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Vision 2025 Cambria City

Planning Internship

Report Jennifer Brady

Department of Geography & Regional Planning

GEOG 698: InternshipSummer 2016

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TABLE OF CONTENTSObjectives......................................................................................................................................................3Products of Internship.................................................................................................................................4Greenspace Expansion...................................................................................................................................4Parking Inventory...........................................................................................................................................6Urban Trail Connectivity...............................................................................................................................7Techniques & Approaches..........................................................................................................................9Obstacles.....................................................................................................................................................10Obstacle Resolution...................................................................................................................................10Final Contribution.....................................................................................................................................11Internship Application to Career Goals..................................................................................................12Appendix.....................................................................................................................................................14

TABLE OF FIGURESTABLE 1: PARKING AVAILABILITY IN CAMBRIA CITY....................................................................................7TABLE 2: VACANT LOT OWNERSHIP.................................................................................................................14TABLE 3: SURFACE LOT OWNERSHIP AND SPACE COUNT................................................................................14

MAP 1: RECOMMENDATION SCENARIOS..........................................................................................................16MAP 2: VACANT LOTS.......................................................................................................................................17MAP 3: SURFACE LOT (PURPLE) AND ON-STREET PARKING AVAILABILITY (ORANGE)..................................18MAP 4: COMPLETE MAP DETAILING PARKING AND GREENSPACE EXPANSION..............................................19MAP 5: RESIDENTIAL PARKING (GREEN) VS. UNCOUNTABLE PARKING (RED)...............................................20MAP 6: URBAN TRAIL CONNECTIVITY SCENARIOS..........................................................................................21

OBJECTIVES

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Unless “goal” means something different than “objective.”
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Johnstown Area Regional Industries (JARI) and Ryan Kieta and Wally Burlack, both community development professionals hired for their ability to achieve improved community and economic development, are working together to achieve the goals and mission of Vision 2025. For the majority of my time with JARI, I worked mostly under Ryan, one of the directors for the Vision 2025 initiative.

Vision 2025 is a community based effort in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that encompasses different community improvement plans, including three specific initiatives: Strong sense of community, life-sustaining landscapes, and vibrant and open local economy. Each community improvement plan includes five designated “capture teams” responsible for different issues or improvements to the community. Each capture team includes a leader and volunteers that help to achieve the goals of each of the teams. Each capture team holds meetings periodically to coordinate efforts in the community and to update each other on progress and obstacles. For example, Geocaching, Community Garden Improvement, Downtown (Johnstown) Planning and Inventory, Cambria City Planning, Energy Efficient Housing Programs, Riverwall Charrette, and Entrepreneurship Opportunities are all capture teams, among many more, identified in Vision 2025.

Within the larger effort of Vision 2025, I was aiding one of the capture teams, Cambria City Planning. Within the specific capture team of Cambria City Planning are two phases: regulations and design guidelines, and projects and physical improvements. Both phases have time schedules appropriate for the scope of work included. This specific capture team works under Rick Truscello, AICP and Planning Services Director for The EADS Group. In the previous stage for Cambria City Planning, Rick worked with the multiple individuals and organizations to designate Cambria City as a National Register Historic District and helped

develop new design guidelines (achieved April 2015) funded by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Developmental, and the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies. His work includes details pertaining to the current infrastructure of Cambria City, architectural patterns of the current buildings and residences, and important current guidelines for new construction. Construction guidelines include those that pertain to floodplain requirements and building form and pattern. The initial review identified key buildings in the neighborhood, including 16 proposed sites for planned reuse.

The next stage in Cambria City Planning includes 22 individual elements approved by the City. Those elements include community engagement, development of a neighborhood logo, examination of current building conditions, a parking study, evaluation of existing land use, walkway improvements, and river access, among many others. My internship primarily supported the parking study and greenspace expansion opportunities. Within the parking study, analysis of on- and off- street parking availability was completed. Documentation of current parking standards of the City was also acquired. However, obstacles with the parking standards (Article VIII) arose, and will be detailed further in this report. Due to unforeseen circumstances, consultation with surface lot owners and the production of a formal parking agreement was unable to occur. In the stakeholder meeting with Rick Truscello, Renee Daly (insert title...) and Ryan Kieta this issue was brought up, however, resolution at the time was difficult to achieve.

Additional information in the analysis of existing land use will aid development leaders in updating the mapping from the Cambria County Comprehensive Plan. Traffic calming and streetscape improvements to specific roads were documented graphically and recommendations through conceptual drawings were given.

