As Peter Panepento wrote in his blog, OutsideErie, earlier today, the Erie Port Authority this evening conducted a presentation and question/comment session relating to the Land Use plan being developed for the Erie Bayfront. This version of the plan will cover the next ten-year period.

John Elliot, of the Erie Redevelopment Authority, gave a brief rundown of the present demographic of downtown Erie, and a market analysis for future planning. He touched on the number of retail businesses in the downtown, of which there are 98, and the fact that most are food/beverage related. Obviously the area needs more specialty retail shops to draw customers to downtown, and the shops would tend to support each other.

He also mentioned that there are 1,300 residential units in downtown Erie. Of that total, only 13 are owner-occupied. This situation leads to a generally lower income residential base. The need at this time is to develop more owner-occupied units in the downtown, hopefully in the higher price ranges.

To maximize the benefit of the Bayfront, it must be more easily accessed from downtown, and both east and west sides of the city need better access without having to drive from Cranberry to State, or East Avenue to Holland St. to enter the Parkway.

William Petit presented several ideas for improvement in this area, including increasing ridership on bayfront buses by moving the Park-N-Ride lots further out, perhaps with free parking in outlying areas, and getting progressively more expensive closer to center city. This could lead to more ridership and decrease car traffic on the parkway. It was also noted that of 75,000 vehicles that transverse Erie each day, almost as many use the Parkway, a two-lane street, as use 12th Street, the main East-West corridor, which is 5 lanes. This leads to heavy congestion on the Parkway and makes for difficulties accessing the features along the waterfront.

Michael Kannard, the Planning Architect, outlined a preliminary Land-Use Plan for the Bayfront, taking into account the varied usages now in effect, and how to pull everything together into a workable, cohesive, plan.

In general, he seemed to be very much in favor of a mixed-use formula, incorporating recreation, retail, and residential usage. Layered usage, with retail on the lower level, possibly offices on second level, and apartments on the top floors would maximize the space available for development. He also detailed the need for much more green space and public access to the water all along the waterfront. Possible enhancements would include a boardwalk out to the wetlands of Cascade Park, expansion of Overlook Park, and adding to the trail system. Lampe would become parkland, possibly with another amphitheater, and the areas around the Land Lighthouse and Wayne Blockhouse would be improved, possibly with new concession stands and public facilities on site.

Most undeveloped areas surrounding Dobbin’s Landing would be layered usage, again, with green space and public access to the water where possible. Some areas are privately owned, so planning of those sites is not possible. They include the Scott property and the GAF property.

To improve traffic flow along the bayfront, it was suggested that a light rail or trolley would be a good addition. Also welcome would be a plan to somehow tie the land atop the bluffs to development of the bayfront, thus helping to revitalize the neighborhoods. Suggestions included a restaurant on top of the bluff overlooking the Bay, and better access down to the parkway.

Comments from the gallery included not allowing construction to block lake views, preserving the maritime experience, and having a lot of green space on it’s own merit, since it too is a most valuable asset.

All in all, the presentation was very informative and well received by the crowd, which flowed out into the hallway. I think a tip-o-the hat is due to the Port Authority for attempting to reach out to the citizens of Erie for their input.