Working Together Part 2

The Green Team/PICTA/SCP Rails to Trails group meeting went quite well, and was full of useful information about trails in Phoenixville proper.  A bike loan program, progress on Iron Property development, funding for the Schuylkill Valley trail, overwhelming response to the Green Team survey  and other items were on the agenda - it was a full meeting!  PICTA has agreed that the Green Team has a lot of momentum, and will act as a force in the background, using it's long term history as a force to push along the Green Team's ideas.


The Candy line, as part of Citizens for the Train's Green Line project in a Rails-with-Trails fashion was also mentioned.  In this regard, the joint project is not considered dead; just sleeping at the moment.  Barry Cassidy was not on hand unfortunately, so not much additional information was available.

For an example of a somewhat local trail which acts as a rails with trails for part of its run, see the Pine Creek Trail in Tioga County, PA.   http://www.railstotrails.us/pa_pine_creek_trail.htm

Working Together

The Phoenixivlle Green Team (the group which hosted the Phoenixville Greenfest last week), PICTA (the Phoenixville Iron Canal Trails Association), and SCP Rails to Trails will be meeting at 7PM on September 7th for the Green Team's board meeting.  The meeting will be held the offices of KMS Designs at 206 Bridge St in downtown Phoenixville.

The goal is to discuss trails in the Phoenixville area, see how we can make progress on the construction of the Schuylkill Valley Trail in downtown Phoenixville, and possibly discuss the Greenline/Candy Line status and future.

Planning Stages of the Candy Line Trail

After the Concept Memorandum for the Candy Line is finalized, the trail will be added to the Comprehensive Plan for the Phoenixville region.  This will require collaborating with the Regional Planning commission, who has already endorsed the idea of the project.

Linking the Schuylkill Valley Trail and its master plan with the Horseshoe Trail Plan will be a big part of that effort.  Amending the Schuylkill Valley Trail's master plan with the assistance of PICTA will be the first step in that effort; amending the overall comprehensive plan to take the line into account will be the next step.

The next Candy line meeting will take place in early September; date to be announced.



For more information, contact   scprailstotrails@gmail.com

Chester County Trail Cost Estimates

The Chester County Planning Commission has a number of good resources for trail planning available on thier website:
http://dsf.chesco.org/planning/lib/planning/publications/publications.html?planningNav=|

For this stage in the planning of the Candy Line trail, cost is a major item to be considered.  The Planning Commission has a subsection of their trail planning document available here:

http://dsf.chesco.org/planning/lib/planning/trailguide/trailguideappc.pdf

The Candy Line plan will incorporate at least two surface types to provide a range of initial construction cost options; feel free to add your comments, or contact scprailstotrails@gmail.com

Phoenixville Greenfest!

The Phoenixville Green Team is hosting the Phoenixville Green Festival on Friday, August 20th from 6PM to 9PM to promote green initiatives and green business in the area.  Various local green businesses and environmental groups will be showing along Bridge Street, and Big Green Limousine will be playing from 7:30 to 9.

The Colonial Theatre will feature a free film in the newly renovated 3rd floor called "The Greening of Southie", a documentary about Boston's first residential green building.

Additionally, downtown restaurants will be featuring vegetarian, organic, and local food specials all evening.

Meeting Results from August 2nd

The logo was discussed briefly, and will be seeing some minor updates.   The status of the Toonerville Trolley trail (and its per-mile planning and construction costs) were discussed, to try and get an idea for the next steps the Candy Line project should take.

Both Rick And Chris were at the Phoenixville Green Communities meeting two weeks ago - it was mainly about green building an creating energy-neutral (post-construction) communities.  We did meet with the Green Communities leadership, and will likely be attempting to join forces to promote trails development across the Phoenixville area.  A Green Communities board meeting will be held tonight, and will also include PICTA members; the direction of all three groups will be discussed.

Chris Lawrence will continue to work on the general project write-up and will attend the Green Communities meeting  this evening, Ian Plant will stop by the Charlestown Township office and pick up older SCP Rails 2 Trails paperwork, Paul Kusko will contact Chester County Parks and Recreation to get a rough cost/mile trail construction estimate.

The next SCP Rails to Trails/Candy Line meeting is tentatively planned for 7PM September 13th (Sept 6th is a holiday).

For more information about the project, contact SCPRailsToTrails@gmail.com

Active Community Transportation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4722)

The ACT Act (H.R. 4722) seeks to create a competitive active transportation investment fund to help in creating walking and biking paths in communities across the US.  this would allow people to travel between their homes and work, shopping, and play without needing a car.

