An alliance of business leaders and West Chester residents has banded together to champion an unofficial redevelopment plan for a public plaza and five-story office complex at the very visible former Mosteller site downtown — even though the idea comes from a sketch and is not one of three formal plans proposed by builder Eli Kahn.

“It is a great opportunity to put green space in the borough,” resident Mark DePhillips said in a Daily Local News report of last week’s borough council meeting. “Yes, there is a process, but I would ask City Council to do something really unique. Please be proactive.”

The assertion is backed by more than 1,500 signatures on a petition circulated by the West Chester Business Alliance, but without a creative intervention, legal process will force the council to consider only the formal proposals.

“It is an opportunity to relieve the sameness overcoming America,” resident John Suplee said in the article.

Read more about the current redevelopment proposals for the corner of West Gay and North Church streets, as well as the effort to resurrect the so-called plaza plan, in the Daily Local News here.