West Virginia University’s Community Design Team heads to Montgomery this weekend to work with local residents on ways to revitalize the Kanawha River city.

“The purpose of this visit is to collaboratively create designs and plans with community members,” said Jenny Selin, CDT program coordinator. “This is a first step in a community-centered process designed to increase the vibrancy of the town.”

Experts from WVU programs in civil and environmental engineering, recreation, parks and tourism resources, entrepreneurship, public administration, city planning and landscape architecture, as well as a variety of other disciplines will be on hand to provide assistance and learn what qualities make the community appealing to current residents.

This visit, however, will also include students from two WVU classes – PA 611: Public Planning and LARC 250: Theory Landscape Architecture Design.

“The students from the landscape architecture class designed a set of murals for the town utilizing historical postcards and other local sources,” Selin said. “One mural design was chosen by several Montgomery community members and will be painted on the exterior wall of the Modern Barber Shop Building on Third Avenue during the visit.”

The chosen mural was designed by Arron Diedrich, a junior landscape architecture major from Fraziers Bottom, W.Va.

The team will meet with community members at 6 p.m., Fri., Oct. 1, at the Montgomery Methodist Church to envision designs and plans for short and long term goals. The meeting will be preceded by a potluck dinner at 5 p.m.

On Saturday, Oct. 2, the CDT will present designs and recommendations to the community. The evening will begin at 5 p.m. with a potluck dinner in WVU Institute of Technology’s Bears Den, followed by presentations at 6 p.m. in the Activities Room.

The CDT visit to Montgomery is sponsored by the Recruitable Community Program of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services. The program assists communities who want to recruit and retain medical professionals in rural areas of West Virginia.

The CDT is made possible by funding from the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design in partnership with the WVU Extension Service.

-WVU-

la/09/30/10

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