Published: April 21, 2007 01:26 am      

Eager to move forward

Southside Fairmont Neighborhood group seeks feedback

FAIRMONT — A lot can happen when you put nine community leaders together in a room for two days.

That’s what happened earlier this month when members of the Southside Fairmont Neighborhood group attended a two-day training session at Tamarack through the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Blueprint Communities program.

Over the course of the two days, members of the neighborhood revitalization group not only networked with other West Virginia communities eyeing similar projects, but started to gel as a group and began to brainstorm about the target area, which includes the 100 to 400 blocks of Fairmont Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“I think the greatest thing we got out of it was that we were able to really bond as a team, as a group and as a neighborhood community,” said Vera Sansalone, program manager for Main Street Fairmont and a member of the nine-person team.

In March, 10 West Virginia cities, including Fairmont, and counties were designated as Blueprint Communities by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. The designation entitles citizen groups within those communities to more than $20,000 worth of training to implement community-revitalization projects.

Eight people and one alternate have been chosen to participate in the training. In addition to Sansalone, other members include: Bob Gribben, associate director of the Fairmont Community Development Partnership; Cliff Jackson, a property owner in the Southside community; the Rev. D.D. Meighen, pastor at Central United Methodist Church; Jay Rogers, city planner; Sandra Scaffidi, an architectural historian; Kim Thorne, branch manager for First Exchange Bank; Fran Warner, a property and business owner; and Eileen Layman, finance director for the City of Fairmont.

Coming back from a recent training session, Sansalone said the group is enthusiastic about moving the neighborhood transformation process forward and hopes to pass that enthusiasm along to business and property owners in the neighborhood.

Another public meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Women’s Club on First Street. There, the group hopes to update the community on the progress that has been made since its last meeting in January.

Gribben said that the group is also seeking more feedback from residents, property owners and stakeholders in the community about preliminary plans already proposed.

“It’s very important for us to have the investment of the stakeholders,” Gribben said. “We need their input. It will help us better assess where we are now as well as get a vision of where we want to go.”

With another Blueprint Communities training session scheduled for May 15-16, community input will be even more vital.

“We want to explain what the process is and where we’re going and help them understand the procedure,” Gribben said of Monday night’s meeting. “This is going to be involved, and it’s going to take time. It might take a year just to put a good plan together.

“But it will all be worthwhile,” he said.

Sansalone said that the group has also launched a Web site, which can be accessed at www.fairmontsouthside.com, that explains the project and offers visitors the opportunity to ask questions or make comments to the group directly through the site.

E-mail Misty Poe at mpoe@timeswv.com.