Plan for N. Lehigh Avenue redevelopment shown at Frackville council

FRACKVILLE – Frackville Borough Council heard a plan to revitalize the 100 block of North Lehigh Avenue Wednesday night, which includes some relatively drastic potential changes.

“What you’re going to see tonight are possibilities. They’re possibilities grounded in good data, in market data our consultant has done, but they’re possibilities nonetheless,” said Chris Gulotta, Schuylkill County Land Bank administrator. “They’re designed to stimulate the thinking of people in the private sector about investing money in your community.”

The plan was put together by the firm Derck and Edson, of Lititz, hired by the borough. Advising the plan was the borough’s economic development committee, the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Schuylkill County Landbank.

“What we see in Frackville is potential,” said Ted Ritsick, DCED. He emphasized the importance of planning in running successful municipalities.

A state grant was obtained to cover the cost of the survey.

The Plan and its challenges

Helen Miernicki, borough councilwoman, introduced the plan, which was the effort of numerous meetings and surveys. She chaired the committee behind it.

“Keep in mind these are recommendations of hope, growth, and prosperity for our borough,” she said.

She noted that the plan would take time to come to fruition.

“When I see this first block of North Lehigh Avenue, I see opportunities,” said Gulotta. “There’s no question there are challenges here, but there are also opportunities.”

Mark Evans, project manager for Derck and Edson, explained the plan and its background to the council and those in attendance at the meeting. It encompassed the 100 block of North Lehigh from Frack to Spring, primarily focusing on the west side.

Some challenges, he said, included the width of Lehigh Avenue, basement flooding in the area, poorly marked crosswalks, and a difficulty obtaining residential property insurance.

“At present, Lehigh Avenue is 58 feet wide. That is really wide by any standard,” Evans said. “The idea is that maybe there’s a way to narrow this piece of Lehigh Avenue to be slightly more narrow so that cars and trucks don’t feel compelled to go as fast as they do.”

However, the width of Lehigh Avenue is on-par with other towns in the region, including Shenandoah, Ashland, Mahanoy City, and Centralia, all which have main roads which are about 50 feet wide.

Evans continued, saying, “With those challenges, we wanted to focus on the positive and see what are some things that could be a vision to move forward. We want to make sure that whatever happens in this block, it should be building on your heritage and your strengths.”

Businesses and possible development

Evans noted an absence of “everyday businesses,” like coffee and bagel shops, delis, sandwich shops, hardware stores, and pancake shops.

“Downtowns thrive on not just someone coming once a month, they thrive on someone coming once a week, twice a week, three times a week for each business,” he continued.

Evans emphasized the need for unique businesses like a wine bar, microbrewery, or a bike shop. Essentially, things you can’t find online.

He noted that Frackville residents are “spending more than local businesses are providing.”

“If we work to take those dollars spent 10 or 15 minutes away, and say, why don’t we have that business here? Why don’t we serve our residents with those businesses here,” he said.

“We want to work to make sure that Lehigh Avenue is more of a destination and not just a place to drive by or drive through,” he said, adding that 11,000 vehicles a day go down the 100 block of North Lehigh.

Evans noted the library is an asset and could be a focal point of the block.

Some changes he presented as ideas were the development of a medical office at the corner of Lehigh and Frack — half a block from another — which would “generate activity” for other businesses in the block, a coordinated parking plan for the block, and the development of “infill” buildings to fill empty lots.

Walkability, parking, traffic patterns, and the width of Lehigh Ave.

Enhancing public safety and walkability was another emphasis he had.

“Focusing on enhancing the sidewalks, focusing on slowing traffic, focusing on the crosswalks, we think all of these things are what it’s going to take to make change in this block,” he said, showing a concept of a crosswalk with a shorter curb-to-curb distance. He claimed crossing the road at the corner of Spring and Lehigh was “daunting.” Curb “bump-outs” would do the job, he said.

“That 58 feet [width] means cars can go as fast as they want because there’s no friction, there’s no reason to even think about slowing down,” Evans said.

Evans also noted the one-way traffic patterns of Spring and Frack Street apparently present a challenge.

“If you were trying to get to a business on the south side of the block near Frack Street and you had a one way street coming at you, you can’ turn in there,” said Evans. “Many customers will just say, you know, it’s a one way street, I’m not gonna bother.”

He suggested the patterns for the first blocks of both streets should be two-way.

In one lot, 36 North Lehigh, he suggested a pedestrian walkway could connect to parking lots on Penn Street.

“One of the challenges in downtowns is that we love our cars, but we want to make sure they’re not too far away,” Evans said.

He also noted that a landscaped median at the center of the street would be attractive to passersby.

“We think that would be a gamechanger to help people say it’s time to slow down, it’s time to realize this is not a place where 45-miles-an-hour is not going to cut it,” he said.

In addition to the median, he also pitched a green island in the center of Frack and Lehigh.

The idea would remove angled parking on the west side of the block which would, he said, make enough room for the median and a turning lane, the latter of which is already present at Lehigh and Spring headed northbound.

Instead of the angled parking, he suggested parking at the rear of the buildings.

“People love their parking, but lets put it at the rear where it could be accessible and shared by multiple properties,” he said.

“Right now, Penn Street has a number of aging garages, some of them are cared for some of them are pretty tired,” he said. “What if there were ways that we could open and connect together parking areas so that we could get multiple parking areas at the rear.”

“We see the opportunity for five different areas where parking is shared,” he said.

Making it happen

“It’s going to take a lot of coordinated effort and a lot of different organizations to make these things happen,” he said. “It’s going to take working with grant funding sources, it’s going to take property owners collaborating, it’s going to take leadership on the part of the borough and the land bank, and a lot of different elements to make some of these big ideas happen.”

Ron Jordan, borough council president, said “It’s skeptical in the beginning, but I give you a lot of credit, Helen. There’s no doubt the people sitting up here really believe in what Helen is pushing to revitalize the downtown of Frackville.”

“Without the Frackville residents pushing and showing their care, it doesn’t get off the ground,” Jordan said, thanking the economic development committee.

The hope, moving forward, is that private developers would come together with current property owners with the borough to enact aspects of the plan.

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