,000-$49,999	21.5	20.9	16.4	21.8	10.8
$50,000-$74,999	22.1	21.8	22.7	23.0	18.2
$75,000-$99,000	14.9	8.8	9.5	12.5	9.9
$100,000-$149,999	0.6	4.8	6.5	5.7	6.6
$150,000+	1.7	2.2	3.1	3.5	3.5

Key Facts

· Residents of the City are much more likely to have low incomes than Regional residents. In simple terms, this means they will have less money to spend. For many retailers, this increases the dependency on the Region as a whole.

· At the other end of the spectrum, slightly over 10 percent of City residents enjoy an annual income of over $100,000 per year. This small, but crucial, demographic remains a significant local resource for retail market development.

· The missing local demographic among City residents are middle income households.

Regional Retail Economics

In addition to counting people and houses every ten years, the Census Bureau also conducts an economic census of various industries every five years. Since a business cycle can typically run seven years, this type of analysis can be valuable to analyze both long-term historic data, or to compare geographic data for more than one community, or a community within a county. For this study, the most important of these is the Census of Retail Trade, with secondary importance of the Service Industries Census of Food and Accommodations. One challenge is that there are changes to reporting and tabulation between economic census series years. Thus, in addition to normal Census weaknesses as a data source, there is sometimes difficulty making absolute direct correlations, due to changes in categorization and classification. However, the Economic Census Series remains one of the best analytical tools available.

When the Census of Retail Trade is examined, one of the most striking features is how much change has affected Meadville over the past 5 to 15 years. These trends began in the late 1980s. The 1993 City Comprehensive Plan notes that beginning in the early 1980s, the number of stores declined, but sales

rose. By 1987, the City was still the dominant retail center of Crawford County, with 45 cents of every retail dollar being spent within the City. By the 2002 Economic Census Series, this had fallen to 36 cents of every retail dollar (it is possible that through misreporting, this is actually as low as 30 cents of every retail dollar).

The next table compares City performance within the context of the County from 1997 to 2002.

Retail Sales in Crawford County 1997-2002
Place	1997 Stores	1997 Sales	2002 Stores	2002 Sales	Store Change	Sales Change
Meadville	148	$350,091,000	127	$279,797,000	-21	-$70,294,000
Titusville	65	$110,949,000	48	$82,698,000	-17	-$28,251,000
Balance of Crawford County	147	$167,710,000	192	$412,287,000	+45	+$244,577,000
Crawford County Total	360	$628,750,000	367	$774,782,000	+7	+$146,032,000

As this table shows, sometime in the late 1990s or early 21^st century, and perhaps for the first time in the County’s history, the rural portions of Crawford County surpassed Meadville’s retail market share. Obviously, Meadville remained a singularly important retail center, but sales in rural areas nearly doubled.

This analysis from the late 1980s to 2002 does not account for the changing value of sales through inflation. Analyzing this can be helpful to understand the larger regional context of retail performance, and can be a clue to market leakage. Over the long range (from 1987 to 2002), the County gained retail sales faster than the rate of inflation. This means that the proportion of stores to consumers rose. From an analytical perspective, this means the City was competing more with other Crawford County businesses, and there was likely less market leakage to other areas, such as Erie.

Important information can also be derived from shifts in retail type within the City, as illustrated by the next table. It must be noted that retail trade information in the preceding table and the next table is based upon the business itself. Occasionally, respondents confuse the zip code address with the municipality. There may be over-reporting of certain categories where businesses in a neighboring township are thus ascribed to Meadville. However, Census of Retail Trade remains the only public source of municipal sales on a local and regional basis.

Retail Sales by Type: City of Meadville 1997-2002
Retail Category	1997 Stores	1997 Sales	2002 Stores	2002 Sales	Change in Stores	Change in Sales
Motor vehicles, auto parts, etc.	17	$80,635,000	12	$14,006,000	-5	-$66,629,000
Furniture, home items related	5	$5,235,000	5	$2,221,000	0	-$3,014,000
Electronics, appliances cameras, etc.	8	$6,354,000	7	$5,609,000	-1	-$745,000
Building materials supplies, garden items etc	17	$28,820,000	11	$21,846	-6	-$28,798,154
Food and beverage (not restaurants)	13	$70,072,000	12	$37,779,000	-1	-$32,293,000
Health and personal care	16	$20,021,000	12	$20,345,000	-4	$324,000
Gas stations and convenience stores with gas	11	$24,845,000	11	$29,011,000	0	$4,166,000
Clothing and accessories (including luggage, jewelry, etc.)	20	$14,604,000	18	$9,505,000	-2	-$5,099,000
Sporting goods, hobbies, (including news dealers, books )	8	$2,415,000	7	$2,905,000	-1	$490,000
General retail	8	$72,535,000	9	$110,801,000	1	$38,266,000
Miscellaneous retail (including gifts)	20	$10,171,000	18	NA	-2	NA

