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TODS-TRIDS and WHAT REALLY IS GOING ON AT THE WILLOW GROVE MALL
??
THESE DIAGRAMS WILL TELLYOU MORE OF THE STORY
Current location of
Willow Grove Train Station
As I understand TODS and TRIDS ,
the 1/2 mile outer circle is the standard TOD-Transit
Oriented District boundary. That is hwere you will find
Federal funds available for denser developoment within a half
mile around a train. A TRID - Transit Revitalization
Investment District generally connotes even denser
development - and the monies derived from TRID development
go back into the TRID district to inspire more development
Look carefully at the Mall property and the entire BC District
which is the square that the mall is in. The "Dick's Sporting
Goods" strip mall is included in the light blue ring that
indicates 1/2 mile from a train and would have the same rights
as any new apartment building, if a true TOD were to be
implemented. (they reduced it by 150 feet- go figure) The Visionworks complex would also be
included and would have the same rights. Most of the
former K-Marts (At Home,now) is included, too, and would
have the same rights if an official TOD (Transit Oriented Development or
District) were to be the guide. The 1/4 mi ring in a TOD is
gnerally more densely developed and could be designated
for TRID development.
As mentioned , the ordinace
submitted designated just a tiny bit less than the 1/2 mile
(2500 feet instead of 2650) A bizarre choice. What was the
reason?
The inner, darker blue
ring above shows the 1/4 mile radius around the
Willow Grove train/ bus station. This of course is a ring
around the train /bus where they are currently located.
Below you will see that there was a plan previously underway to
move the train/bus station. I believe that plan was
aborted totally - but there may be no reason it could not be
reinstitued... you know... after the Business Center in
total receives the H-12 use.
The ordinance
as submitted was never provided for the residents' meeting .....
and in fact the presentation vastly differs from what they
actually submitted. At the
next meeting, right before Christmas, it was rather well hidden on page
88 of a bzillion documents. Township Manager
Richard Manfredi was asked but would not provide the ordinance
documents in a separate page that could be easily found, read
and shared by the residents affected. Manager Manfredi
did however, expend a great deal of time, money and
resources on behalf of the developer - even providing our
Township Planner to help write the
ordinance. (Did you approve that - I'm sure I didn't ..it
wasn't in the budget. It is a liberty that I believe is
taken contrary to the interests of the people the Manager is
there to serve)
This next diagram indicates AN AMATEUR ATTEMPT AT
DEFINING the 2500 linear feet from
the train at its current location THAT PREIT HAS IN IT'S
PROPOSED NEW ORDINANCE
Note again that parts of the existing Mall itself, plus all of
Dick's strip, all of the Visionworks complex and parts of
the At Home property are
inside the ring.
Current Willow Grove Train
Station -- 2500 feet Walk Distance radius
MANY PROPOSALS WERE CONSIDERED
FOR MOVING THE WILLOW GROVE TRAIN STATION CLOSER TO
THE WILLOW GROVE MALL As early as 2010 , 11 and 12 this was
going on ...but, perhaps because of difficulties obtaining the
necessary lands or for other reasons, they re-grouped and made
arrangements to move the train station further away from the
Willow Grove Mall rather than closer. Septa aquired
412 Davisville Road - and it appears that the main station may
be right ajacent from 318 Davisville. There were many
components to the new train station area development as you can
see below. We are unclear where the "border is" in order to draw
a linear 2500 feet .
There appears, however,
to be an attempt to obtain the H-12 zoning asap in early 2021
BEFORE the station moves. 2500 linear feet from the
current station would provide more area in the Business Center
with the H-12 zoning. Mr
Kaplin, PREIT and Bel Canto
forgot to mention any of this in their 11-9-20 presentation.
Those diagrams should have been provided so they could be
checked.
HERE IS THE PLAN FOR THE NEW STATION see all
the diagrams at this link :
http://uppermoreland.org/DocumentCenter/View/1499/2019-Relocated-Willow-Grove-Station?bidId=
Below is an amateur's attempt at
figuring out the new 2500 linear feet from the NEW
station ----- The 365 apts don't even appear
to qualify - but since we don't know just where the edge of the
station is, this might not be at all accurate. We
have been through 3 meetings and still do not have theis
information
So ... is the H-12 text going in before the new Willow Grove
station is built in 2021 ? Will the zoning stay with the
property even if the 2500 feet from the new station does
not include one of the properties - only the old station
included them ? Where are the actual calculations of what is
included in the 2500 linear feet ? . It seems clear that
at least a corner of the Dick's Sporting Goods strip (The
"Plaza") will be in the 2500 ft - does that qualify
it for the H-12 zoning even if a tiny part of it is 2500 feet
away?
