East Hills & Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar Community Visioning Plans

Project Overview

The communities of Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar and East Hills are in a pre-planning process for creating a community vision plan with the help of the E. Holdings team. Our goal in the project is to define a clear strategy to empower diverse and representative community leadership that can support the framework for future neighborhood plans.   

Through the collaboration with E. Holdings, community stakeholders, and community members, the community vision for Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar and East Hills will be thoroughly developed and well aligned with the community’s needs. 

Core Services Performed:

  • Community Engagement
  • Public Input Collection & Surveying
  • Stakeholder Coordination
  • Condition Assessment and Mapping
  • Data Management 
  • Vision Planning
  • Report Writing

Client: City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Timeline:  November 2020 – November 2021

Community Engagement

Both LLB and East Hills are predominately black neighborhoods that have struggled with disinvestment over the years. The priority of the visioning study to date has been to engage the community to establish a clear vision for their neighborhoods. Due to Covid-19, our Team has been forced to engage the community through a series of online public visioning meetings (six total – three in each community), which can be difficult in neighborhoods with a high concentration of elderly residents and/or households without access to internet. To address these issues, we have worked closely with the Community Consensus Groups to provide printed meeting flyers (distributed around the neighborhoods), phone numbers for people to call into the meetings, and did a mass EDDM mailer advertising the meeting schedule to all households. 

 The first set of visioning meetings included a SWOT analysis, the second focused on mapping specific locations that the residents would like to see improvements, and the third round allowed our urban designers to sketch potential improvements in real-time with the meeting attendees. In addition, the online mapping exercise was developed into an online survey for people to participate who were unable to attend the meetings. 

Surveying and input gathering in East Hills
Surveying and input gathering in Lemington
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East Hills site visit
Collector App2
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East Hills site visit
East Hills site visit

GIS & Mapping

In order to have a better understanding of the communities, our team is documenting existing conditions and community goals, advising on potential strategies to achieve each goal, tackling technical aspects in the process, and developing participation strategies in the communities. Our GIS and public outreach teams are working together to document any existing conditions in these communities. They are achieving this through field visiting where they collect GIS data using the collector app. The collector app is a fast an easy tool to plot data points and attach pictures to areas of interest found in the communities. All data collected in the field is automatically updated to our dashboard set up to be viewed by the client. The dashboard is a great visual way to share what we are finding in the field and we can analyze trends that we see in the communities. In our first visit to the community, out team was able to survey 4 main roads the Port Authority buses run along and identify around 80 hazard locations along sidewalks, roads, and abandoned houses. 

View East Hills Plan
View Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar Plan
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Visit Project Website

Dave Broniecki
Data Engineer, Associate Project Manager

Dave is a NASSCO certified Mechanical Engineer. Specializing in retrieving and analyzing data from various sources to support condition assessment and capital improvement planning activities. Utilizing data to coordinate and track progress on key organizational performance indicators, he assists stakeholders in making decisions related to strategic planning. He has been integral in establishing data management programs essential for planning the future repair and management of large-scale sewer networks.  David works with clients to develop training programs and SOPs that address current maintenance needs and future Capital Improvement Planning.

Contact: dave.broniecki@eholdingsinc.com

Christine Barton, PE, PLS
Project Engineer

Christine Barton is a registered civil engineer and land surveyor with expert experience in site design, land development, water resources design for civil/site projects including layouts, utility plans, and permitting, and coordination/management of field survey work.  She has successfully held positions as project manager, project designer, and office manager to serve the needs of the clients within the residential, commercial, military, industrial, and healthcare industries. Core proficiencies include coordination with local land development planning agencies, county conservation districts, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and the  Pennsylvania Department of Environment.

Contact: christine.barton@eholdingsinc.com

Irvin Williams, President

As the President and founder of E. Holdings, Irvin is currently focused on the company’s succession, strategic growth, and development. He has both a professional and personal interest in Pittsburgh’s success.  A Pittsburgh native and founder of several development companies, he has an extensive understanding of finance and business, which are vital to the success of this company. He has served in numerous management positions including financial advisor, senior vice president, project manager, general contractor, developer, and construction manager. Active in the local community, he made the decision to dedicate his expertise to rebuilding economically sustainable communities with the approval of their existing residents. In 1996, he and his wife became the first African Americans in Western Pennsylvania to develop and own a commercial office building, Williams Square. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with an AAS in Mathematics.

Contact: irvin.williams@eholdingsinc.com | 412-434-6290

Amy Wiles, AICP
Manager of Planning & Design

Amy’s professional experience crosses a variety of disciplines, ranging from county and multi-municipal comprehensive plans and land use ordinances (zoning and subdivision and land development) to specialized planning studies, such as wayfinding master plans and parks, recreation, trails and greenways plans. She has been employed by E. Holdings for two years and has 20 years of professional experience.

Contact: amy.wiles@eholdingsinc.com | 724-448-0286

Alexis Meier, MPP
Director of Communications

Alexis is the Director of Communications at E. Holdings. There she has worked as the Municipal Coordinator for an in-depth municipal assessment project for the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN). She oversees all of E. Holding’s public relations and public outreach efforts. She also brings experience as a Government Affairs Manager for Duane Morris Government Strategies. She worked on community development projects and developing and executing government relations strategies as well as fundraising efforts. She has also spent time navigating our political system in Washington D.C. as the Legislative Staff Assistant for U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. Her understanding of legislation and politics gives her a unique viewpoint when collaborating on civic projects. 

Contact: alexis.meier@eholdingsinc.com | 412-656-8850

Janai Williams Smith, MCP
Managing Director and EVP

Janai Smith is the Managing Director and Principal of E. Holdings, Inc. Janai is a versatile, goal-oriented Program Manager with 20+ years of experience supporting the strategic direction of large-scale programs, setting budgets and managing risks while achieving overall company goals and exceeding customer expectations. As a planner and economist, Janai has been involved in a diverse array of projects, among them master plans, urban revitalization plan, visioning studies, brownfield and infill redevelopment projects, strategic planning and infrastructure improvement programs.

Janai’s interest in urban planning, design and infrastructure programs is rooted in a passion for the creation of sustainable communities that deliver equity in planning and implementation by making connections with people and their built environment. Her affinity for complex problem-solving can be seen in the diverse array of projects in which she’s been engaged from revitalization plans for depressed urban neighborhoods to brand new communities and programs. Leading a process-oriented, multidisciplinary team, Janai’s dedication to achieving consensus in her client’s goals and stakeholders’ vision has made a significant contribution to the successful development of numerous projects. 

Contact: janai.smith@eholdingsinc.com | 412-728-5726