The largest single area of loss was in the automotive category. In fact, the loss of this industry alone would account for the vast majority of the City’s $70 million retail decline. The other area of significant loss was food sales, and building material/garden centers and related stores. This is probably due to the loss of a major farm supply store and a supermarket. While these were a very negative impact on the City, these were not in the downtown. Among the growth areas, there may be some misreporting of general retail, which would account for $40 to $90 million in sales. Among the other growth categories, the modest gains in health and personal care-related sales did not keep pace with inflation. The most discernable areas of real growth (in sales, not stores) were in gasoline sales, and sporting goods/hobbies, news dealers/books, both of which saw sales grow and significantly higher levels of growth than inflation rates. This would point to the possibility of real economic growth in these two sectors. Overall, national sales at convenience stores with gas stations has surged, as these stores now typically offer a range of prepared foods and other items for sale.

The sale of prepared food at convenience stores related to another growth area in both local and national buying trends, the accommodation/food services industry. This is a separate category of analysis in the Economic Census Series. In Crawford County, it is also an $83+ million industry, mostly in food and beverage sales.

Prepared Food and Beverage Sales, Crawford County 1997-2002
Place	1997 Stores	1997 Sales	2002 Stores	2002 Sales	Store Change	Sales Change
Meadville	61	$3,4325,000	65	$44,101,000	+4	+$9,776,000
Titusville	26	$9,694,000	27	$8,937,000	-1	-$757,000
Balance of County	93	$23,321,000	108	$30,626,000	+15	+$7,305,000
County Total	180	$67,340,000	200	$83,664,000	+20	+$16,324,000

Key Facts

· For perhaps the first time in the history of Crawford County, the City of Meadville is no longer the dominant retail market center of the County.

· It appears that many recent retail business losses were not from the downtown, but from other business districts within the City.

· The only retail growth sectors were in health care related retail (this sector fits demographics) and miscellaneous small businesses.

· There has been substantial growth in food and beverage service businesses within the City (restaurants, bars, take out prepared food).

Other Socio-Economic Issues

This section of the BDAP tries to focus on less objective measurements of current trends within the Business District. These include previous planning initiatives for the area, and a series of attitude surveys that were conducted by the City Planning and Zoning Commission, with Redevelopment Authority assistance.

Previous and Related Planning Initiatives: The City has been focusing on downtown planning activities for at least the past decade. A comprehensive plan was adopted in 1993. The first Business District Action Plan was prepared in 1997. The Allegheny College Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED) prepared a Mill Run Plan, which would affect the Business District. Most recently, Crawford County prepared an Economic Roadmap, and the City became involved in a multi-municipal comprehensive plan update with Conneaut Lake Borough, Vernon Township, and Sadsbury Township.

The 1993 City Comprehensive Plan included an examination of the retail market from decennial and economic census series data. At that time, the City was losing population, but still dominated Crawford County retail activities.

The Land Use Plan (upon which the present City zoning is based) characterized downtown Meadville as the “City’s Economic Heart.” The plan further states, “In some respects, it will become increasingly difficult for the City’s downtown to compete with suburban-based retailers.” The plan generally recommended an asset-based approach to marketing around the features of:

The Academy Theatre

The existing Market House and Market Alley renovation Shopping in the downtown

A future museum on Diamond Square, most likely in the Armory Baldwin-Reynolds House/Canal Park

Kenneth A. Beers, Jr. Bicentennial Park Cabin

The comprehensive plan contained a proposed downtown projects map that recommended nine specific projects. These are listed in the next table, with the subsequent results.