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CC has been a historic district for a couple of decades at least, but the local preservation guidelines are new.
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PRODUCTS OF INTERNSHIP

My duties served to inventory and map greenspace expansion opportunities and parking lot availability. I also produced a plan for greenspace and parking availability within the Cambria City neighborhood of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In addition to this task, I also analyzed the neighborhood for existing and potential greenspace locations and briefly determined urban trail connectivity to downtown Johnstown.

I developed a graphic plan and recommendations for greenspace expansion and parking inventory (for those determinable sites) using Adobe Photoshop and base maps created by The EADS Group. All graphic representations of work are available in the Appendix.

GREENSPACE EXPANSIONCurrently within Cambria City there are several vacant lots that fall under the category for greenspace expansion. A variety of owners, including private businesses and private residents, own the surface rights to these lots. Mineral and underground rights to all parcels within Cambria City are owned by Pristine Resources Incorporated. All ownership rights were determined using Cambria County GIS, an online GIS site detailing up-to-date information.

Greenspace expansion occurred in several different mediums. For example, The EADS Group had previous identified 16 feasible sites. These sites include several already vacant lots with property owners appearing to be cooperative with greenspace introduction and expansion, while some are still under private ownership, and others designated as holdouts.

Through field work, several additional properties were identified using Canvassmate, an iPhone mobile application; field work identified a total of 26 sites. Sites from both the field study and the initial assessment overlap, the revisited number of potential greenspace sites for Cambria City is 36. Of those 36, the total vacant parcels of land

identified are 19. All sites with current ownership information are listed in the Appendix.

In an effort to reduce fragmentation of greenspace, and to use the current physical layout, a suggestion was made to improve the east-west running streets: Cambria Place, Power Street, Brallier Place, and Chestnut Street. By using these existing streets as infrastructure, efforts to improve—by ways of streetscaping such as implementation of trees, assorted planters, or other landscaping methods—are suggested. Due to its large amount of traffic and current status of State Route 56, Broad Street is not included into the greenspace expansion. However, when redesign is applied to the rest of the neighborhood, this street and its design should be revisited to improve continuity within the neighborhood. Important features to consider when implementing Broad Street into the greenspace expansion of Cambria City is the large amount of traffic it carries. Numerous heavy trucks utilize this road as a thoroughfare, in an addition to everyday commuters. Due to this factor, traffic calming practices, such as curb extensions and enlarged medians, would be aspects to consider.

Within the greenspace expansion plan, an important factor to consider is business collaboration and agreements. Several businesses within Cambria City are in support of the greenspace expansion: Bottleworks on 3rd Avenue, Cambria City Flowers on 6th Avenue, and Stella Property Development. Both Stella Property Development and Cambria City Flowers are owned by the same individuals.

Bottleworks is one of the key institutions within Cambria City due to the fact it has acquired grant money to reconfigure its existing parking lot to a green parking lot. Architectural plans have been designed and presented to Angela Rizzo, Executive Director at Bottleworks. Several goals of the redesigned parking lot include: multi-purpose use and flexibility; maximization of pedestrian friendliness; and utilizing the existing, local businesses in the area and to work to have

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where?
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word choice...”categories” maybe
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communication amongst them regarding when events are taking place.

In a stakeholder meeting, Angela Rizzo was very cooperative and offered designs for the kind of space they are envisioning to act as a catalyst for the neighborhood. One of her main goals is to create an order of importance and utilize the space in a way that is applicable and agreeable with everyone involved. In an effort to satisfy all parties involved, Bottleworks is working to maintain some level of parking within its facility, as well. In regards to the parking availability in Cambria City, some factors Bottleworks is looking to consider are expected crowd numbers, timing of events, and a concrete agreement amongst the current businesses.

Additional businesses in the neighborhood include owners of Cambria City Flowers and Stella Property Development, Chad. E. Pysher and Steven J. Biter. Both have expressed interest in helping revitalize the community through greenspace expansion. They currently own three properties in Cambria City, all of which have been identified by JARI and field work as sites feasible for greenspace expansion.

Theorizing that Bottleworks’ green parking lot will act as a catalyst in the area, several opportunities for expansion arise through the acquisition of several dilapidated residences and businesses and vacant lots.

