The Bradford Regional Planning, or Master Plannning process held a public forum Wednesday night at Fretz Middle School.

Commissioned by Bradford’s Office Of Economic And Community Development (OECD), the consulting team shared some of the information and impressions they have gathered so far.

Read about the Strategic Plan here. You can also learn more and give your opinion:

• Bradford Regional Strategy
• TalkAboutBradford.com Discussion

The public forum with the planning team will be held in the meeting room at Fretz Middle School on the evening of March 5th from 7-9pm. All are welcome - please mark your calendars!

This is your chance to make your opinion heard on Bradford’s future!

Additional information:

Bradford Regional Strategy Web Site
Bradford Regional Strategy - The Master Plan
TalkAboutBradford.com Discussion

Bradford Regional Strategy

is the process of hammering out a development plan for Bradford and the surrounding area. In addition to the 100 local residents involved on committees, the consultants invite public input via their web site.

So far, topics for discussion include Bradford’s strengths and weaknesses. Read the information directly from the researchers and consultants. You can read the minutes of each interview session as they talked to local students, township commissioners, realtors, and others. Voice your opinion. Give your two cents about the direction Bradford should take, or how to get where we need to go.

The web site has an in-depth analysis of economic data for McKean County and the 8 counties immediately surrounding it. The study compares local and regional data with national and state averages. It identifies what we have, what we’re short on, and what we’re totally missing to grow now and in the future.

The analysis itself is interesting, and breaks the economic picture into several views. Almost 50% of the region’s economic output is from manufacturing. In McKean County, Forest, wood, and wood related products provide 1,174 jobs. Healthcare and healthcare related industries provide 1,866 jobs in the county.

You can also read some ideas on the subject here.

From their “About Us” page:

The Master Planning Process:

1 - All three municipalities - The City of Bradford, Bradford Township and Foster Township - have agreed to participate in and support this effort.

2 - There are four main committees made up of nearly 100 involved residents:

- Steering Committee

- Downtown Strategy and Regional Business Subcommittee

- Zoning Subcommittee

- Economic Development Subcommittee

3 - There are plans to hold at least two Town Meetings during the process that will be open to the public. Ideas will be presented and input will be solicited from community members.

4 - The planning team will be meeting with government officials not specifically sitting on plan committees during the process to keep them informed.

5 - The planning team make-up:

MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni Architects - Albert Filoni, Kenneth Lee, Amy Maceyko

Impact Economics - Simon Tripp

Zoning/Planning - Roberta Sarraf, AICP

6 - Meeting minutes, reports and other documents will be posted to this website throughout the process for public consumption and comment over the course of the next year.