Sidebar Summer 2018 - 23

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and the Lansdale Parking Authority use the Madison
Parking Lot site to create a catalyst for redevelopment and
revitalization of the entire borough.
We set out to rebrand Lansdale as a pro-business
community, ripe for redevelopment and adaptive reuse,
and to highlight the borough's public amenities and public
events. To create interest in Lansdale among developers, we
worked with Lansdale code officials to implement policies
to streamline inspections and permitting, recommended
procedures to reduce the time period and uncertainty of
the land development approval process, and crafted flexible
zoning to provide for a myriad of development options in
the borough's core districts for Borough Council to enact.
Borough Council also approved a new borough-wide color
scheme, authorized the installation of wayfinding signage
to help people find borough's many public amenities and
resources, adopted a slogan ("Life in Motion") that embraces
the borough's railroad heritage, and established and funded
a nonprofit organization ("Discover Lansdale") to act as
the borough's promotional arm, liaison to the business
community, event planner and vehicle to fight deterioration
and blight within the community.
At the same time, we recommended that the Lansdale
Parking Authority and Borough Council create interest
in the Madison Lot Project through a publicly vetted
Request for Proposals for a mixed-use development of the
site that included the core concepts of appropriately dense
residential development, ground-level commercial space
and public amenities such as a public gathering space,
recreational trail and public parking. We encouraged a
partnership with SEPTA to gain better access to public
transportation, including the Lansdale train station and
SEPTA buses, for the community. We sought out every
available public funding opportunity - including grants
through the Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program and
Keystone Communities Program - to improve the Madison
Parking Lot site and the public infrastructure around it.
We encouraged Lansdale Borough Council to invest in a
new police station and municipal complex to signal that
the Borough's elected officials were encouraging private
development in the borough by investing public money into
making the borough a safe, welcoming community with
state-of- -the-art public amenities and services. Finally, we
helped Borough Council to trade off many of the traditional
development and utility fees in exchange for developerinstalled public infrastructure improvements and public
amenities of equal or greater value which benefit the project
site as well as the surrounding community.
The net result is a public-private partnership project that
has been touted as a crown jewel of Montgomery County,
and a model transit-oriented development, that includes:
a remodeled, high-level platform train station; a 680-space
parking garage; a pedestrian bridge and stair tower,
complete with elevator, connecting the public parking

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Steven H.
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ACTS Center-Blue Bell * 375 Morris Road * Post Office Box 1479 * Lansdale, PA 19446-0773

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garage to the Madison Parking Lot Project site; a 10,000-square
foot public plaza that connects the pedestrian bridge and stair
tower to Madison Street; 17,500-square feet of commercial space
lining the public plaza area; 180 apartments; a reconstructed
Madison Street, 60-feet wide with public parking on both sides
that, in combination with the public plaza, will also serve as a
public event space; and a 10-foot wide recreational trail running
the entire length of the development site.
New residential units have been or are being built within
walking distance of the Madison Parking Lot Project site, and
new restaurants and shops are popping up all over downtown.
With a lot of hard work and a dedicated Borough Council,
Lansdale has again become a vibrant community, attractive to
both residents and businesses.
This article is intended to be used only for informational
purposes and is not intended to be construed as legal advice.
Reprinted with permission from the January 18, 2018 issue
of The Legal Intelligencer. © 2018 ALM Media Properties, LLC.
Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights
reserved.

SUMMER 2018 23
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Sidebar Summer 2018

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