Hermitage city officials have described the Hermitage Town Center study as a tool to use in discussions with developers and planning for future growth in the city.

Commissioner Rita L. Ferringer said it’s a faulty tool.

“If it’s a tool, I want all the tools in my tool box to work,” she said.

Ms. Ferringer was the lone official dissenting vote on the study, which was accepted 4-1 Wednesday, but her criticisms were seconded by two residents.

The study, funded by a PennDOT grant through Mercer County Regional Planning Commission, recommends a new look for the area around Hermitage Road and East State Street, including a mix of residential and business uses, a grid of streets and more deference to pedestrians.

It was publicly presented in January 2007 and endorsed shortly afterward by the Hermitage Planning Commission and the Hermitage Community and Economic Development Commission.

Commissioners had let it sit because of an unwillingness to endorse all parts of the study. Most of the apprehension was overcome by an addendum commissioners added that reiterated the study is not a legislative document, only a vision of what could be.

Ms. Ferringer said the plan is impractical because PennDOT will never go along with moving utilities or building vegetative islands in the middle of streets.

“I can appreciate wanting to change the city of Hermitage,” chimed in resident Tom Ristvey of McConnell Road, but he called the study “radical.”

Referring to a rendering of North Hermitage Road with trees lining the street, buildings up to the road, colorful crosswalks and people walking along the road, Ristvey said, “Looking at that street up there, there’s no way you can go that.”

Resident Robert Miller of Meadowbrook Drive said he likes the trees, but is “terrified” at the thought of converting Hermitage Middle School to a community or recreation center.

Ms. Ferringer and Commissioner Duane J. Piccirilli also have criticized the middle school proposal. Ms. Ferringer said the school property is too valuable commercially, and the city is already pursuing a plan to buy the Pennsylvania National Guard armory next to the city building, once the guard abandons it, for a recreation center.

Ms. Ferringer complained that consultant Strada Architecture LLC, Pittsburgh, did not properly consider such reservations or recent city actions when it compiled the report. She noted that commissioners about a year ago rezoned property north of the Shenango Valley Mall for commercial development, while the study envisions it as residential.

She said she likes the idea of opening up the stream channel that is concreted under the mall parking lot, and building buildings closer to the road, like Bob Evans Restaurant, but believes it would have been better to create a plan around ideas that are practical and plausible.

“If I’m going to have a plan, I want a plan that’s going to work,” she said.