NIMBY Attrition
The community meeting starts 30 minutes late. I’m in my high school alma mater’s cafeteria- I can still smell the mozzarella sticks… I am the minority (age and otherwise) as the audience was mostly senior citizens. It kicks off with PA State Representative, of the 153rd Legislative District, Josh Shapiro working the room briefly before introducing planners from McCormick Taylor, who undertook the reimagining of the Route 611 corridor in Abington Township.
Scene: Abington. Middle-class Philadelphia suburb. 40min maximum commute via train to downtown Philadelphia. Good schools. National retailers currently present (Bloomingdale’s!). Remarkable coexistence of wide-ranging household incomes (Princeton graduates and Community College alums), housing prices (public housing and Main Line-esque mansions), and racial make-up (Black, White, and other) < I tried to be as illustrative as possible using established visual predispositions.
So we have the scenery, but the actor here is 611 and her new image. McCormick Taylor devised their plan to take advantage of the favorable demographics and the rare opportunity to create substantial transit-oriented development (TOD) adjacent to SEPTA R3 West Trenton’s Noble Station. For those of you frightened of suburban density, I’ll go ahead and coin the euphemism, “reorganization of spatial priorities”.
Technically this Old York Road Corridor Improvement Study is still, well, a study, as I was constantly reminded by Josh, McCormick Taylor consultants, and Ward I Commissioner, Steven Kline. Whatever the plan’s title, the older residents were not having any of this Brave New World/Big Brother/Sex and the Suburbs/Babies ‘R’ Us Hootenanny! Many were adamant that more development (smart or otherwise) was not welcome. Problems brought up included speeding traffic (legitimate), SEPTA buses being too loud (semi-legit), and the recommended parking garages marring the landscape (also legit). As these questions are a given for most new developments, the traffic calming issue is an integral part of the Corridor Improvement Study that is addressed in several iterations. The buses on the other hand, which one woman recommended be banned from driving on the thoroughfare (really?), provide an equitable transportation option that will be an even more attractive asset as the area continues to be developed. It also provides the transit required to bring the workforce necessitated by these developments. Lastly, the parking garage vitriol can definitely be mitigated through better design and appropriate site placement- they remain a necessary evil.
The most intensive development is currently recommended for the Noble commuter rail station’s vicinity. The area, which finds itself saddled with several large parcels of developable land thanks to (…wait for it!) the closing of several car dealerships (how fitting, right?) possesses the ideal space for TOD and a replacement or enlarged Township Library. I specifically call attention to a potential library development- a building form whose modern purpose is significantly greater than book storage- as a wise public outlay that, like parks, attract private investment. And with $275,000 available from the state to carry out the planning study to greater detail to ensure design success, this TOD is poised to take advantage of the emerging real estate trends.
