Plan maps out future of Keim Street corridor
POTTSTOWN » Say the words “Keim Street” in the greater Pottstown area and one generally expects it to be followed by the word “bridge.”
Closed now for more than 10 years, the replacement of the Keim Street bridge over the Schuylkill River has certainly proceeded at a pace some might associate with a snail.
But there is more to Keim Street than the bridge that bears its name.
On the Pottstown side of the river, Keim Street is also a gateway to the borough as well as the road that bisects the former Bethlehem Steel works which made Pottstown famous around the world.
Now occupied by numerous tenants instead of a single industrial giant, “there are a lot of businesses there that are thriving,” Brian Olszak, a senior planner with Montgomery County Planning Commission, told council during its June 8 meeting.
There is, nevertheless, unused ground in the former plant, particularly in the space on either side of Keim Street as it passes through the site, in an area once used for large cranes, said Olszak.
Since January 2019, planners have been looking at this gateway to the borough with an eye toward creating an “overlay zoning district,” that would allow for other kinds of development in addition to the heavy industrial zoning that is there now.
Goals for the effort are to envision new development compatible with the built environment; to enhance connectivity, particularly with the Schuylkill River Trail; economic opportunity to add businesses and jobs; and to “enhance the streetscape” to create a pleasing public space.
Last July, a public forum was held at the site to get reaction to options for redevelopment.
As a result of that meeting, and further planning, a two-phase plan has been created and was presented to council for comment at the June 8 meeting.
“It’s an important gateway, especially when the bridge is re-opened,” Olszak said.
The first phase would deal almost exclusively with the area between the railroad tracks that cross Keim Street with a dilapidated bridge in the north and the tracks that cross the road at grade in the south.
There, a series of five multi-use buildings, with retail on the first floor and office and/or light manufacturing on the upper floors up along the street, leaving enough room for truck circulation in the rear and a wide sidewalk in the front.
Additional parking would be created by placing it beneath the second floor of the buildings, so as not to impede truck circulation.
The second phase of the project has a much longer timeline and is much more ambitious.
It calls for, first and foremost, the realignment of Keim Street to square up with where the bridge connects to Industrial Highway.
“We’ve added the realignment as an aspiration,” said Olszak.
“And certainly, none of it is mandatory. There are existing businesses in existing buildings there now,” he said.
“There may also be brownfield remediation required,” Olszak said, in reference for the potential for contamination in the soil or groundwater after more than 100 years of heavy industrial use.
Nevertheless, the vision is there for Pottstown’s leaders — current and future — to consider.
The plan calls for the creation of a small “gateway park,” some buildings zoned for “office/industrial;” some zoned for “office/residential” and some that are purely residential.
Those buildings, which would be located nearer to the Schuylkill River and would thus be in the floodplain, would be raised up where necessary and parking provided underneath, similar to the Montgomery County College South Hall off College Drive, said planner Tamar Nativ.
The first phase “works with the existing property owners right now,” said Borough Manager Justin Keller.
As for the second phase, “there’s a lot to shoot for there over the next five, 10, 15 or 20 years,” said Keller.
“I like the design,” said Pottstown Councilman Joe Kirkland. “I like having the uses at the edge of the water and the link to the bridge.”