The 3/23 Planning Commission agenda is posted. There are four new items for next week, although two of them are very closely related.
1.
Further review of Pitt's master plan. Next week they plan to focus on potential projects closer to the core of their campus. As with earlier weeks, these "potential projects" are so tentative (basically the full scope of things which may be possible) that it feels kind of worthless to comment in any detail.
2/3. Southside Works has new plans for both the "
town center" and
a dog park over part of the rail tunnel. The Town Square reinvents the area taken up by the fountain now into an area with food kiosks, outdoor seating, and a public lawn overlooking a stage area. The dog park is...a dog park. Well, there's another food kiosk and limited seating on the westward edge. Still, it's great the parcels (which are right now big useless grassy medians) are being repurposed for something. Most interesting is the overall land plan shown in both presentations. It appears the two empty parcels between Hofbrauhaus and the marina will eventually be filled with apartments. There are no plans to fill in any of the other remaining empty parcels, but lots of ways they're programming outdoor space, with a playground, community gardens, and several sports fields. You could see some of these as holding patterns for later development, or as attempts to turn Southside Works into a full-service neighborhood.
4.
ALCOSAN is submitting a design for a new East Headworks facility. The design is honestly not bad for a strictly industrial building in a restricted-access area that no one who isn't working for ALCOSAN will ever see. I think it being lit up during the evening is a bit of an overkill - particularly because the featured corner faces towards the railroad tracks, and not the river (meaning few people will see it even from a distance).