MEETING NOTES Project Project: Walk Park Train Abington 16020.20 No.:

Abington Township Building Meeting 1/23/2017 Location: 1176 Old York Rd. Date/ 7 PM – 9PM Abington, PA 19001 Time:

Project Public Meeting #1 Issue Re: 1/30/2017 Date:

ATTENDEES: See attached Attendee List PROJECT CONSULTANTS: • Peter Simone (PS), Simone Collins • Pankaj Jobanputra (PJ) • Geoff Creary (GC) • Melissa Barley (MB) • Ben Guthrie (BG), TPD • Randy Waltermyer (RW) NOTES: Attendee Station Identification • SC asked all attendees, as they entered the meeting, to place a sticker on the station with which they are most familiar. Introduction • PS outlined the agenda, introduced the SC team and the consulting team, TPD, reviewed the project scope, and briefly spoke about the Abington Bike Plan, and its relation to WPT Abington. Station Observations • GC addressed station observations around each of the seven (7) stations in the township. a. General sidewalk gaps, and gaps connected to schools and parks

X:\16020.20 Walk Park Bike Abington\Meetings\170123_PM1_WPT 1 b. Stations and intersections that are challenging or that cause a safety concern for pedestrians or cars to navigate and the reasons why they are a challenge c. Problems with parking and possible parking solutions d. Station wayfinding from the road. Wayfinding was specifically a problem for North Hills Station on the outbound side of the tracks. e. Bus to Rail Connections

Demographic Trends • PJ presented demographic, transportation and employment charts and trends on the areas around the 7 stations (based on census tracts a ¼ mile around each station): a. Population – Total Population, Population Change from 2010 to 2014, Senior and Children Population b. Workflow – Journey to Work by Mode of Transport, Work Inflow/Outflow Analysis c. Transit Usage – Regional Rail Weekday Boardings, Bus Ridership d. Bicycle Needs – DVRPC RideScore Rating e. Income & Affordability – Median Household Incomes, Location Affordability based on Housing and Transportation Costs f. Population Density vs. Boardings – Population Per Square Mile, 2015 Boardings for Each Station g. Population & Employment Forecasts – Projected Population and Employment Forecasts, Regional Employment Centers

Questions and Comments 1. Crestmont is a small station and parking is free. It fills up quickly and commuters park on residential streets. There is a lot of complaining about that from the residents. Is there a solution to the parking issue that you know of? SEPTA is aware of the parking. 2. Ardsley fills up quickly, it is always full. Are there any solutions to improving the parking situation there? Yes, SEPTA is thinking about leasing spaces, the VFW parcel could be a potential location. 3. At Noble station near the bridge on the Starbucks side of the road, there are steps under the bridge. They are deteriorated and overgrown with grass, but there are more people who cross on the underside of the bridge. It might be better to have people cross under the bridge. At night, especially when it snows, it feels unsafe on Old York Road because they don't plow that area very much. People do walk along the underside of the road. 4. One attendee crosses Old York Road, from Wawa to get to the station. Why not put a better system there? The PennDOT plans don’t approve that. The point is to get something in there to make it safer. It is a really nice dense area for redevelopment. 5. In Noble Station, the angled parking area along the tracks on the inbound side is free to a certain point. Theoretically they will ticket you past the side. The reason is because

X:\16020.20 Walk Park Bike Abington\Meetings\170123_PM1_WPT 2 that parking lot is private. SEPTA must have an agreement with the property owner. They will ticket you if you don't pay in the paid area, and there is a sign indicating this at the pay station. People are confused by this and they often ask other people at the station if it is true that only those 5-10 spots require payment. They will tow, too. PS: SEPTA has plans to renovate the station, a high platform/ pedestrian underpass or overpass, but the property owner has been slow to commit to changes. 6. At North Hills Station SEPTA runs express trains past the station to Glenside and Fort Washington. It might be beneficial to try to get people to North Hills for the parking. 7. Even if you live near Ardsley Station, you are better off going to Glenside because there are twice as many trains, there is more parking, and you can walk there easily. 8. At Rydal Station what direction do people walk from? People come from all directions. It can be treacherous conditions to walk to the station. People walk from Lindsey Lane and from Penmore Place. The Shuttle picks up students there at the station. There are not a lot of vehicular or pedestrian accidents. This is probably because, even though there is a lot of traffic, there is not a huge volume of traffic, and cars have to slow down enough to navigate the turns under the bridge. 9. In the demographics section, why are the Daily Average Bus Ridership numbers the same for each station? These are total numbers for each bus line. 10. The RideScore will go up when a trail is in place. PennDOT may put in bike lockers if RideScore is high enough. 11. Would the general plan come out this year? Yes, September. There will be a draft plan this May. In the fall this would go before the Commissioners for adoption? Yes. 12. In Ardsley Station there is a little crossing with signage there. What other improvements could we do? There are some vacant areas that could be redeveloped with commercial development and additional development. The one property that looks vacant is just underutilized, but not abandoned. We plan for the long term. 13. Maybe the plan will include pedestrian trail connections from the bike trail. Where is the bike trail going to be? It is not going through the cemetery. The trail is revised to stay on the street. Was there money in the grant to build the 3.2 miles? Yes. It is mainly just signage and road paint. The money was awarded a few weeks ago. There is a grant for the engineering work. The match is $450,000 to connect Valley Road with the Fairway because that's where the Township money stops. 14. There are conversations taking place with property owners to connect through the Meadowbrook golf course to the Pennypack Trail. There is an effort to try to add bike lanes to connect Meadowbrook and Rydal to Glenside. The more people see it open and used the more visible and attractive it becomes. There has been some minor slowing on the road because of the Fairway. It calms people down because they know there are 2 lanes. You feel safer as a biker with a center lane, because you know cars can go around them in the center lane. 15. Are there plans to improve crossing across rail lines? There are lots of requests for a crossing at Rydal Station. It probably won’t happen, but if you have a specific request, voice it because SEPTA needs to know that people desire more crossings. 16. Do we know who owns the alley by Ardsley Station? Engineering company owns it. 17. The Township is 75% through the problems with the Tyson/ Edge Hill intersection improvements. They are looking to update the roads (one way in each direction), install stormwater management, and stabilize in each direction. 18. Near Noble Station, Grove Avenue is an unofficial path (walk over) 19. Where Rydal Road comes into The Fairway, the sidewalk stops in the middle of Rydal Road. There is no safe pedestrian access along Rydal Road. People have to walk up to

X:\16020.20 Walk Park Bike Abington\Meetings\170123_PM1_WPT 3 611 in order to get to Baederwood Shopping Center. There is no pedestrian access where Rydal Road crosses the tracks. It is not a flat grade. 20. The pedestrian lights at the 5 point intersection near Noble Station at Baeder Road, and Old York Road and the Station entrance drive are timed inconveniently. PennDOT probably wouldn’t install an extra time interval for one side of the crossing. 21. It would be good to add signage to Ardsley crossing across Edge Hill Road.

Next Public Meeting • The next Public Meeting will be on Monday, May 22nd at the Township Building. • As attendance was minimal due to inclement weather, we will reschedule Public Meeting #1 for late February / early March

This report represents the Professional’s summation of the proceedings and is not a transcript. Unless written notice of any correction or clarification is received by the Professional within ten days of issue, the report shall be considered factually correct and shall become part of the official project record.

Sincerely, SIMONE COLLINS, INC. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Pankaj (PJ) Jobanputra, AICP

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