The bill currently has 61 co-sponsors, and could use some more!  See the below to learn more about the bill, check out the fact sheet, and to contact your House Rep about the bill.


http://www.railstotrails.org/ourWork/advocacy/activeTransportation/campaignForActiveTransportation/ACT_act.html

Next Meeting: august 2nd 7PM, Shuylkill Twp Building

Thanks to Schuylkill  Township Supervisor Laurie Williams for offering to act as host of our next meeting!


Monday August 2nd, 7PM
Schuylkill Township Building
111 Valley Park Road
Phoenixville, Pa 19460

As a reminder, tonight is the Phoenixville Green Community meeting; if anyone can go, please do.

Itinerary for August 2nd:
1) Logo and follow-up on last meeting's PICTA questions
2) Phoenixville Green Community meeting report
2) Status of Greenline:  proposed locations of Greenline stations as trail access points
3) A look at the early project writeup
4) East Whiteland and their participation
5) Alternate transportation in the area; approaches to discussing expansion
6) Rt 422 corridor master plan:  http://www.422corridor.com/
7) Other items

A Call for a Volunteer

The Phoenixivlle Green Community is meeting on Wed July 21st at 7PM at Molly McGuires in downtown Phoenixville (http://phoenixvillegreencommunity.org/index.html).

Phoenixivlle Green Community is a volunteer arm of the Phoenixville Community Development Corporation, and are focused on finding ways to green Phoenixville - which includes bike and walking trails.


We need a volunteer to attend the meeting to get a feel for the group's plans regarding bike path expansion in Phoenixville and report back; whoever is interested should contact the group at SCPRailsToTrails@gmail.com or, myself directly at river_wind@mac.com.

A Logo and the Next Meeting

I created a possible logo for the Candy Line based on a conversation had earlier this year.  A minor item for the agenda of our next meeting, which will be either August 2nd or 9th at 7PM, depending on room availability at the Schuylkill Township office.

A New Map (Aerial)

A second map of the line, this one an aerial view:

Current Progress of the Candy Line

The group promoting the Candy Line, SCP Rails to Trails (Schuylkill/Charlestown/Phoenixville) has been meeting since 2006, and has presented preliminary plans to Schuylkill and Charlestown townships, as well as Phoenixville Borough and the Phoenixville Area Regional Planning Commission (http://www.charlestown.pa.us/planning_prpc.asp The comprehensive plan: http://www.phoenixville.org/PDF/Projects,Reports,%20&%20Studies/ComprehensivePlan_2008.pdf).

The Candy Line has received support from all of the boards to continue looking into the concept of a rails to trails project, with the Regional Planning Commision giving its endorsement of the plan.

After the Greenline Commuter Train project began, SCP Rails to Trails contacted the head of the Citizens for the Train organization, and received approval for a rails-with-trails addition to their studies; the Borough of Phoenixville has conditioned their financial support for the second round of study into the Greenline project on the inclusion of a bike path option.

One of our members met directly with Norfolk Southern this past April, and floated the idea of railbanking - protecting the train corridor for future train use by converting it to a trail for the time being.  We are still working on this end, and hope to see progress in the coming year.


The Candy Line Trail sits at an opportune point for trails; connecting the urban center of Phoenixville with the business center of Great Valley, while connecting the Schuylkill Valley Trail in to the Horseshoe Trail and the Chester Valley Trail - the Candy Line could allow for a full connection of all three major regional trails!

Contact SCP Rails to Trails at  SCPRailsToTrails@gmail.com

The Candy Line

The Candy Line is a proposed conversion of the currently unused Devault line from Phoenixville PA to Devault, PA into a non-motorized walking and biking trail.  This train line is owned by Norfolk Southern (http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/), and has previously served to transport sugar to American Sweeteners, Inc in Devault, PA for making candy treats; however, it has been generally out of service since the late 1990's.  This corridor would be an excellent non-motorized transportation path connecting downtown Phoenixville safely to Charlestown township, with connections to the Schuylkill Valley Trail (and downtown Phoenixville), the horseshoe trail, Great Valley Middle & High Schools, as well as the Chester Valley Trail.  the path would pass within short distance of the Great Valley Nature Center, Charlestown elementary, Phoenixville High School, and other areas of interest.

The SCP Rails to Trails group (Schuylkill, Charlestown, Phoenixville) has been in contact with the Regional Planning Commission, the boards of each involved township/borough, and the Citizens for the Train group to work towards either a rails with trails or a rails to trails project.

The Citizens for the Train group, headed by Barry Cassidy, have been pushing for the use of the Devault line as a commuter rail line call the Greenline; extending the current rail to Paoli and connecting with the R5 SEPTA regional railway.  Budgets and hills have delayed progress on the Greenline; however the SCP Rails to Trails group  still supports improved train access to the Phoenixville region.

More information on the current status of the Candy Line will follow shortly.