PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The president of Conshohocken Borough Council is miffed that SEPTA is considering alternatives to building a parking garage at the borough's Regional Rail stop.
Council President Colleen Leonard said she only learned last week that SEPTA was exploring other options to its plan to build a 534-space parking garage at the Conshohocken Regional Rail station.
"Having been a partner with SEPTA now for more than five years on both the train station and the parking garage projects, the borough would have expected to be included in these discussions," said Leonard during the public portion of Thursday's SEPTA board meeting.
The SEPTA board in April tabled approving construction contracts for the $48 million parking garage after receiving public pushback on the project.
“Does this board actually believe that each day, literally hundreds of people already in their car are going to pull into this parking garage at the spur of the moment to catch a once-an-hour train?” asked Transit Advocate Daniel Trubman in April.
In an interview Friday, SEPTA Spokesman Andrew Busch said the transit agency is considering options including a surface parking lot, or leasing existing parking spots nearby.
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"All of these options that we're considering adding parking for commuters – it's a project that has a large price tag,” Busch said. “And we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to answer all questions before moving forward."
Among the options SEPTA is weighing is a joint development plan that could include a residential component, Busch said. That's a nonstarter for the borough, Leonard added.
"The borough will not engage in any discussion regarding zoning amendments or variances that SEPTA would need to develop the property for multifamily residential in a future joint development scenario," she said. "The borough cannot sustain additional multifamily development in that area."
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The garage is a joint project between SEPTA and PennDOT to help ease traffic congestion on the Schuylkill Expressway.
"Abandonment of the garage project, resulting in a waste of $23 million, is fiscally irresponsible and a complete waste of public resources, time and money" Leonard added.
Busch said there's no timetable on when a recommendation on the garage options may be presented to the board.