The objective of this project is to create a blight reduction process plan for the New Kensington Redevelopment Authority that can be used to revitalize the city.
Sponsored By: New Kensington Redevelopment Authority
Team Members
Trevor Patterson | Alyssa D’Costa | Evan Harshbarger | Juan Mendez Portet | Sydney Sheilds | Taojie Zhang | | | | | |
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Project Summary
Overview
The New Kensington Redevelopment Authority works towards revitalizing the city of New Kensington by encouraging economic and social development. This can be achieved by reducing blight, which is an interference with reasonable, lawful, and enjoyable uses of places in the neighborhood. Mainly due to a decline in the steel industry since the 1980s, the city has seen an increase in blight overall resulting in an increase in unsafe dwellings and undesirable land and a decrease in tax base from parcels. The team has worked to create a strategic action plan in order to reduce and prevent blight, as well as improve the social image of New Kensington.
Objectives
-The team’s objective was to develop a strategic plan for the New Kensington Redevelopment Authority to reduce blight in the community.
-Our strategic plan’s framework was focused on achieving the following vision statement for New Kensington:
“To create a welcoming, aesthetically pleasing and safe New Kensington that is a warm and loving place to raise a family, start a business, and enjoy the calm and opportunistic aura of the city.”
Approach
To reduce Blight in New Kensington, the team took multiple approaches:
-Voice of Customer with the Sponsor to understand the current state of New Kensington
-Brainstormed different ideas after gathering some research on blight reduction techniques used in different cities
-Developed three main Goals, with Objectives and Actions, to reduce and prevent Blight
-Created a Flow Chart defining potential Blighted properties and the steps to rehab them
-Researched different ways to transform viable Blighted parcels
-Developed a Cost-Benefit Matrix to display the potential property use options
Outcomes
-A process plan, to reduce and prevent blight, that can be utilized by the Redevelopment Authority of New Kensington
-The system will define owners of properties
-Different options for Parcel’s Property Usage
-Cost and benefits of actions for mapped parcels
-The project will allow for the Redevelopment Authority to make faster and validated decisions regarding parcel actions