Some factors to keep in mind when expanding greenspace within a community is the fact that greenspace should remain as connected as possible. Fluidity of greenspace in not only ideal from a planning perspective, but also from a natural biodiversity perspective. Additionally, the use and development of core areas is desirable from a greenspace planning perspective. Using The EADS Group’s base map and information from field work and ready provided information, several maps were produced with viable scenarios to be implemented periodically, see Map 1. Ownership of vacant lots are listed in the Appendix.

Area E focuses in the eastern area of the community, it is encouraged to work with

Bottleworks’ lots and run along the side of Roosevelt Blvd. (Area G) on the side nearest the river. This area is theorized to be a suitable space for a proposed greenway corridor. However, the convergence of Broad St. and Roosevelt Blvd. is understood to be dangerous due to heavy and high speed traffic; therefore, prolonged pedestrian use in Area G is discouraged. Greenspace expansion is to run along to Power Street and connect with 6th Ave., Areas H, D, and C. Currently, across from JAHA, the is an empty lot (Site 7 owned by Carrie Foor,– the previous 6th Avenue Pizza restaurant). Adjacent is a residence owned by Keith Krisay, that would need to be acquired and demolished to complete the corridor on that side of the street. On the other side are two parcels, both under Toth and Simkovic ownership.

Area A, in the Northern corner of the neighborhood is similar to the previous scenario, as it it theorized that a greenway corridor would be constructed along the river. The cooperation of the 10th Street location of Alternative Community Resource Program (ACRP) is also required in this scenario. However, at the northern corner of the neighborhood, Lot 1, owned by the Kovalchick Corporation, proves to be an obstacle, due to monetary issues and land speculation on his part. The current condition of this land does not meet the amount of money Kovalchick is requesting. As the status of several businesses within this scenario is unknown, some factors are still undecided when considering this as an opportunity for greenspace expansion. Lot 2, owned by MTR Inc. currently serves several unknown residents or businesses as cars periodically and permanently use it for parking. However, the application of street trees, streetscaping methods and community efforts to improve Cambria Place and Chestnut St. (Areas I and J, respectively), is not hindered by the aforementioned obstacles.

In coordination with a central greenspace theme, Area D that utilizes Lots 8, 9, and 10 would be an additional ideal inclusion in the first scenario. As these lots are located more or less centrally in Cambria City, the acquisition of ownership of the surface rights would be quite important for greenspace expansion. Current ownership of

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Spell out.
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explain
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Spell out.
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in a meeting you had?
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these lots are as follows: Pysher and Biter, Carpenter, and End Poverty Now Incorporated, respectively.

Areas B and F, both located along Broad St. at opposite ends, are potential locations for proposed gateways. Examples of proposed signage would include welcoming or notice of leaving Cambria City. These areas are crucial to include because currently there does not appear to be any recognition of the historic neighborhood to passersby, and unless you’re local, you might not even know of its historic and cultural importance.

Additional theorized empty and possible acquired businesses in Cambria City include: Kindya Electric Contractors, The Parrot Bay Café, and The Hungarian Reformed Church. Status of these businesses are listed as non-vacant, but non-functional.

Residences that appear to be in a state of distress include those along Roosevelt Blvd., Lot 18, owned by Pietron and Moore, respectively, Lot 15 owned by Stephen Toth, and Roxbury Place. Further investigation into current status of ownership and acquisition ease has been conducted through communication with Jennifer Burkhart, Codes Officer, for the City of Johnstown. She lists the following properties (as of May 2016) as vacant: 403-405 Chestnut, 220 Chestnut, 421 Brallier Place, and 724 Broad Street.

PARKING INVENTORY The current parking availability in Cambria City was quantified using both online GIS resources (Cambria County GIS and Google Maps), maps provided by JARI and The EADS Group, along with supplemental field work. Issues in parking arise when vendors come in to provide for events. These vendors take up space, those attending the events need space, businesses in operation around the event need space, and residents need space. Coordination with businesses in event holdings and communication amongst them is required for

alleviation of parking issues and residential complaints. Institutions, such as Bottleworks, are unsure of current Cambria City or Johnstown parking standards as these tend to differ from city to city. Further communication with Renee Daly, and Kimberly Struble, building code official, regarding building codes and permits was confirmed, however, these parking standards proved to be difficult to apply to several of the businesses in Cambria City and requirements proved to be difficult to apply. Obstacles regarding the parking inventory will be detailed further in this document.

The zoning classifications for Cambria City include: Municipal (M-1), Residential (R-2), TND, Commercial (C-2) and Conservancy (S). The surface lots are located in all of these zones except Conservancy. Lending to the availability of parking for residents and commercial businesses.

