Abbey Roberts

LOCK HAVEN — Lock Haven City’s newest city planner is here and ready to work.

Abbey Roberts introduced herself to member of City Council at Monday night’s meeting.

“I’m happy to be here,” she said. “Lock Haven is a great city. I’m ready to put my education to work.”

Roberts is a 2019 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Regional Planning with a concentration in Land Use and GIS.

She has previous planning experience after working in the Indiana Borough Planning Department which saw her help with public sector planning issues throughout the borough. She also completed two internships, one with Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission in Altoona and another with Vision 2025 in Johnstown.

Roberts hopes to get the public involved more in planning for the city’s future.

“I hope to bring the public aspect to (city planning),” she said. “I’m big on public participation, the people who live in the city should be involved in planning for the city. I hope to be kind of a public servant. Everyone has ideas.”

Roberts, who grew up in Hollsopple, a small town outside of Johnstown, hopes to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective due to being new to the area.

“Coming in from not being from here, I want to get in touch with how people feel, good or bad,” she said.

Given her young age, she also feels she’ll be able to bring in new ideas to help improve the college-based city.

“Me being pretty young right out of college and the city being a college town I have a lot of perspective on what the younger generations would want,” she said. “Greg (Wilson) mentioned to me that I’m the same age as the median age of Lock Haven so I think that makes me fit pretty well in the characteristics of the town.”

Roberts, having started on June 10, has jumped in and is focusing on the city’s comprehensive plan.

“The city is behind on updating its plan. It’s not required but it’s a good thing to have,” she said.

Roberts will be doing a lot of community outreach for this project. “We go to the public and see what they would like to do,” she said. “I think that’s one of the big things I want to focus on. It kind of sets the path for my job over the next couple of years.”