Reading City Council hears recommendations for passenger rail station and downtown development

Apr. 25—With the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority poised to get rail service in Reading back on track, the city should be looking at ways to encourage transit-friendly development in its downtown, consultants say.

Transit-oriented development, or TOD, involves designing urban areas as walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use communities centered around high-quality train systems, said Peter Simone.

Simone's firm, Simone Collins Landscape Architecture of Norristown, was retained by the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance to work with city staff in analyzing ordinances and recommending changes that would help direct TOD planning.

"Before you're going to have new development, the city needs to take advantage of its adaptive (reuse) potential and existing buildings," Simone said Monday at City Council's committee of the whole meeting.

Council received an update on this and related issues from Simone; Aaron C. Gantz, senior director of economic development for the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance; Tom Fraley, executive director of the rail authority; David Hunter, executive director of the Berks County Planning Commission and a rail authority board member; and fellow consultant AJ Thackrah of Stantec, Spring Township.

The report addressed the rail authority's progress in selecting a station location and planning for transit-oriented development.

The rail authority was admitted in December into the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program, which officials say significantly increases the likelihood that service will be implemented.

The authority is nearing completion of the initial phase of the corridor identification development program, which involved scoping exercises, project management planning and budgeting, Gantz said.

Phase 2 of the planning process is expected to begin in summer and be completed by next spring, Fraley said. This phase will involve creating a service development plan that will include an operating analysis to identify necessary improvements for capacity and flexibility of operations; forecasting revenue and ridership; calculating capital operating and maintenance costs; preparing a benefit cost analysis; and looking at station planning and access.

Thackrah said his firm worked with the Berks planning commission to identify potential locations for stations.

The team analyzed the amenities and pros and cons of 13 sites in the downtown corridor before selecting the existing Franklin Street Station as the best starting point.

The station, which was built in the 1930s, saw its last passenger train in 1981.

The building between Franklin and Chestnut streets faces the railroad tracks on South Seventh Street and is occupied by Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub.

There is no intention of relocating the restaurant, as the two uses would be complementary, Thackrah said.

"So the ultimate proposal is to utilize the existing rail station initially while then developing the site in front of the BARTA transit station that had originally been designed with the intention of having a passenger rail station there," Thackrah said.

The goal then is to facilitate transit-oriented development in the vicinity of the station, Simone noted.

"When we when we talk about a TOD area, he said, typically it's a half-mile radius from the train station walking distance."

In Reading's case that would be the entire downtown or city core with a focus on developing existing buildings, a process known as adaptive reuse.

A TOD typically would include a mix of residential and commercial buildings and public spaces, he noted.

The downtown has several buildings in the process of being rehabilitated for various uses by developers, such as Shuman Development Group.

But quite a few others are vacant and ripe for adaptive reuse, Simone said.

The term refers to the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed.

Some changes to city ordinances could facilitate such projects, Simone said, noting that city planners already were in the process of developing revisions when he became involved.

"Do what you're already doing," Simone said, "but maybe inject that with some steroids to move it a little faster and to make it a little easier for the private sector while you're still protecting the community interests."

One recommendation, he said, is to create a one-stop shopping experience, giving developers a single point-of-contact to facilitate the city's permitting process.

At the request of Jamar Kelly, deputy city managing director, Simone said, the team looked at the city's downtown active transportation plan, incorporating bicycle improvements and improving sidewalks.

The firm hopes to have a draft ordinance prepared for council's review by the end of summer, he said.