Examples of establishments with surface lots in Cambria City include several retail businesses, places of worship, residences, and numerous restaurants and bars. Additional establishments include several privately owned business such as an electrical contractor, an auto body shop, and a car dealership.

Parking space requirements for Cambria City were derived from the City of Johnstown’s Zoning Ordinance, Article VIII: Supplementary Provisions, provided by Kimberly A. Struble, building code official. However, complications occurred when these requirements were applied to the establishments of Cambria City, as Article VIII describes the parking standards in an extensive amount of detail. Due to temporal restraints and the extensive labor requirement it would take to derive accurate measurements for parking lots in each of the establishments in Cambria City, quantification of parking requirements cannot be completed at this time. Additionally, it is to be noted that the City of Johnstown neglects to consider on-street parking in Article VIII. When applied to a neighborhood, such as Cambria City, it is unadvisable to not take this into account.

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who?
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Analysis of Cambria City’s residential parking requirement totaled 138.5 parking spaces allotted to residences for one-and-two and three-or-more family homes. Field work, Cambria County GIS, and Google Maps aided in proper identification of residential buildings in contrast to those buildings which serve a commercial function. When quantification parking in Cambria City, we realized that there is a parking shortage and efforts to either change the City’s parking standard or create more parking opportunities must be taken.

In analysis of spatial trends, most homes are focused in the center blocks of Cambria City. Residences occur in 83% of the blocks. In analysis of the parking requirement, it is to be noted that all residential buildings share the block with a business or an empty lot.

In application of the City of Johnstown’s parking standard, designation of one space per one-two family residence and one and a half spaces per three-or-more homes, analysis yields that Cambria City is indeed short of parking. Some homes have the convenience of attached or unattached garages; however, these were disregarded during field work as ownership was unsure and some have their own parking spaces within their lot. Whilst this is not the case across the neighborhood, it does appear more than several times. Assumption lends to the idea that these people either do not own personal vehicular transportation, or they simply park on the street adjacent to their home. Utilization of on-street parking is prevalent and convenient in Cambria City and should be recognized by the City’s parking standard.

URBAN TRAIL CONNECTIVITY

Brief work was also contributed to the urban trail connectivity project, proposed and lead by Brad Clemenson, coordinator of LIFT Johnstown. This is an attempt to connect several hiking, walking, and biking trails in the downtown, Cambria City, and West End sections of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Several corridors have been identified and examined for connectivity:

Corridor 1 Connecting the Cambria Iron Trail through Cambria City and the West End

Corridor 2 Connecting the Path of the Flood Trail to downtown Johnstown

Corridor 3 Connecting Greenhouse Park to the existing James Mayer Riverswalk Trail

For the intent of this study, examination and location feasibility focused on Corridor 1, especially as it pertained to Cambria City’s position in the urban trail connectivity, and the ongoing efforts that are being taken to enhance this historic neighborhood. Field work was conducted in late May 2016 to determine most possible routes that include appropriate street width, sidewalk availability, safety issues, and use of existing infrastructure. All proposed routes are included in Map 6 in the Appendix.

The importance of urban trails should remain in the forefront, especially as organizations have helped identify positive impacts on neighborhoods that incorporate urban trails into their built environment. Amenities such as these not only help improve health issues such as obesity, but when put in a location that has destinations in downtown areas or CBDs, can help to alieve traffic congestion, and increase greenspace in areas where it would otherwise be difficult to foster.

In Cambria City, there are three possible routes for connection to downtown Johnstown:

The first scenario in the Urban Johnstown Connectivity Project utilizes the foot-bridge along Broad Street as a crossing point. In this scenario, the urban trail is theorized to come from

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downtown Johnstown, along Iron Street, and cross the foot-bridge at the intersection of Broad Street and Roosevelt Boulevard. From there, it would be routed along the side of Roosevelt Boulevard closest to the Conemaugh River. When the trail reaches the intersection of 4 th

Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, it will turn right to run along Power Street, it will continue to 6th Avenue where it will continue westward. The urban trail is then expected to run along 6 th

Avenue towards the adjacent Brownstown neighborhood. Extension beyond Brownstown was not determined for this project.

Important factors that lent to this decision was that this specific scenario employs the already existing strip of land along both Roosevelt Boulevard and Power Street. Also, making Roosevelt Boulevard a one-way street will allow for some safety concerns to be alleviated. In an attempt to create a more enhanced Cambria City, the 6th Avenue corridor plays an important role in the Cambria City Planning part of Vision 2025.

