READING, Pa. – During its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night, Reading City Council heard an update presentation from Simone Collins Landscape Architecture, Norristown, on transit-oriented development, or TOD, for downtown Reading.
The firm was retained by the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance in 2023 with a grant it received from the Department of Community and Economic Development.
The impetus for the study was the creation of the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority which has been charged with the restoration of passenger rail service between Reading and Philadelphia.
Pankaj Jobanputra, a planner with Simone Collins, explained he has been working with city staff on a TOD ordinance to incorporate new standards for development and revitalization.
Jobanputra said the original draft map for the TOD overlay has now been reduced to really focus on the immediate areas around the proposed train station.
The purpose of the overlay ordinance is to promote economic development by pursuing the adaptive reuse of existing structures and developing underutilized sites for new uses that contribute to the local economy.
Under the overlay ordinance, the zoning hearing board could consider a reduction of the parking and/or loading space requirements as a part of the special exception.
Jobanputra said new definitions, such as workforce housing, will also be introduced.
He explained that workforce housing would be affordable housing for those earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income.
Jobanputra said incentives for developers in the overlay district would be: increased building height, smaller minimum lot size, increased impervious or building coverage, and residential uses in a new manufacturing-commercial district.
Requirements in the TOD overlay would include: a percentage of residential units dedicated to workforce housing, public civic space in at least 10% of a lot, streetscape improvements, pedestrian-oriented improvements and bicycle parking.
Jobanputra said Simone Collins will continue to work with staff and make another presentation to the planning commission in late summer.
Managing Director Jack Gombach said the administration is looking forward to continuing the work and the partnership.
“The administration just wants to highlight all the partnerships that really came together to get to this point and really want to underscore just how the TOD ordinances are bringing together all those critical projects that we’ve been working together on for so long into one cohesive overlay district,” Gombach said.
Council President Donna Reed said she believes the city should do everything it in terms of expediting and streamlining the ordinance and the permitting process.