City Planning Commission seeks public input on Chelten Avenue corridor

The city Planning Commission is looking for Germantown community input on a new plan for the Chelten Avenue commercial corridor.

The PCPC scheduled two public meetings to gather input for a Chelten Avenue Corridor Plan, which will develop recommendations for physical improvements and beautification projects within the area bounded by Morris and Baynton streets.

The meetings will be held:

• 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21; First Presbyterian Church, 35 W. Chelten Ave.

• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22; Germantown YMCA, 5722 Greene St.

Anyone with a stake in Germantown is encouraged to attend, though it is only necessary to attend one of the meetings because the format will be similar at both, said Matt Wysong, Northwest community planner. The focus of the meetings will be on collaborative group activities that will help inform the content of the plan, Wysong said.

Also, the planning commission is asking anyone in Germantown to complete a brief survey about how they use the Chelten corridor and what they’d like to see (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q9QD6WX) and distribute flyers for the meeting (http://www.philaplanning.org/cpdiv/chelten2011.pdf).

The Chelten Corridor plan would address an area along the commercial strip beginning just above Germantown Avenue to just below Pulaski, where the controversial Chelten Plaza shopping center is under construction.

The city has a Transit Oriented Development plan for the Germantown and Nicetown areas, and the area has a zoning overlay in place providing some guidance about specific uses, but many involved in the Chelten Plaza issue have noted the lack of a targeted plan for the Chelten Avenue district.

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Contact Amy Z. Quinn at azquinn@planphilly.com