Additional work in this particular scenario includes improvement of pedestrian access to the sidewalk along Broad Street – a heavily used state route for both commuters and heavy truck traffic. Also, if the proposed pathway is to occur at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Broad Street, traffic calming devices, or improved street crossings would have to be implemented for the safety of pedestrians and bikers. Additional information is included in the Obstacle section of this document.

The second scenario holds similar characteristics to the first scenario, however, instead of crossing the foot-bridge at the confluence of Roosevelt and Broad, the proposed urban trail is expected to go along Iron Street and come to connect to 4th

Avenue and across the 4th Avenue bridge. From the intersection of 4th Avenue and Power Street, the proposed path is then along Power Street until it reaches the 6th Avenue intersection. It is proposed to run along 6th Avenue, again extending across Broad Street to Brownstown.

Within this scenario, Broad Street and its heavy traffic is altogether avoided. This proves to be an important avoidance due to safety concerns and efforts that would have to be taken to make this corridor pedestrian friendly and safe. Again, this proposed urban pathway would incorporate 6th

Avenue in its design, lending to the idea that Cambria City has opportunity for expansion of greenspace and improvement of this particular avenue.

The third scenario holds similarities to the second scenario where it utilizes Iron Street and the 4 th

Avenue bridge. From there, it will continue shortly along 4th Avenue, and will turn right to go along Chestnut Street. The proposed pathway is to then extend all the way to 10 th Avenue, and will then circle back to 6th Avenue by way of Cambria Place.

As this scenario is the opposite in terms of adhering to the periphery of the community, it lends to a more tourist perspective of Cambria City. By looping around the community, this proposal will highlight specific, important buildings that would possibly lend to further economic development opportunities in Cambria City. Due to its historical designation and cultural past, a proposal to include prominent buildings, such as the churches or featured businesses, this scenario holds a factor that would prove beneficial to explore.

An alternative scenario would be to incorporate the most beneficial aspects of the others, while dismissing the most obstacle-ridden aspects of each. While this is a possible scenario, it does require further research into additional aspects of Cambria City (e.g. built environment, amenities). that should be included in an urban trail connection.

When completing a project such as urban trail connectivity, important things to consider when bisecting or skirting the edges of neighborhoods are the neighborhood’s strengths and weaknesses. Cambria City is no exception as it possesses certain features that fall into one of these two categories.

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Overall, Cambria City has strong infrastructure that supports the implementation of an urban trail project. Sidewalks line most of the streets (except Brallier Place and Cambria Place) and sections of Roosevelt Boulevard. Due to the conditions of the alleys (Brallier and Cambria), it is unadvisable to implement a pathway through these areas. Not only are the alleys narrow, but lighting is sporadic, and potentially dangerous during nighttime hours. Additional strengths Cambria City possesses lie in its lengthy historic and cultural past. In 2015, it gained newer design guidelines and is currently going through additional planning initiatives to improve and enhance these aspects. An effort should be made to highlight these important, marketable features, especially those centered around the ethnic, cultural aspect Cambria City possesses.

Within Cambria City, several obstacles prove to be difficult to overcome in the planning and implementation phase of an urban trail. Several

scenarios have been planned, but each includes some level of challenges. The biggest downfall of Cambria City is its location along Broad Street. This state route allows for heavy traffic, both industrial and residential for most daylight hours. Crossing Broad Street proves to be unsafe and difficult in some locations, as well as in some other locations, such as along Roosevelt Boulevard where sidewalks are sporadic and non-existent along one side. Additional problems arise in regards to the infrastructure, especially as it relates to the lack of housing and business setbacks. Problems may occur with increased foot and bike traffic along sidewalks. Further examination and possible surveying and public input meetings would be required to determine if this statement holds true.

These recommendations stand solely as conceptual and are in no case permanent and subject to change.

TECHNIQUES & APPROACHES

Several methods were employed in the completion of the Greenspace and Parking Internship through Johnstown’s Vision 2025.

Most maps were acquired digitally, composed by The EADS Group and shared with knowledge of their use through Google Drive. Other techniques for completing the internship included two days of field work—each served a quantification of vacant lots or distressed structures or surface lot maximum spaces. Additional methods included use of Adobe Photoshop for digitizing structures, depicting use, and detailing current ownership, as of May 2016.

Conceptual designs were constructed through hand-drawn sketching and later digitized with Adobe Photoshop.

Various stakeholder meetings took place which provided information regarding both greenspace expansion and parking inventory information.

