New Hope mulls plans for town, riverfront

The borough received 16 proposals for an update of its comprehensive plan as well as a project that would improve riverfront access.

By: Linda Seida
   NEW HOPE — Officials are considering proposals for two new planning projects that will affect the town as a whole as well as a section of riverfront along South Main Street.
   The borough received 16 proposals last week from planners who expressed interest in working on the projects, according to borough Assistant Manager Janell Hammond, adding it would take officials awhile to sort through the lengthy documents.
   Eight proposals are for an update of the borough’s comprehensive plan. Another eight were submitted for a project that would improve riverfront access.
   Officials are reviewing the proposals now, and it could take three to six months to study them, according to Mayor Laurence Keller. Public discussions of the plans will be held at an unspecified time in the future, he said.
   Reflective of its name, the comprehensive plan is an all-inclusive look at everything that affects the town. Mr. Burke said these items include development and the problems that accompany it, strategies to correct problems in the future, parking, traffic, riverfront access, energy conservation and parks and recreation.
   The new comprehensive plan will update a 1997 version. It could end up costing the borough between $25,000 and $50,000, Borough Manager John Burke said.
   The other project, called the Riverfront Revitalization Strategic Plan, is being paid for with a $20,000 state grant. That concentrates on a section of the riverfront that is now a parking lot between the historic Bucks County Playhouse and an unused structure that at different times housed the Playhouse Inn and Club Zadar.
   The site is bound by the Delaware River on the east, East Ferry Street to the north, South Main Street on the west and Aquetong Creek on the south side of the Playhouse.
   The plan will require the cooperation of about a half dozen property owners, including Playhouse owner Ralph Miller, the New Hope Historical Society, Farley’s Bookshop and a developer who now owns the Club Zadar property, Rocki Rockstar LLC of Philadelphia.
   The mayor has discussed the general idea of the riverfront revitalization with all involved parties.
   He said they all were "willing to hear suggestions."
   While there are no specific plans in place, Mayor Keller said, "It would be lovely if in some way we could expand the Ferry Street park and make it more receptive to residents and visitors."
   Mr. Miller, who purchased the Playhouse in 1977, said he hasn’t heard anything more about the proposal since a five-minute discussion with the mayor and former state Sen. Joseph Conti last year.
   Since that time, the borough has filed a lawsuit in Bucks County court against Mr. Miller, asking he be forced to remove a flood wall he erected in the floodplain.
   "I’m not going to talk to people while we have a lawsuit going," Mr. Miller said Monday.
   "I understand his perspective," Mayor Keller said. "I’m sure that has affected him, and I certainly respect his position."
   At the same time, however, the mayor said he considers the riverfront revitalization "mutually exclusive of the lawsuit."