UM Task Force to Hold Train Station Feasibility Study Open House

will hold an open house meeting at the Giant Food Store community room June 23.

The 4 to 8 p.m. meeting will address the task force’s focus on the future of the Willow Grove Train Station as part of the overall revitalization efforts.

Although every task force meeting is open to the public, Thursday’s meeting is of special significance, as the public will have the opportunity to provide direct input on the development of the Willow Grove Train station.

Factors within the feasibility study

“This area is favorable for transit-oriented development and use,” Ryan Furgerson, transportation planner for the Michael Baker Corporation, said.

Speaking on behalf of the Baker Corporation, a professional engineering and consulting firm, Furgerson was addressing members of the task force and public at the June 12 task force meeting.

The task force has worked with the Baker Corporation on the Willow Grove Train Station re-location feasibility study since March of this year.

At the June 12 meeting, Furgerson presented his firm’s findings on the constraints and opportunities concerning a relocation and the subsequent development of a relocated train station.

The feasability study explores whether the train station could be moved a block south on South Davisville Road.

Furgerson stated that Baker's research concurs with much of the previous research conducted by other firms in past township revitalization efforts.

“Whether this work is from voices of the past or right here in this room," he said, "this is, at one point, what the community has decided is what they see as the goals and objectives.”

Furgerson said that the goals and objectives would be to encourage mixed-use development while discouraging big "box-store" retailers, promote economic development, increase open space, and improve the functionality of the train station itself.

He explained that this short list of goals and objectives resulted from the research conducted by the Baker Corporation within a 10-mile radius of the Willow Grove area.

In his presentation, Furgerson revealed several interrelated factors showing why the Willow Grove area is suitable for transit-development.

One factor is the potential to create more retail stores to accommodate the expected influx of commuters to a new or newly developed train-station area.

According to the Baker Corporation's research, the current number of retail businesses are enough to sustain the projected population through 2015, but with an increased commuter population, the demand for such businesses would also increase, resulting in a larger tax base for the township.

“Will what will be developed improve the township? That’s the textbook definition of revitalization,” Furgerson said.

The commercial development, however, isn’t limited to small retail businesses, as, according to the corporation's research, the population within the research area possess high education and income, which means specialty retail stores could also be developed.

Furgerson added that there has been a 1,700 net job growth within the research area from 2005 to 2009, in spite of the recent recession.

However, the growth proved to be within the professional realm, including technical and science fields.

In light of this, another goal and objective for the subsequent development of a train-station relocation would be to promote the creation of office spaces.

Furgerson pointed out that the train station relocation won’t be a 100-percent publicly funded endeavor, and so the location must be attractive on several levels to entice professional organizations to occupy such office spaces, and provide the needed private funding to move or further develop the train station in the first place.

“Can capital sources be identified? That also goes into what is feasible,” Furgerson said.

The Baker Corporation's research also showed that the population within the research area is growing, and would more likely use public transportation, citing the decreasing number of automobiles per household, the number of families with adult children and the number of individuals living in rental properties.

However, these potential Willow Grove Station users would more likely use other train stations if the Willow Grove Station has poor "walkability."

“Walking is the number one component to this transit-oriented terminology,” Furgerson said.” We are talking about a town center that has a large, new train station. New development should be no farther than a five-minute walk.”

Calling this factor of the research the "Walkshed Analysis," Furgerson displayed a large map on a PowerPoint projection, in which he showed the potential area of a train-station relocation and its five-minute walking radius—about 1.5 or 1.25 miles.

Several considerations must go into the relocation and its walkability, from impediments along walking routes to destinations (such as buildings), to free parking.

“All of these elements are important to revitalization, with or without a relocated train station,” Furgerson said.

These considerations make public attendance important for the June 23 meeting.

The Willow Grove Train Station open house meeting

The public event will be held in an open-house format. Upper Moreland residents and anyone using the Warminster line are encouraged to attend.

“I like open houses because they appeal to everyone,” Sarah Bowen, a planning manager with Baker, said at the June 12 meeting.

“They appeal to the person who stops by the meeting for 10 minutes, gives some input, and is home in time for dinner,” she said. “And, it also appeals to the person who wants to stay at the meeting longer and really learn a lot of information on what’s going on in the community.”

Taking place in the second-floor community room of the Giant Food Store, the open house will be set up into several stations.

In the center of the room, Furgerson and Bowen will be available to answer any questions, as well as provide condensed versions of the June 12 presentation.

There will also be a large printed map of the potential train station relocation. On this map, participants will be able to directly write opinions and suggestions about what is working and what doesn’t work with the current station.

Upper Moreland Task Force members will facilitate several other stations surrounding the main station, each with a specific public input need, such as a station for those who use bicycles on the train, and a station solely dedicated to taking down the issues and concerns of open house participants.

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The ’s community room can be accessed at the Marketplace Entrance on 315 York Road in Willow Grove.

For more information, visit www.willowgrovestation.com.