We needed Mr Kaplin and Mr Herman
to present these details instead of the "history of shopping" .
Residents had a right to have all of
this information in their 3 prior presentations, before the Jan
26 2021 Planning Commission.
No longer relevant - but of interest..........
ORIGINALLY THERE WAS A PLAN TO BUILD THE NEW TRAIN CLOSER
TO THE MALL
Nearly the entire Mall Property and all the others in the
BC WG Mall district would have qualified for the new
zoning. A TOD = 1/2 mile or 2650 feet from a train .
For some reason, they chose
2500- slightly less than the 1/2 mile... we DO want to
know why.
Original ( now scrapped) proposed new Willow Grove Train
Station - showing ¼-mile (and 1/2 mile) Walk Distance
UNDERSTANDING TODS AND TRIDS
TOD = TRANSIT ORIENTED DISTRICT
https://www.tcrpc-pa.org/transit-oriented-development#:~:text=TOD%20policies%20can%20be%20applied,quarter%2Dmile%20of%20bus%20stops.
TOD policies can be applied to an overall transit network, but
they are generally considered on the sub-regional level,
specifically within a half-mile of commuter-rail stops or a
quarter-mile of bus stops. In TOD areas, higher densities and
mixed-use development are preferred. Additionally, street
patterns are highly connected with adequate sidewalks and
bicycle facilities. Finally, parking policies should limit or
eliminate minimums and may even impose parking maximums.
MORE ON TODS
http://13.113.225.178/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Transit-Oriented-Development-Types.pdf
THE TOD INSTITUTE - LEARN ABOUT TODS
http://www.tod.org/certification/howitworks.html
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TRIDS - TRANSIT REVITALIZATION INVESTMENT DISTRICTS
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/li/uconsCheck.cfm?
excerpt:
CHAPTER
8
GRANT OF TRID REVENUE
Section 801. Establishment.
There is established a special fund in the State Treasury to be
known as the TRID Fund. Moneys deposited into the fund and
interest which accrues from those funds shall be used for the
purposes delineated in this chapter.
Section 802. Approval.
(a) Submission.--A management entity may apply to the
department for the purposes of
funding an eligible project or for
covering debt service payments
related to debt incurred to fund an eligible project..........
................Section 803. Additional powers of management
entities.
In addition to other powers and functions of management entities
granted under this act, a management entity shall have the power
to borrow money for the purposes of executing a TRID or TRID
planning study for which an application has been approved under
section 802.......
804(a)
Matching funds.--The amount of money transferred from the TRID
Fund utilized for the construction, including related site
preparation and infrastructure, reconstruction or renovation of
facilities, shall be matched by other
sources of funding at a ratio of two fund dollars to one private
dollar.....
TRIDS :
yr=2016&sessInd=0&act=151
TRIDS:
https://www.dvrpc.org/trid/pdf/10-201107TRIDFinal_Opp_Chal.pdf
IMPLEMENTING TRANSIT REVITALIZATION INVESTMENT DISTRICTS
IN PHILA
https://rhls.org/wp-content/uploads/Econsult-ExecutiveSummary.pdf
A TRID can be best understood as a transit-oriented district
that uses value capture as one of its funding mechanisms: the
transit stop is the midpoint of the district, and any new tax
revenues generated within the district’s boundaries are captured
for the TRID. it is therefore similar to a tax increment
financing (tif) district, although tifs in philadelphia tend to
capture tax revenues only at the newly developed site, while
TRIDs would capture adjacent tax revenues as well, reflecting
the enhanced value of being near the transit stop (see figure
e.3). it is also not unlike a business improvement district
(bid), which has been shown to be doubly beneficial to
neighborhoods, by enhancing property values as well as capturing
locally generated tax revenues for local use.
_________________________________________________________________________
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