STRENGTHENING
NEIGHBORHOOD
INVESTMENT
Millcreek’s housing market is generally healthy and stable. The median home value in the township is 30%
higher than Erie County as a whole, and a 2017 survey of housing conditions found that 93% of Millcreek’s
residential properties are in excellent or good condition – showing no visible signs of distress or disinvestment.
The challenge going forward is to maintain a healthy housing market in the face of trends such as rental
conversions, creeping blight, and aging homeowners.
Millcreek’s key commercial corridors have been the focus of retail development for decades. However,
competition along upper Peach Street and changes in consumer habits are threatening demand for traditional
retail space while opening opportunities for new uses. Re-positioning these corridors to succeed in the future
will require greater flexibility with land use and a commitment to enhanced community character through
better design and better access for pedestrians and bicycles.
Presque Isle is the most visited state park in Pennsylvania with over four million visitors per year. With 13 miles of
roads, 21 miles of recreational trails, 13 beaches for swimming and a marina, the park is a community treasure.
Yet, Peninsula Drive, the gateway to the park, has no defining characteristics to create an entry statement for
these visitors. The challenge going forward is to cultivate a space that improves the visitor experience, provides
desired amenities for local residents, and extends these enhancements along the West 8th Street small business
district.
Aside from hiring people to police neighborhoods, plow snow, and provide other services, townships are not in
the business of creating jobs. When it comes to economic development, they can only strive to create conditions
where business development and job creation are likely to occur. Cultivating these conditions is important
to Millcreek for the sustainability of services and infrastructure supported by taxes that businesses pay, for
providing economic opportunities to Millcreek residents, and for contributing Millcreek’s part to a regional
economic strategy.
Now that Millcreek is largely built-out and most of its infrastructure is more than 40 years old, careful
stewardship is needed to ensure that infrastructure remains in good condition. Beyond safety and convenience,
the condition of basic infrastructure – especially highly visible roads – has a crucial impact on confidence and
investment attitudes. If residents and business owners sense that the township is investing in ways that preserve
the marketability of their own properties, they will be more likely to stay in Millcreek and reinvest in their
properties.
Core values are deeply-held, widely-shared beliefs that serve as building blocks for
a vision of the future. The following list of values have been drafted for Embrace
Millcreek based on online survey feedback and work by the project’s steering
committee.
Embrace Millcreek
Public Draft
Presentation
• We are committed to staying and becoming even more family friendly
• We are committed to staying and becoming even more fiscally prudent
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2018
• We are committed to ensuring Millcreek becomes a unique place
Time: 6:00 p.m.
• We are committed to working together Location: McDowell Intermediate
High School
MILLCREEK
❘
SUMMER 2018
17