1993 Comprehensive Plan Recommendation	2006 Status and Results
County Museum/Historical Society headquarters (located at present National Guard Armory)	Historical Society facility was located in gifted property outside downtown. Armory remains in original site. Closure is still likely.
Contingency Plan for flexible education facility if the Middle School is closed.	Middle School was closed. Zoning ordinance was amended to create more possible uses. Building currently being renovated for multi-family residential uses and office space.
Proposed DEP facility and parking garage	Constructed and open. Probably has contributed to growth of Food Services sector.
Potential site of Central Fire Station	Built on alternate site. Former fire station is now a restaurant.
Market Alley	Design complete, nearing construction.
North Street signalization changes	Design complete, nearing construction as part of comprehensive North Street Penn DOT project.
Traffic directional changes at Downtown Mall	Studied and determined not to be feasible.
On-Street free parking areas	Seasonal implementation.

After the comprehensive plan was adopted in 1993, the City amended and updated its zoning ordinance to be generally consistent with the plan. Key features of the new zoning ordinance included the creation of transitional districts around the business district. The City also pursued further implementation by preparing its first Business District Action Plan in 1997. This plan set a vision completion year of 2001, and was actually entitled Meadville 2001, a Business District Action Plan.

1997 BDAP Goals	2006 Results/Status
Tax base and land use issues
Fill empty storefronts	Ongoing, no active recruitment program. At the bank a successful private-sector model.
Encourage second floor uses	Ongoing (i.e., Mark Reed condos, Career Link re-location), no active recruitment or assistance provided
Upgrade infrastructure	Ongoing (i.e., new paving, extended streetscape/lighting, new curb ramps, parking garage)

Increased community commitment
Extend existing volunteer programs	Needs improvement. New group of downtown stakeholders working on parking issues.
Encourage positive community self-image	Needs improvement. Image Committee no longer active.

Improved urban design
Improve awareness of parking availability	Ongoing. New public parking signs provided with Barco funding. New Market Square parking ramp.
Save/rehabilitate existing buildings	Ongoing (i.e., Kepler Hotel, Mark Reed condos, Jr. High, at the bank, Meadville Town Tavern)
Continued improvement of streetscapes	Ongoing. Continued extension of streetscape/lighting/brick improvements surrounding IMPACT Meadville.

Unified marketing
Create a plan to market downtown as a destination	Needs improvement. No cohesive marketing plan under way. Some assistance provided by CCCVB.

1997 Buildings/Projects	2006 Status/Results
CVS Building	Privately owned and occupied by ARC of Crawford County.
Wolff’s Building	Privately owned by Norman LaBruzzo, fully occupied by Allegro Dance Arts and Tonix Night Club.
Market Alley	Ongoing. Funding secured. Construction Summer 2007.
Meridian Building	Privately owned by local law firm, first floor retail tenant.
Veith Building	Privately owned and occupied by Bill Lawrence.
Eldred Building	Privately owned by CCDC. Four second floor apartments fully rented, vacant first floor retail space.
Snodgrass Building	Privately owned by CC Coalition on Housing Needs, including all apartments fully occupied.
Market House	1997 renovation complete, with more recent window replacement, painting and first floor restroom complete.
Kepler Block	Former Kepler Hotel renovation and new addition complete—7 retail spaces and 30 condo units. Second phase of townhouse construction planned for Spring 2007. Development of two new commercial buildings pending.

The County was also active in economic development that included downtown commercial areas. The Crawford County Economic Roadmap was adopted in 2004 to create a better systemic approach to economic development in the County. The 128-page document primarily deals with the economic development delivery system of local governments and non-profits. However, it has chosen some overall

economic priorities. The document established “Downtown Development” as one of six local priority areas. The document set several indicators for downtown progress.

Downtown Development Priorities from the County Economic Roadmap

· Public- and private-sector dollars invested in downtown areas

· New investment leads generated

· New investments made by existing and new companies in Crawford County’s downtowns

· Job creation by expanding and newly located firms in Crawford County’s downtowns

· Positive change in the perception of Crawford County’s downtown areas

· Increase in tourism visitors to the County’s downtowns, and increased spending from these visitors

The Action Plan section recommended that 5 percent of all economic development resources be directed toward improving these downtown indicators. However, it also recommended that this phase of the Action Plan agenda not be pursued immediately. This means that long-term assistance may be expected from the County’s economic development network. However, significant short-term assistance should not be expected from countywide organizations.

