Anyone interested in the future of downtown Portsmouth is invited to attend an open house covering the subject from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, at All Saints Episcopal Church, 610 Fourth St.

The public meeting is sponsored by Main Street Portsmouth, the Scioto Foundation and the city of Portsmouth, said Jennifer Hanlon, director of the city's Community Development Department.

She said this is the second such meeting the city has organized. The first took place last year.

Hanlon said Della Rucker and Tammy Schlagbaum, from the firm of Jacobs, Edwards & Kelcey, will conduct the meeting. They will share the strategic plan for downtown, as well as a new market analysis.

"We hope also to get feedback from the audience on possible improvements to our streetscape plans," Hanlon said.

Schlagbaum is a landscape architect who has worked on design of streetscape projects, parks and recreational facilities, and landscape planting of flowers and shrubs.

She was the chief designer of Madeira, Ohio Millennium Plaza, which won first place in the Cincinnati Civic Garden Center's beautification awards.

Rucker has worked with Portsmouth and its downtown steering committee on developing the strategic plan and marketing analysis, which will be shared at Thursday's meeting.

Rucker also has worked with other cities in Ohio, as well as those in Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Alabama on projects such as community planning, downtown revitalization, historic preservation and tourism in historic districts.

More information on the meeting is available by calling Hanlon at (740) 354-5673.

Property

improvements

Meanwhile, the city, the Scioto Foundation and Main Street Portsmouth, have announced a pilot program to help property owners rehabilitate their buildings in the Main Street Portsmouth district, which includes businesses on Chillicothe, Second and Gallia streets, among others.

Main Street Portsmouth has applied for money from Heritage Ohio to fund the Building Improvement Pilot Program.

If the application is successful, a reimbursement grant program will be established as a single payment reimbursement to property owners per building - on a 50/50 matching basis. Grants between $2,000 and $5,000 could be available. As an example, a property owner spending $3,000 to upgrade his building and property would stand to be reimbursed $1,500.

Applicants will be limited to one grant per calendar year and applications will be reviewed monthly beginning in July.

The money will be available on a first-come, first-served basis until the fund is depleted. Work already completed won't be eligible.

Grant money would focus on exterior work as well as roof and foundation work on commercial buildings located in the district.

If the grant application isn't successful, Main Street Portsmouth will implement the program on a smaller scale.

For more information, call the Main Street Portsmouth building program administrator at (740) 464-0203, or send an e-mail to director@mainstreetportsmouth.org.

G. SAM PIATT can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236.