Other sources of information included building code officials for the City of Johnstown, and code enforcement officers for the City of Johnstown.

Stakeholder meetings consisted of interested parties, such as Renee Daly, Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Johnstown, Angela Rizzo, Director of Bottleworks on 3rd Avenue in Cambria City, and Rick Truscello, (AICP) of The EADS Group. Ryan Keita was present at all stakeholder meetings. Additional information that pertains to the parking inventory included the parking space equation for determining parallel parking

spaces: street length( ft .)

20. Measurements for

street length were calculated using Google Maps’ measurement function. The following table depicts the numerical breakdown of analysis of the actual parking availability in Cambria City.

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TABLE 1: PARKING AVAILABILITY IN CAMBRIA CITY

OBSTACLES

Obstacles included mainly those pertaining to temporal and labor restraints. As mentioned previously, using the City of Johnstown’s parking standards in detail is not feasible during a 3cr internship. Due to these standards—e.g. 1 space per 2 barstools and 1 space per employee at peak hours and 1 space per 250 square foot of space used for business operation for restaurant/bar parking requirements—application was not able to be completed in the time I had to perform my duties. The quantification of parking requirements for Cambria City were not able to completed in an accurate manner due to this stipulation. This obstacle affected additional elements of the internship including formalization of a parking agreement amongst business owners in Cambria

City. However, in the quantification of parking spaces available in Cambria City, this number was easily computed through field work and the aforementioned mathematical equation.

Additional obstacles arose with the completion of the parking agreement amongst business owners in Cambria City. Due to the parking standard requirement not being completed, an agreement letter formalizing parking requirements was also unable to be completed.

Obstacles arose in scheduling stakeholder meetings due to the schedules of those involved; however, these were all rescheduled and all stakeholder meetings that were proposed to occur did indeed occur.

OBSTACLE RESOLUTION

In an attempt to complete parking space requirement quantification, an idea to apply a secondary parking standard to Cambria City was explored. It was theorized to be an adequate alternative as parking standards appeared to be similar across the country, and through working with Ryan, simpler standards were thought(?) to exist. This resolution seemed doable and time efficient, as well.

However, application of parking spaces dependent upon square footage of buildings seemed to be prevalent across the country in each parking standard that was identified. Therefore, the use of another city’s parking

standard did not seem to be appropriate.

In an attempt to deliver an accurate, concrete final product under the direction of Ryan Kieta, analysis of residential parking was the only parking inventory that could be performed. Using the City of Johnstown’s parking standard of one-and-two family residences are allotted one space per unit, and three-or-more family residences are allotted a space and a half per unit. Familiarity has been established with the layout and general building structures within Cambria City, so additional field work was not deemed necessary. With the use of Google Maps, satellite imagery, and Cambria County

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On-Street (parallel parking) 1,094

Off-Street (surface lots) 500

Off-Street (residential surface lots) 30

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GIS, building structures were identified that appeared to adhere to residential designation. Ownership of residences were identified, and these findings were keyed to a Photoshop map and PDF. See Map 5 in the Appendix for visualization.

Additional resolutions were provided in the stakeholder meeting with Renee Daly, Rick Truscello, and Ryan Keita. All findings and obstacles were presented at City Hall in Johnstown. It is recognized that further information is still needed to determine proper parking requirements for Cambria City. As Director for Economic and Community Development, Renee Daly is taking over the remainder of this project. Rick Truscello also brought up the implementation of variances and potentially using footprints of buildings to determine square footage of buildings to then determine the parking requirement, in a “working-backwards” fashion.

Within the urban trail connectivity project, specifically, obstacles arise in each of the scenarios aforementioned; however, particular obstacles are relevant to particular scenarios, while other obstacles apply to all the scenarios.

In the first scenario, the main obstacle to overcome is the fact that Broad Street abuts the sidewalk and foot-bridge that is proposed to extend along Roosevelt Boulevard. The safety of pedestrians should be held at highest importance, and alleviation of all probable and possible safety hazards should be considered. This route extends along Roosevelt Boulevard where sidewalk opportunities are lacking, but along the riverwalls is an extensive, connected space of grass existing infrastructure is present but this space fluctuates in width, where the smallest width is about 2 feet. In such places, opportunities for an urban trail that incorporates biking would be hard to maintain with

pedestrian walkability standards. Additional safety concerns arise in relation to the confluence of Roosevelt Boulevard and Broad Street—this intersection is perceived to be dangerous, especially as vehicles tend to speed around the corner. A possible alleviation in regards to this specifically, would be to make Roosevelt Boulevard a one-way street.

