Noise, littering and other illegal activities in Riverfront Park have been a source of complaints for years, but Reading officials agree the area has more potential than problems.
“There’s no reason why access points for recreation should not be taking place there,” said John H. Miller Jr., Reading Redevelopment Authority chairman. “But it’s a question of management and proper control.”
Miller visited several cities with riverfront attractions, he said, and sees Reading’s riverfront as an untapped and underutilized asset.
He took part Monday in a brainstorming session on the subject with City Council and Mayor Eddie Moran at council’s committee of the whole meeting.
Miller said he spoke as authority chairman but not as a representative of the authority, which owns the approximately 7-acre stretch south of Reading Area Community College along Riverfront Drive.
The area is sometimes called Penske Beach due to its proximity to Penske Truck Leasing.
The Schuylkill River Trail, maintained by the nonprofit Schuylkill River Greenways, runs through the park and is used for hiking and bicycling.
“It does seem as though it’s in the best interest (of the city residents) to view that parcel of land as sort of a perpetual park,” Miller said, noting a possible transfer of ownership to the city.
But when it comes to the land south of Penn Street and east of Riverfront Drive, he said, it is a different story.
“We need to be looking at the land from Riverfront Drive all the way up to Third Street as the major economic driver behind any major redevelopment,” he said.
The area was the site of industrial development and a canal in the 19th century but is now largely open space with some commercial and industrial buildings.
The park area is subject to frequent flooding, Miller said, in part due to the volume of stormwater that empties into the Schuylkill River near the Penn Street Bridge.
Some of that stormwater could be redirected into a manmade wetland that could form a buffer between the park and the area to the east, which could be developed with high-rise housing or other buildings, he said.
The wetland would perform stormwater management, as well as wildlife promotion and recreation, he noted.
“You can still do a lot of things with that space and have flexibility,” he said. “There’s no reason things can’t be layered in that space.”
Miller acknowledged that such a project would likely require public and private partnerships and could cost billions of dollars.
Councilman Wesley Butler agreed that the park could be better used.
Butler has been an advocate of capitalizing on the popularity of Riverfront Park with local residents and out-of-state visitors.
The councilman said he got an idea of what the park could become Saturday when he attended the Riverzilla festival in the park.
“That was a glimpse of what it (the park) should look like,” he said.
A collaboration of the city’s Public Works Department and several environmentally focused nonprofits, the event included a riverbank cleanup and offered the public an opportunity to try out kayaks and trail bikes, provided for the occasion free of charge by Take It Outdoors Adventures.
The activities were supervised, making them safer, Butler noted.
The councilman suggested bringing in managed activities and making the popular Penske Beach area more accessible and supervised. Getting to what he called the sweet spot currently requires users to crawl under a railing and walk over a rough rock-strewn path, he said.
“I’m loving the fact that we’re seeing potential economic opportunities,” Moran said. “With that said, I’m sure we’ll be concerned that we don’t take on more than we can handle as a city and as an administration.”
The mayor thanked Miller and council for entering into a dialogue on the subject and seeking possible solutions for problems at the riverfront. He also said he wants to identify potential partner organizations that could take the lead in organizing and managing outdoor activities in the park and suggested bringing food trucks to the area.
Any vendors and activities would need to be controlled and managed, Moran said, but it is unclear if such management would become the purview of city government or another entity.
Council President Donna Reed said she would like to see the city’s waterfront preserved as a greenway from Canal Street north to Confluence Point Park at the junction of the Schuylkill River and Tulpehocken Creek in Glenside. Such a greenway would dovetail well with the Berks County parks system along the Tulpehocken Creek, she said.
Reed and other council members said they want to begin discussions with the county and other stakeholders, such as the nonprofit Schuylkill River Greenways, to determine the best use for Riverfront Park and the surrounding area.
Source: Berkshire mont
Be First to Comment