Ardmore Transit Center: Lower Merion Township narrows focus, makes tough choices

On Tuesday night, the Ad Hoc Ardmore Committee gave residents a chance to share their thoughts on a development that's been in the works for about eight years: the Ardmore Transit Center.

The committee, which hasn't met since April, informed the audience in the Lower Merion Township Administration Building that it has had discussions with Dranoff Properties, the developer of the transit center, PennDOT, the Federal Transit Authority and other agencies, in an effort to move the project forward.

At Tuesday's meeting, Township Manager Douglas Cleland went over the four proposed options for the project that came out of May's Board of Commissioners meeting. The first option was off the table because it carried a $30 million funding gap.

The fourth option would only allow for transit improvements and additional development when funds become available.

"In general, we haven't had a lot of support for that option, because it doesn't add some of the other kinds of goals we've had for the development of Ardmore, such as development, revitalization, parking and so forth," Cleland said at the meeting.

The focus since the board meeting in May has been on options two and three, the last of which Cleland said is more likely proposal to pass.

With a funding gap of $20 million to $23 million, option two allows for the development of a mixed-use residential and business area on the lot near Cricket Avenue. A seven-story complex with 112 apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail would be constructed, along with 112 private and 113 public parking spaces, in addition to the development of the Ardmore Transit Center, with 7,400 square feet of retail and a four- or five-level garage.

Option three has a funding gap of $8 million to $10 million, defers transit improvements and offers 6,000 square feet of retail space.

Cleland said the township was applying for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Grant (TIGER 3), since no additional funding has been realized since the last meeting. The TIGER 3 would require the township to compete with numerous grant seekers across the United States.

Even so, Cleland assured the audience the township still has public funding sources– between $15 to $20 million, originating from previous federal appropriations and state and local grants– some of which has been used to work with until additional funding is available.

Committee and community members then discussed some hard choices regarding features they were willing to live without in order to cut costs and advance the project. Here are the items discussed in Cleland's report: fewer additional parking spaces, some of which will be smaller than the 9 by 19 feet standard; no compensation or reimbursement to the township for the land on which the project will be constructed and the expenses sustained from the project's planning and design; and minimal or no below-market-rate housing in the residential component.

Cleland added that a new term sheet, which will outline the basic premises of an amended agreement, would be ready by Friday.

This term sheet will go before commissioners at the Economic Revitalization Committee next Wedneday , Oct. 12, at 6 p.m. at the Lower Merion Township Building.

Commissioner Cheryl Gelber, the committee chair, urged Ardmore residents to attend this meeting.

"We need to break ground on a project the rest of the township can accept," Gelber said. "Those who support this project need to attend the meeting Wednesday and speak out."

For more background information, the township has collected documents and presentations on the project on its website.