STEUBENVILLE — The Steubenville Planning and Zoning Commission will soon begin the process of preparing a new five-year consolidated plan covering 2025 through 2029.

The plan provides the framework for a planning process used by communities to identify housing, homeless, community and economic development needs and resources, and to tailor a strategic plan to meet those needs.

Communities such as Steubenville that qualify for formula allocations under the Community Development Block Grant program must prepare and submit to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development a five-year consolidated plan. An annual one-year action plan also must be submitted to HUD, which describes the specific projects and activities that a community will undertake in the coming year with HUD funds to address needs identified in the Consolidated Plan.

As a part of this process, citizen participation is necessary and will be accomplished through a series of three public hearings and involvement of the Steubenville Consolidated Planning Committee, which is a group of citizens, representatives of nonprofit organizations and public service agencies that aid the city with developing its plan by providing advice and assistance throughout the consolidated process.

In addition, Steubenville residents can assist by visiting the city’s website, cityofsteubenville.us, and completing the citizen questionnaire posted on the website: Scroll down to the link to the questionnaire on the main page, click in the link, answer the questions as directed, and hit the submit button.