Changes to Reading’s zoning ordinance could facilitate adaptive reuse projects and new construction to help promote transit-friendly growth downtown, consultants have told City Council.
Peter Simone and Pankaj Jobanputra of Simone Collins Landscape Architecture, Norristown, gave an overview at a recent council meeting of how zoning changes might help direct transit-oriented development, or TOD, planning.
TOD involves designing urban areas as walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use communities centered on high-quality train systems.
With the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority poised to get rail service in Reading back on track, the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance contracted the firm to work with city staff to analyze ordinances and recommend changes to promote TOD.
“The first thing we wanted to do is look at how TOD could be implemented,” Jobanputra said, “and we see two factors in play.”
The first is adaptive reuse, or repurposing existing buildings for new uses, including residential or commercial spaces.
Once that inventory is exhausted, Jobanputra said, the city should look at how new construction could fit into the area.
Revising the zoning ordinance to permit adaptive reuse in the commercial core would help facilitate TOD, he said.
Adaptive reuse is allowed in limited areas of the city. A proposed amendment would change that to permit such projects in all city districts.
Exemptions from parking requirements for residential primary use in adaptive reuse buildings also is being proposed, Jobanputra said. This aligns with the broader strategy to reduce urban congestion and promote public transit use, he noted.
Because there is not a lot of vacant land for new construction downtown, Jobanputra said, the team is exploring the potential for development on Reading Parking Authority lots.
By selling or leasing surface parking lots for development, the parking authority would receive revenue, while also creating an increased demand for the remaining parking spaces at other authority facilities.
The team also is looking at crafting a TOD ordinance in the form of overlay zoning.
An overlay zone is a special zoning district, placed over an existing base zone or zones. Overlays identify special provisions in addition to those in the underlying base zone.
The proposed overlay would include the riverfront area, he said, and replace the existing riverfront redevelopment overlay.
Key components of the TOD overlay would include dimensional standards, such as building height, coverage and impervious surface limits, Jobanputra said, and would be aimed at fostering pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use environments.
These incentives for development would benefit the city in several ways, Jobanputra said.
One of these is the provision of workforce housing, which is affordable housing for the working public, he said.
“So this is affordable for people such as police officers, firefighters, health care workers, municipal workers and retail service people to make sure that there is an allocation of housing units that are available at affordable prices,” he said. “Affordable in this scenario is identified as 60% of the area median income.”
Another requirement would be the introduction of public civic space, Jobanputra said.
Such common-use space could be provided on the ground or upper floors of rehabilitated buildings and could be in the form of a veranda or a deck.
Civic space would have to encompass at least 10% of the lot on projects that have a minimum lot size of 18,000 square feet.
“So just to give you an example,” he said, “that’s about 1,800 square feet, 10% or the equivalent of about 11 standard sized parking spaces in a configuration.”
Another consideration is transit improvements and access to bus stops, which should be located within 100 feet of the project’s primary entrance.
The overlay should also include design guidelines, Jobanputra said, that would take into consideration historic preservation and emphasize aesthetic cohesion and pedestrian-centric design elements, incorporating elements like street furniture, landscaping and outdoor dining provisions.
The next steps, he said, will be to meet with the city planning commission for feedback and continue to work with zoning and planning staff to refine the proposed overlay and draft.
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