Specific to the second scenario are several obstacles that are related to traffic and pedestrian safety, as well. In relation to the 4 th Avenue bridge, a considerable amount of truck traffic uses this as a thoroughfare. Though this street does not run along Broad Street as the first scenario does, it is expected to cross it at the 6 th

Avenue intersection, across from JAHA, thus lending to additional safety concerns with pedestrians crossing streets.

The third scenario also is proposed to run along Iron Street and cross the 4th Avenue bridge. Within this scenario, as well as the second, increased traffic amounts may cause distress amongst some pedestrians. Obstacles may arise specific scenario in regards to navigation, especially as the urban trail pathway is proposed to loop through Cambria City instead of following a linear path. As this proposed pathway is the longest and most extensive, an obstacle that may come up is monetary funding.

All scenarios are expected to cross Broad Street at the 6th Avenue intersection. This intersection does have a stop light for traffic on all four-ways. However, additional traffic calming practices are recommended to be employed to ensure safe crossing for pedestrians. Additionally, the route along 6th Avenue, especially up the hill, is an extensive slope, and may prove to be difficult for some people. However, the end route for all proposed urban trails may shift and result in other obstacles not detailed in this report.

FINAL CONTRIBUTION

The final contribution to the Vision 2025, Cambria City Planning capture team was in the

form of a narrative, several maps detailing key sites including vacant lots, greenspace expansion

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scenarios, and surface and off-street parking opportunities. Recommendation scenarios are followed up within the following paragraphs.

Theorizing that Bottleworks’ green parking lot will act as a catalyst in the area, several opportunities for expansion arise through the acquisition of several dilapidated residences and businesses and vacant lots. Some factors to keep in mind when expanding greenspace within a community is the fact that greenspace should remain as connected as possible. Fluidity of greenspace in not only ideal from a planning perspective, but also from a natural biodiversity perspective. Additionally, the use and development of core areas is desirable from a greenspace planning perspective. Using The EADS Group’s base maps and information from field work and ready provided information, several maps were produced with viable scenarios to be implemented periodically, see Map 1 in the Appendix. Ownership of vacant lots are listed in the Appendix

Additional improvements to Cambria City include the dismantling of the river walls, a project that has an extensive timeline and is not expected to be complete for years to follow. However, as this project has been proposed to the Army Corps of Engineers, and accepted, work is expected to begin Summer 2016 with analysis of the current need of the walls being completed through the use of geographic

information systems (GIS), surveying, remodeling, and analysis. Cambria City is expected to benefit from this development, under the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Cambria City will also benefit from streetscaping principles such as the incorporation of street trees, appropriate elements for sidewalk zones, traffic calming procedures where applicable (Roosevelt Boulevard), flexible use of parking lanes for on-street parking maximum use, high visibility crosswalks where necessary, an increase in public open space, pedestrian buffering, and the encouragement of neighbor interaction are all community planning practices that can be applied to Cambria City. Opportunities for curb expansion should be seized when possible, lending to the increase of public space and creation of amenities. By improving the street corridors in this fashion, other improvements are theorized to follow, such as increases in local businesses and increase in neighborhood prosperity.

To conclude, this recommendation for Cambria City revitalization is a component of the City of Johnstown’s Vision 2025, using an open collaborative approach including residents and businesses to improve the current status of greenspace and parking in Cambria City.

INTERNSHIP APPLICATION TO CAREER GOALS

Recognizing that my overall career goal is a significant amount of time in the future, and due to the fact that I wish to discontinue my educational attainment at Master’s degree, my internship has served me in more ways than I initially perceived.

From a political perspective, it was enlightening to see all the obstacles someone like Ryan Kieta, who maintains a director position in Vision 2025, must overcome before reaching a small, concrete goal. For example, the Progress Party, which was held on May 23rd, 2016 at the Cambia

City bar Ace’s, simply updated the community on small barriers and goals that have been overcome and achieved in the past year. Though seemingly small, the Progress Party and the community effort that banded together to achieve a project such as Vision 2025 was illuminating, especially for a city like Johnstown that predominately has a negative reputation. When I initially applied for this opportunity, I admit I was not completely aware of the scope of the project until late in May when I attended the event. Being able to participate in an

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initiative such as this is not only applicable to a career, but also encouraging.

