By Denali Sagner, Philadelphia Inquirer
On a recent weekday morning in Narberth, young parents nursed babies outside of coffee shops and local stores swung open their doors for customers. The 4,400-resident borough’s downtown corridor was quiet and charming — a trademark of the Main Line that has drawn suburban dwellers and visitors for decades.
In Narberth and its neighboring Main Line communities, stakeholders in recent years have pushed to embrace transit-oriented development, a model that encourages building retail, restaurants, offices, residential buildings, and parks in a walkable environment, close to public transit. In Narberth and Lower Merion, this has meant proximity to SEPTA’s Paoli/Thorndale Line and the four bus lines — the 44, 52, 103, and 106 — that run through the area.
Such revitalization efforts have helped bring multifamily housing and new businesses to Ardmore. In Narberth, the planning commission last month heard input on various transit-oriented development possibilities. In Malvern, also along the Paoli/Thorndale line, mixed-use development has brought in a “mini renaissance.”
Advocates say transit-oriented development has brought diversity, density, and economic vibrancy to formerly exclusive and sleepy downtown corners.
Yet potential cuts to SEPTA would mean the elimination of the Paoli/Thorndale Line, which has stops in many Main Line towns, and of all four bus routes that service Lower Merion and Narberth. With key train and bus routes on the chopping block, questions loom over the future of development in communities that have bet on building around transit.
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