The most recent planning effort in the Region led to this BDAP update. In 2005, the City agreed to participate in a multi-municipal comprehensive plan, which would also cover the Borough of Conneaut Lake and the two townships of Sadsbury and Vernon.

Simultaneous to this effort, the French Creek project has also undertaken a detailed study and analysis of the Meadville Market House. This study will be important, as it will strengthen a key historic and economic resource in the heart of the business district.

Public Input – Surveys of the Community

Surveys: Surveys were undertaken to augment information available from statistical sources and published plans. Economic statistics collected on a national level only tell a part of the story of economic performance. These sources tend to miss nuances. For example, many sole proprietorship businesses are not included in the retail trade series because they do not have payrolls. The Census also simply calculates employment, payroll, and sales data. It does not attempt to measure optimism, satisfaction, or attitudes.

Merchant Survey: In order to fill out the knowledge base, it was decided to distribute a survey to every merchant and business owner in the project area. A five-page survey was prepared. It was distributed and tabulated by a Meadville Redevelopment Authority intern from Allegheny College. The survey return was 94, out of 197 distributed. This was a return of 47 percent, which is unusually high.

One of the most striking aspects of the merchant’s survey was the level of pessimism. The response to the question, What’s the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you think of downtown Meadville? elicited many more negative than positive responses.

In total, there were 53 negative responses, and only 23 positive responses. Negative responses tended to emphasize empty storefronts and lack of business. Positive responses focused on the Market House, new stores coming in, positive attitudes, potential, and a physically attractive community.

In spite of the general pessimism, merchants were generally satisfied with many basic City services.

Merchants Survey Response to Public Services in Downtown Meadville
	Excellent	Good	Fair	Poor	Total Responses
Police and Fire Protection	38	50	4	0	92
Local Tax Rates	4	20	46	18	88
Local Government Business Assistance	7	23	31	19	80
Litter Control	9	39	21	18	87
Zoning and Code Enforcement	4	45	24	3	76
Snow Removal	13	51	19	4	87
Parking Enforcement	19	45	16	7	87

The merchants also believed that targeted activities could improve the downtown. Merchants prioritized several activities:

High Priority Merchant Suggestions:

· Attract large developers to undertake new commercial or residential buildings

· Provide technical and financial assistance to businesses

· Undertake marketing and promotion of the downtown

· Sponsor more festivals, entertainment, and events

Moderate Priority Merchant Suggestions:

· Undertake targeted litter and code enforcement

· Develop bicycle and pedestrian trails to connect the downtown to other areas

· Develop more public space for events or passive recreation, such as places for people to sit

· Develop uniform street signs, street lighting, and sidewalk appearances

· Develop more historic and arts attractions

Low Priority Merchant Suggestions:

· Develop more space for parking

In terms of business development, a majority of local business owners would like to see more restaurants and retail stores. There is not overall resentment of potential competition.

Three quarters of survey respondents stated they would like to see the City re-enter the Main Street Program. However, only 10 percent offered financial support (though more stated they would consider it if given more information).

A small core of businesses expressed a willingness to participate in a variety of ways.

	Which of the Following Actions would Business Owners Support?
	Strongly Support	Somewhat Support	Do Not Support	Not Sure	Total Responses
Offer letters of support and meet with state and federal officials on grants to improve the downtown?	40	24	4	11	79
Private cash donation towards a match for state or federal grants for projects to improve the downtown?	8	21	30	18	77
Private donation of services toward revitalization.	12	14	22	25	73
Establish a business improvement district, where a portion of real estate taxes would only be spent within the downtown.	40	22	5	12	79
Provide a cash match to a grant to rehabilitate the façade of the building your business is located in.	17	16	27	15	75

Shopper Survey: Economic statistics are one measure of how well the downtown functions. Another is to gauge the satisfaction of the people who are actually living, working, or shopping in the Business District. Toward that end, a downtown shopper’s survey was distributed. It was not meant to be a scientific random sample. The survey was set up to allow any interested person to participate. It was also meant to

How often do you visit downtown Meadville to shop, purchase services, or conduct business? Most Common Response Highlighted
Good or Service	Almost Everyday	Weekly	Once Per Month	1-4 Times Per Year	Never	Total Responses
To buy convenience food or snacks	26	59	49	10	13	157
To shop for groceries or produce	11	80	29	8	14	142
To pay bills or do banking	17	66