Huntersville holds public hearing on Pottstown Community Preservation Plan amid calls for faster protections

The Town Board of Huntersville on Oct. 7 received a draft Pottstown Community Preservation Plan from consultants Neighboring Concepts and heard more than a dozen public comments urging quicker, concrete protections for the historically Black neighborhood.

The draft plan, developed after roughly nine months of engagement, lays out goals and four ‘‘toolkits’’ of strategies — process and representation, regulatory tools, community-led initiatives, and priority public/nonprofit investments — designed to preserve neighborhood character, celebrate African American heritage and increase residents’ ability to remain in place.

Neighboring Concepts’ Sheldon Merrill told the board the team conducted about 10 community outreach events and “engaged about 48 different residents” while developing the plan, and described a long-range implementation timeline that includes near-, mid- and long-term actions. “We broke [the process] up into listening, community engagement and collaboration, a visioning phase, narrowing the plan, and the roadmap to implementation,” Merrill said.

Eric Orozco, an associate urban designer with Neighboring Concepts, said the plan is preservation-focused and organized around four practical toolkits. He highlighted suggested regulatory options…