Pittsburg, Kansas

business needs and issues are properly addressed. As with any growing community, a need for housing is prevalent, as was revealed in a study conducted about five years ago. “We are lacking housing in all areas, from low income, to moderate, to high,” reports Holmes. “Two-thirds of our workforce do not live here, and the number one reason is inadequate housing. So there has been a huge focus on housing over the past five years. We have not had a planned subdivision here since the 1970s – but currently we have seven housing developments either in progress, planned, or completed and that would be over 350 new homes.” With a boom in population, comes a need for updated and expanded infrastructure to accommodate growth. And that too is something Pittsburg is prepared for. “Our wastewater treatment plant is struggling, it’s overworked, so we have a plan,” notes Holmes. “We have an engineer hired to design a new, $40 million wastewater treatment plant and we hope to break ground within the next couple of years.” Expanding and widening roads and intersections, building new overpasses, and a 50/50 sidewalk grant that enables property owners to split the cost of new sidewalks on their property, while seeing their portions assessed to their taxes over a seven-year period to minimize costs, all contribute to making the community affordable and accessible. Pittsburg’s downtown core has also seen a revitalization that allowed the city to preserve historical buildings once slated for demolition. According to Brittan Brenner, Community Development Specialist, “About five years ago is when our downtown revitalization really took flight. Like a lot of small towns with downtowns, ours had been abandoned since the 1970s and ‘80s. That’s when everybody moved out to malls and other places and left these old historic buildings empty for a really long time. We actually had a significant public-private partnership that kicked off a lot of investment in our downtown.” Brittan Brenner, Community Development Specialist