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Council debates downtown street closure

City mulls blocking part of 14th Street near Heritage Plaza

The city is asking downtown businesses whether they want workers to barricade the half-block of 14th Street perpendicular to Heritage Plaza for outdoor dining this year.

The closure took place last year due to COVID-19 restrictions on indoor dining and the inaccessibility of Heritage Plaza due to pavilion construction.

This year, COVID-19 restrictions are beginning to ease, and the pavilion is done.

“We sent out a mass mailing to property owners,” said City Manager Ken Decker.

City Council is likely to decide whether to barricade the street again at its April 12 meeting, Decker said.

“I would support closure,” said Councilman Joe Carper.

Mayor Matt Pacifico and Councilman Matt Cacciotti agreed.

Councilman Bruce Kelley wondered if closing the street would be necessary this year, when the plaza is available, and asked what the long-term plan for closure would be.

Councilman Jesse Ickes asked if the barricades last year created traffic problems.

The Keystone Communities grant program of the state Department of Community and Economic Development can provide money for permanently turning areas of streets into permanent gathering space for the public, Pacifico said.

There’s such a space in Cumberland, Md., and it’s attractive, Kelley said.

Last year, the city not only provided the barricades, but set up tents on 14th Street, next to J.J. Hadley & Co. Brewers and Joos, two restaurants in the same building owned by a single family.

The owners of the restaurants provided the tables and seating, reportedly.

But because of the public investment in the overall effort, it would behoove the city to install signs indicating that the seating is available to anyone, not just customers of the adjacent restaurants, Decker said.

Downtown activities should soon increase “exponentially,” because of COVID-19 vaccinations, said Councilman Dave Butterbaugh.

The area has become more attractive in recent years, due to development — an appeal that became clearer to him when a friend who hadn’t been around for several years remarked on it, Butterbaugh said.

“Eight years ago, you couldn’t give downtown away,” Cacciotti said. “Now it’s starting to come to life.”

Butterbaugh would like to see further improvement so that special events are no longer necessary to draw a crowd.

“My goal is to have downtown be the ‘constant event,'” he said, “(for it) to become that place people like to go to all the time.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is available at 814-942-4634.

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