Claysville Undertakes Revitalization Master Plan

Tuesday evening saw Claysville community members congregate for a public input meeting fronted by the Master Revitalization Steering Committee. The committee, established in 2019, seeks to rejuvenate the area’s commercial and economic states alongside pursuing new opportunities with infrastructure, assets, and businesses. Composed of nine total municipalities (East/West Finley, Donegal, Claysville, Blaine, Buffalo, Morris, South Franklin, and Green Hills Borough), the committee’s Claysville Area Master Revitalization Plan primarily focuses on improving the way of life for all of its inhabitants through reviving its area and serving for their essential needs, such as functional, broadband internet. In May 2019, the committee was formed from representatives of different municipalities and organizations to decide upon the project, which was originally designed to only cover Claysville and Donora. Accrued funding from both public and private sources will be directed towards the engineering firm and consultant partners Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic Inc., who will help coordinate funding sources, according to committee member Rick Newton. “What HRG is going to do is help us create a revitalization plan: A multiyear, multiphase revitalization plan that then will also have funding sources identified”, said Newton. Since the plan pertains to a wide scope of communities with separate demands and necessities, the committee held a public meeting to hear the input of Claysville locals. Through different group surveys, attendees provided plenty of suggestions, ideas, and feedback for the area’s revitalization. Topics ranged from developing historical museums, building youth facilities, ensuring broadband internet service, and preserving the agricultural aspect of the area. Members from both the committee and Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic Inc. briefly studied the group responses recorded and found that the residents prefer infrastructure for senior living homes and communities rather than housing for larger nuclear families and that establishing a broadband, fiber-optic network is the most important utility demand for them. With the countless subjects of change espoused by the people, committee member Dennis Dutton remarked that meeting all of these goals would be difficult, but he nonetheless remained hopeful about the project. “In any area like this, each municipality has their own goals, and making that into one goal is very challenging to itself”, Dutton said. In continuing these surveys, the second and final public input meeting will be held on July 13th at the same location.