Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Milne: Repurpose Bishop Tube site
State rep envisions new Malvern train station on contaminated land
EAST WHITELAND » State Rep. Duane D. Milne, R-167 of Malvern, has called for bold, creative action to clean up and repurpose the highly contaminated and unusable track of land generally referred to as Bishop Tube. He’d like to see it become the new Malvern Train Station.
Milne issued the following statement to outline his vision:
“In conjunction with achieving proper environmental remediation, I am calling for a creative repurposing strategy for the site centered on Transit Oriented Development (TOD). This economic and environmentally conscious dual approach will require rela-
tively little footprint of the parcel’s total acreage for commercial application, while conserving considerable space to convert into a park and usable open space. This innovative approach will satisfy many competing demands and desires in our area.
“First, a pressing need exists to create a train stop in the general Malvern area that can accommodate far more volume of commuters, and parking lot space to match. Further, although some upgrades have been possible in recent years, many aspects of the current station’s layout simply are not pedestrian-friendly. Plus, a first-class area deserves a modern, firstclass station facility, with a proper waiting area, conveniences and other amenities. None of the foregoing can be addressed to the fullest potential at the site of the existing train stop.
“Secondly, to make the overall economics of this project work, some kind of commercial project needs to be permitted to incent a private entity to assume some ownership and environmental clean up of the property. TOD, which can be built on a narrow band of land, is preferable to a sprawling housing development that consumes most of the acreage. Third, the overall strategy I envision will allow for preservation of land and creation of recreation areas to meet the strongly expressed desires of community residents.
“In my view, this challenging parcel of land, which has languished for nearly 20 years, calls for creative thinking, and not the same-old ‘either or’ battle of either only development or only preservation (once remediated). Room exists for both goals, and enlightened minds working together can achieve the best of both worlds.”