Matt Schickling
Wire Staff Writer
Last Wednesday, the Montgomery County Planning Commission held a meeting at the Abington Township Municipal Building to present its comprehensive plan for the county’s next 26 years.
The presentation is called Montco 2040: A Shared Vision, which is a “long-range plan required by state law for guiding the growth and physical development of a place,” according to the plan’s executive summary.
There is a plan for the Philadelphia area and individually for almost all of the 62 municipalities in Montgomery County, but this plan is supposed to tie them all together into one cohesive vision.
“The plan sets out a vision for the county for the year 2040. It’s mostly focused on actions that the county can take,” Anne Leavitt-Gruberger, principal planner at Montgomery County Planning Commission, said. “We look at issues that transcend local municipalities.”
These issues include countywide land use, transportation improvements and things that benefit the larger county population that may have effects outside of municipal borders, Leavitt-Gruberger said.
A presentation getting into the specifics of the plan was given by Brian O’Leary, who is section chief of county planning for Montgomery County. His presentation divided the plan among three themes: connected communities, sustainable places and a vibrant economy.
Connected communities was mostly concerned with transportation. The goals outlined in this section are to improve road connectivity, expand intelligence transportation systems and eliminate road bottlenecks.
“We want to get municipalities to work together,” O’Leary said.
Some ways he proposed to help with transportation were to make the Warminster Line of SEPTA Regional Rail a double track for more efficiency. He also suggested increasing the frequency of the West Trenton Line, which runs from Center City through areas around Jenkintown and Bethayres and into Bucks County.
Another aspect of the connected communities section is the Pennsylvania Turnpike Corridor Reinvestment project, which seeks to revitalize areas along the Turnpike with mixed-use work locations.
O’Leary pointed to the wealth of walking and biking trails throughout the county and in local municipalities. Another implementation of this plan, he said, would include “connecting local trails to county trails.”
This would contribute to both connectivity and sustainability throughout the county. In doing this, it would also be contributing to the population’s well-being by giving citizens more places to exercise and be active.
“What happens with the built environment affects people’s health,” O’Leary said, pointing to local farming and parks.
The vibrant economy section focused on the Turnpike project as well as assisting businesses that want to relocate or stay in Montgomery County, with a special emphasis on industry, creative jobs and new technology to keep millennials in the county. He also suggested developing tourism and ways to get people to visit the area.
This was the the third of four meetings to outline the plans for Montco 2040. The last was held on Sept. 18 in Norristown. Other meetings were held in Pottstown and North Wales.
The online version of the plan includes most of the information presented, along with maps and visuals outlining plans for open space and trails, land use and transportation that were displayed at the meeting.
“We wanted to give people a chance to weigh in on some things that we might have overlooked,” Leavitt-Gruberger said.
For updated information or to view the executive summary for Montco 2040: A Shared Vision, visit www.montcopa.org.