Additionally, stakeholder meetings and involvement with those people that are active in the community serves a crucial role in my career goal achievement. When looking to accomplish goal such as designation of a neighborhood to historical, cooperating and maintaining functioning relationships with those individuals is crucial; not just from a planning perspective and career, but from any career goal one desires. The benefits from the ability to coordinate a meeting, and actively participate with people interested in the same thing you are is a skill that applies directly.

As one of the directors for the Vision 2025 initiative, Ryan Kieta was not always present and in the office Monday-Friday. The ability to work independently, problem-solve, and develop forward-thinking skills that allow one to move on to the next project are also skills that have been developed from this internship that apply directly to my personal career goals.

The capture team I was aiding was Cambria City Planning, led by Rick Truscello, AICP at The EADS Group. In my duties, I inventoried and analyzed properties, including vacant lots, dilapidated buildings, or residences or structures that are in prime locations for acquisition and development of greenspace. As my Master’s work was centered in Environmental Planning, this internship applied directly in what I perceive my immediate employment opportunities to be and where I see myself in a working environment. Being a Johnstown native it was not only practical for me to complete an internship within the city, but more specifically, Cambria City, but it was encouraging to see initiatives being sparked and completed in a city that often gets negative remarks and bad press.

In conclusion, the Cambria City Planning internship not only has direct application to my specific career goals, but also aided in cultivating other skills crucial to a career that has focus in the public sector, and involves individuals from organizations that not only include engineering and design, and other private companies, but non-profit organizations and prominent city officials.

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APPENDIX TABLE 2: VACANT LOT OWNERSHIP

Lot Number

Ownership

1. Kovalchick Inc.

2. MTR

3. Plescovik

4. Shahade

5. Pysher and Biter

6. Cambria City Parks and Recreation

7. Foor

8. Pysher and Biter

9. Carpenter

10. End Poverty Now

11. St. Casimir

12. St. Stephen’s

13. Bottleworks

14. Bottleworks

15. S. Toth

16. Kline

17. Kline

18. Moore and Pietron

19. McConaughy Estate

TABLE 3: SURFACE LOT OWNERSHIP AND SPACE COUNTY

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Lot Number

Ownership Spaces

1. Cambria City Mission 12

2. B & L Wine Cellar (Gerard and Susan Brill and Richard and Antoinette Lamm) 7

3. Our Son’s – Customer (Frederick J. Folta) 11

4. Our Son’s – Staff (Frederick J. Folta) 3

5 Francis G. Ozog Funeral Home Inc. 58

6. 6TH Ave. Pizza Den—closed (Nicholas C. Bennet) 7

7. Cambria City Vet (Vincent and Johanna L. Vena) 24

8. Village St. Café (Big Enterprises LLC) 13

9. IBEW 13

10. Subway suite (Nicholas C. Bennet) 14

11. John and Shirley Allevato (residence) serves Missy’s Place 5

12. Johnstown Concert Ballet ( Carla A. and Joseph M. Prucnal Jr.) 7

13. Clean Water Car Wash (Morris Kline) 13

14. The Phoenix and Hideaway Bar – employees (David Sapolich) 5

15. The Phoenix – customers (David Sapolich) 36

16. Ray Lint (car dealership—merchandise needs parking) 14

17. David Sapolich (residence) 5

18. Diamond Conformal Coating LLC 17

19. Volocko Construction LLC 8

20. Altoona-Johnstown Diocese (St. Stephen’s, The Resurrection parish) 40

21. Stephen Pisarcik (residence) 2

22. Johnstown Housing Authority 42

23. Johanna Urena and Stephanie Cribas (residence) 2

24. RECA Limited Partnership 6

25. St. Rochus 27

26. William Pleskovic (residence) 4

27. Dennis Fitzpatrick (residence) 4

28. Kindya Electric Contractor 5

29. St. Rochus Congregation 16

30 Robert and Theresa Cassat (residence) 2

31. Aaron Hocker (residence) 2

32. Martin Furman (residence) 1

33. Martin Furman (residence) 2

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MAP 1: RECOMMENDATION SCENARIOS

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MAP 2: VACANT LOTS

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MAP 3: SURFACE LOT (PURPLE) AND ON-STREET PARKING AVAILABILITY (ORANGE)

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MAP 4: COMPLETE MAP DETAILING PARKING AND GREENSPACE EXPANSION

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MAP 5: RESIDENTIAL PARKING (GREEN) VS. UNCOUNTABLE PARKING (RED)

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MAP 6: URBAN TRAIL CONNECTIVITY SCENARIOS

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