We were talking to a decision maker in Conshy recently and broached the subject of traffic and the RFP/proposed developments at West Elm and Fayette. As you may remember, during the Wawa hearings there was great emphasis on questioning the results of a traffic study presented by the developers of the proposed Wawa.
Our question was that since the intersection (West Elm and Fayette) was already rated a F, why would the Borough authorize the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority to issue a RFP to redevelop the property at that intersection?
The decision maker said that he/she struggled with that question because it came down to doing nothing or redeveloping to such an extent that the county/state, along with the Borough, are forced to finally deal with transportation issue in and out of Conshohocken.
As we have reported, the corner of West Elm and Fayette is not the only redevelopment in the pipeline. There are about 1,500 apartment units in various stages of being built/in the approval process and it looks like Tower 7 (260,000 square feet of office space) could start construction sooner than later.
Since the RFP was issued, it appears we are heading towards the build it and deal with the traffic issue later.
Do you feel this is a wise course of action?