Revitalization Task Force Reports Success with Train Station Event

The Upper Moreland Revitalization Task Force provided last night’s Community Development Committee with an encouraging report.

Karen Houck, chairperson of the task force, who is currently on vacation, sent an email to the committee reporting the success of the June 23 train station open house.

The train station open house is the first of three expected public meetings hosted by the task force and the Baker Group, a consulting firm hired by the task force to help plan the feasibility of moving the Willow Grove Train Station.

Jack Tarman, a task force member, read Houck’s email, which described the event’s success.

“Baker had told us that attendance of 50 or so would be a good outcome,” wrote Houck. “I set a goal of 100, and we in fact had 125 people attend.”

The public meeting took place in the Community Center at Giant Food Store, located just one block away from the train station.

At the meeting, several stations were set up, all of which were designed to garner different opinions and information from stakeholders of the train station, which include train riders and surrounding community members.

Houck wrote of two key points that were consistently brought up by event participants:

1. No one likes the wall along Easton Road at the back of the Shopping center.

2. Why is the study looking only at moving the station south, and not looking at the possibilities in both directions?

According to a that covered the June 23 event, the Baker Group has worked on organizing all the information gathered at the event, which is expected to be released in the near future.

Also in Houck’s report, at the last task force meeting on June 12, the task force members poured over maps of Upper Moreland. Each member was asked to start thinking about other target areas for revitalization. Michael Narchowich of the Montgomery County Planning Commission led the process. The process began at this meeting as a way to give the task force a head start when it comes time to put together a revitalization plan with Narchowich.

Currently, Narchowich is conducting other business with the township.

According to Tarman, a complete revitalization plan is required to gain grants from the county. Tarman said, after the committee meeting, the task force will use previous revitalization plans as a template, but would need to expand on them, as the previous plans only encompassed an immediate area around the Willow Grove Train Station.

The next task force meeting is scheduled for July 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the township building. Each task force meeting is open to the public.