Parking lot to be greener, friendlier
SOUDERTON >> There will be a few less parking spaces, but more reasons to use the borough-owned Chestnut Street parking lot under planned improvements shown to Souderton Borough Council at its July 19 work session meeting.
“We probably lose around four spaces or so,” Borough Manager Mike Coll said, “but it’s greening up the lot and doing something other than just parking. It’s actually somewhat more of a congregation area as well.”
The borough is getting a $140,000 grant from the Montgomery County Planning Commission to help cover the cost of the planned improvements, he said.
The parking lot, which runs parallel to Main Street, is on a steep hill.
“This particular project is really designed heavily on green infrastructure,” Coll said.
“There’s rain gardens built into it, so what we’re trying to do is capture water as it’s going down the hill, divert it into some rain gardens,” he said. “At the very bottom is a rather large rain garden and from there it empties into the culvert that runs at the bottom of the parking lot.”
The parking layout would remain pretty much the same as it currently is, he said.
“All new landscaping would occur,” Coll said. “The trees that are in there, some are dead or at varying states of disrepair, so they’re all going to come out and landscaping would go in.”
Souderton Connects suggested adding seating in the Chestnut Street area that could be used for things such as Third Fridays events held in that area and by people getting ice cream at Downtown Scoop, Coll said.
Following that suggestion, the latest plan renderings show an existing alley adjacent to Downtown Scoop being closed and a terraced plaza area being installed there, he said.
The alley continues on to the next door Keystone Opportunity Center, but Keystone uses the borough parking lot, not the alley, as its entrance way, he said.
The borough budgeted to do the parking lot improvements this year, but there is still engineering work to be completed, so bids for the project will probably be gotten in late fall and the work take place in 2022, Coll said.
“It’s such a difficult lot,” council President Brian Goshow said. “It’s so steep. It’s so hard parking there.”
“It’s certainly a challenge,” Coll said, “but the condition of it right now, it definitely needs a facelift.”