$6M comprehensive plan gets approval
In a split vote Tuesday morning, Pittsburgh City Council authorized spending $6 million for a comprehensive plan to guide long-term planning in the city.
Council members Anthony Coghill, Deb Gross and Theresa Kail-Smith all voted against the plan Tuesday, matching how those members voted during the preliminary approval last week.
All three of them, as well as some other members who ultimately voted in favor of the plan, had raised concerns last week about its price and scope. When finished, it is meant to include recommendations to overhaul the city’s zoning code, address climate change and combat historical racial and social injustices in Pittsburgh.
The plan is split into two legislative pieces: one for a nearly $3.3 million contract with HR&A Advisors, which has numerous offices including one in Washington, D.C., and Urban American City, in
New York, for the technical writing of the plan. The other is for the city to contract with Common Cause Consulting, in Pittsburgh, and Sasaki, of Boston, to do about $2.6 million worth of community engagement.
The city expects the money to be spent over a twoyear period.
“I think this plan is still far too expensive,” Councilman Bob Charland said last week. “I don’t have a justification that meets my needs for why it is so expensive.”
Mr. Charland ultimately voted in favor of the plan. “We desperately need zoning reform,” he said last week. “Our zoning code is outdated. It’s racist and prohibits growth in our city, and for that reason I can support this.”
Mr. Coghill last week said he thought it would be financially irresponsible to pass the plan without considering how much money the city will have to pay back from property tax reassessments. Residents have until March to appeal their assessment. The city has already had to reimburse about $2 million.
Nonprofit organization 1Hood Media, Brown Mamas — an advocacy group for Black women — and environmental justice advocate Alyssa Lyon have all been chosen to help facilitate the public engagement component and will be paid for their involvement.
Councilman Khari Mosley abstained from the vote regarding public engagement because of his involvement with Hill District- based 1Hood Media.
Last week, Ms. Kail-Smith questioned the public engagement process, and said she had reservations — namely concerns that, if not handled properly, the responses might be what the city wants to hear, rather than how people actually feel.
“I hope that we’re not trying to manipulate the public to get an answer that we could have just simply said and not cost the taxpayers a dime,” she said at the time.
In previous discussions regarding the comprehensive plan, council members asked why the city needed to spend millions of dollars on community engagement when the mayor has an Office of Neighborhood Services that does just that.
Karen Abrams, director of city planning, said that in speaking with the neighborhood services team, in order for them to complete the level of public engagement Pittsburgh is striving for to develop this plan, they would have to stop their other programs, which include things like the City in the Streets program and other community engagement meetings.
The goal is to reach 10% of city residents to get their feedback for the plan. In typical community engagement efforts, the city hears from about 6%, Ms. Abrams said.