This past week, members of Weirton Council and other officials of the municipal administration gathered for a pair of meetings to discuss the development of a City of Weirton Strategic Plan.

Representatives of Mackin Engineering are working with the city on this project, meeting with department heads Tuesday and then with council, the mayor, and others Wednesday.

Weirton officials have periodically tackled the task of updating the city’s Comprehensive Development Plan and Unified Development Ordinance. Those documents primarily focus on zoning laws and other regulations aimed at potential land use in the community. For example, where would industrial development best fit, which areas would be best for residential builds, how large can a sign be on the side of a building, how tall can someone build a fence.

This is another animal, and, frankly, it’s long overdue. I’ve been covering the Weirton area in one way or another for almost 24 years, and I personally don’t recall the last time a formal strategic plan was established for the city.

It’s always possible some documents were drawn up to serve as more of a private guidance by an administration here or there, but, unless it was done during those years I wasn’t actively on the beat, it’s likely a formal plan hasn’t been adopted in at least a couple of decades.

Unlike the development documents, which have been updated two or three times in my tenure, a strategic plan would come up with an actual mission statement for the city, as well as a list of tasks and goals.

Based on Wednesday work session, which was open to the public and held in the Rose Room of the Millsop Community Center, there are seven areas of focus the city and Mackin have put together for the time being. Those could all change as they go through the process, but many of them are things which have been talked about for years but had little movement.

They include the ideas of community promotion, marketing, and beautification, which include things like installing new wayfinding signage, enhancing landscaping and lighting, strengthen the city gateways, expanding educational outreach, and developing a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Now, some of these things – such as marketing and outreach – already are being worked on by agencies outside of the municipal government. The Top of West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau, for example, through its own efforts and with networking agreements with other tourism groups, works to promote the Weirton area, along with Hancock and Brooke counties.

There are other things the city can do though, such as create better channels of communication with residents and the community at large about the municipality’s activities.

Downtown revitalization also is an area much discussed for many years. The establishment of a Main Street program, which was attempted more than 20 years ago, will take some time, as will obtaining any grants for such a mission. Officials are routinely meeting with property owners, and that will always be a key.

Without cooperation from private property owners, there is little the city can do to tackle issues with some of the downtown. You can put all the nice signage you want up, but if you then see a series of large, empty buildings, does it matter?

Multi-modal transportation has been an ongoing focus, with multiple groups involved. The Panhandle Recreational Trail should be fully paved later this year, and there have been many changes in public transit over the last year. There’s ongoing work to develop an industrial access road, and the city is constantly working to better pave its streets.

One of the things different this time around with be the inclusion of a strategic plan for Weirton’s parks system, looking at current and future indoor options, improve safety, identify new park opportunities, develop new programming and look into riverfront development possibilities.

Various projects for public safety also are within the objectives.

This will all take some time to put together, and need constant monitoring, but, we’ll see if it pays off.

(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @CHowellWDT)