Greensburg is capable of supporting as many as 24 additional retail shops and as many as a dozen additional restaurants, according to a retail market analysis prepared in conjunction with the city’s comprehensive plan update.

“Greensburg is representative of a small, underserved market where it has the potential — with walkability and historic buildings — to really attract a lot of investment,” said Bob Gibbs, director of Gibbs Planning Group, the Michigan-based firm that conducted the analysis. “There are developers and investment funds that are looking for historic towns that have potential.”

“The market has shifted from suburban strip centers to small, walkable towns.”

The retail study is among four supporting documents that can be viewed online, along with the a draft version of the comprehensive plan, at shapegreensburg.com. Hard copies of the plan can be obtained in the planning and development office at city hall.

A public comment period ends Nov. 28, with city council expected to vote on a final version of the plan in December.

The retail market analysis suggests downtown Greensburg can support 62,000 square feet of additional retail and restaurant space, either through new business openings or expansion of existing ones. That additional business investment would have the potential to generate as much as $26 million in annual sales, according to the study.

Among the types of new business ventures the study suggests could thrive in the city are a specialty grocery store, a pharmacy, at least one shoe store and at least one store selling toys or sporting goods.

John Stafford, executive director of the Greensburg Community Development Corp., is enthused by the findings in the market analysis and said the document will be a valuable tool in discussions with potential developers and when applying for grants.

He said he was pleasantly surprised by the study’s assessment of Greensburg’s capacity for additional retail and restaurant space.

“That’s a little bit bigger than the Offutt Field football field,” he said of the cited square footage.

“The study is going to be on my front desk,” he said. “It’s not imaginary. It really dives into the numbers of who is spending around here.”

The retail market analysis is based on data that was current as of May 25. It assumes that Greensburg and the developers it attracts will follow “best practices” for design and management of any new construction and that appropriate zoning and parking will be in place.

Gibbs Planning estimates the commercial trade area for downtown Greensburg extends out 10 to 20 miles and includes 166,000 residents and 72,200 households with an average income of $73,000 per year.

Within that trade area, “a lot of leakage is going on to areas outside of the town,” Gibbs said. He suggested as much as 95% of the potential spending in that area is happening outside of Greensburg.

“We thought that it would be reasonable for the community businesses to capture between 3% and 8% of that leakage,” he said.

Gibbs Planning has been performing market analyses for communities of various sizes since the early 1990s. Other studies in Pennsylvania have focused on Bethlehem, Carlisle and Lancaster.

In addition to being the Westmoreland County seat, an aspect that helps characterize Greensburg is the presence of Seton Hill University in the city limits and two other colleges nearby — the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and the main campus of Westmoreland County Community College.

”The college students, I don’t think, are dining and shopping downtown as much as they could,” Gibbs said. “That’s common in small college towns.”

Greensburg city officials and merchants have tried to change that. A second annual College Connect event was held Sept. 23 on Pennsylvania Avenue with the intent of familiarizing students at local colleges with downtown resources.

The dual-purpose College Connect event also provided a preview of the city’s comprehensive draft plan.

Looking ahead through 2040, the plan offers observations and recommendations for city leaders in areas including downtown revitalization, parking, multimodal transportation, property maintenance, improved communications and parks and recreation.

“I think we’re at a crucial point,” city council member Gregory Mertz said. “In December, council is going to vote on the plan. We want to see what people like about it.

”So far, the feedback has been pretty good. It’s been very positive. We just need more of it.”

The draft plan identifies five primary goals, with associated titles: A Vibrant Downtown; Well-Kept Housing and Neighborhoods; Safe and Convenient for Moving Around; Great Parks For Everyone; and Connected and Engaged Citizens.

It also details citizen-voiced priorities and proposed improvements for each of five city neighborhoods: North; North Central (including Academy Hill); Central (including downtown and Seton Hill University; East; and West.

The plan identifies parking as an issue that needs to be addressed.

“Parking is operated and managed by individual entities, whether the city or private entities, aimed at serving the needs of specific users,” the plan states. “However, there is no overall understanding or coordination at a systemwide level within downtown.”

The plan cites off-street parking requirements as a potential limitation on downtown development and proposes replacing those requirements with another method for developers to help support parking facilities. City officials are considering an amendment to the parking requirements.

To help address property maintenance and blight concerns, while saving time and resources, the plan’s authors suggest the city adopt a quality-of-life ordinance that would issue tickets for violations such as overgrown lawns, trash and abandoned vehicles instead of treating them as matters to be pursued through the court system.

Greensburg is in the process of switching to an online platform for permitting, code enforcement, inspection, licensing and planning functions — for added convenience and time-saving. That will complete another of the plan’s recommendations.

Other suggestions include:

• Noting the city has 12 parks covering 189 acres, including a 101-acre golf course, a partner organization could help raise funds for parks and recreation improvements.

• Citing the need for safe routes for pedestrians and bicyclists and support for those who use public transit, a program could be established to assist property owners with sidewalk maintenance.

The plan cites the addition of sidewalks and crosswalks and reducing the 45 mph speed limit as possible ways to better accommodate pedestrian traffic along the northern end of North Main Street.

It also suggests realigning the skewed intersection of West Pittsburgh Street and West Newton Road to create a traditional 90-degree crossroads and reducing, but not eliminating, the skew of Mt. Pleasant Street and Highland Avenue.

The comprehensive draft plan was prepared by Pittsburgh-based consultant Environmental Planning and Design, with input from a local steering committee and members of the public who weighed in at a series of Shape Greensburg workshops. The core plan is accompanied by four supporting documents: the retail market analysis; a blight mitigation strategy; a comprehensive recreation, park and open space plan; and a multi-modal active transportation draft plan.

The public can submit comments on the comprehensive draft plan at publiccomment@greensburgpa.org or by mail at Shape Greensburg Public Comment, 416 S. Main St., Greensburg, PA 15601.

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