Revitalization Plan Heads to Drafting Steps

The drew nearly 70 participants to provide input on what projects the Upper Moreland Revitalization Task Force should include in the plan.

The second public input meeting took place Dec. 15, and presented the refined options, as influenced by the first meeting’s public input.

And, despite a much lower turnout, last night's input meeting will help prioritize the projects, as they will appear in the first draft of the revitalization plan.

Participants were asked to use a colored sticker system to vote for which projects should have priority to highest priority.

Prior to the voting, task force chairperson Karen Houck and Mike Narcowich, a senior planner with the Montgomery County Planning Commission, provided an update as to where the task force was in the revitalization plan process.

During the update, Houck reviewed the reasons for the existence of the task force and the need to participate in the Montgomer County Economic Porgram, which provides various grant opportunities, including the revitalization grants.

“How does a municipality get its revenue?” asked Houck, referring to township taxes. “How much comes from residents, and how much comes from the business community?”

She said in recent years, in Upper Moreland’s case, the scales are tipping the wrong way toward tax-paying homeowners, as desirable businesses are either leaving or not starting.

“And, that’s a trend that we do not wish to continue,” she said, adding that the task force wants to “Put the message out there that Upper Moreland is a business-friendly community, looking to improve the overall quality of life for our residents.”

In order to have eligibility to receive the county grants, Upper Moreland needs to have a new revitalization plan, whose old plan expired earlier in the last decade.

Should Upper Moreland be successful in submitting the new plan, the township stands to receive an annual cap of $668,460 for its proposed revitalization projects. Houck said that a local match of 20 percent would accompany the grant, with only a 5-percent match needed from the township, as 15 percent would come from other organizations.

“It’s a brilliant use of leverage, not just hitting the residents’ pockets,” Houck said.

Deadlines sooner than you think

According to Narcowich, the new revitalization plan must be submitted to the by March 31, 2012, after which the board will review the plan re-submit it to the township for any minor revisions, and pending approval would be announced in April.

The township chose its revitalization task force at the . By the end of that month, the task force was already talking about expanding the revitalization area, mostly west of the Willow Grove Train Station, and discussed potential projects.

After holiding its monthly meetings to further refine the revitalization area and accompanying projects, the task force presented its findings at the first public input meeting in October.

At the Dec. 28 task force meeting, the task force will apply an implementation matrix to assess which are the top-priority to priority projects, as voted by last night’s second public input meeting.

By February, the township should receive a first draft of the new revitalization plan, as written by Narchowich.

Narchowich said that Upper Moreland quickly seized the opportunity to score rare funding.

“The county thought this was an extremely ambitious time frame,” Narcowich said, “But, we’re on schedule and this is encouraging.”

According to Narchowich, after the March deadline, the county will send the final draft back to the township for any minor modifications, and a decision for an approval would then be expected by April.

Grateful for the process

Residents at both the Oct. 18 and Dec. 15 revitalization plan public input meetings said they were grateful to participate in the process.

“I think it’s a good way for residents in Upper Moreland to express opinions and participate in the process of redevelopment and revitalization,” Richard Booth, Upper Moreland resident, said at the Dec. 15 meeting. “Community support is always important. You just can’t have the board of commissioners making all the decisions, they really need the citizens’ input.”

Booth put his top priority stickers on the potential projects located in the Maryland-Easton-Commerce roads area, because of the apparent ease it would be to develop such a large area.

However, it is likely that the top priority project will go to the “Façade Improvement Program,” as this project received the most votes.

“I’ve seen it succeed in other places,” Bryan Johnson, a Willow Grove resident, said. “I want to see this succeed.”

Johnson, who attended the last public input meeting, said that he thought participating in the process is important, as part of an investment in raising his family in Upper Moreland.

“I’m not expecting ‘big city’ skyscrapers,” Johnson said. “But, make it a destination.”

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For a list of projects presented at the Dec. 15 Revitalization Plan Public Input Meeting, please see photo gallery.

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Task force meetings are open to the public. The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 28, at 7 p.m. in the .

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