to the residential areas they serve. “There are several in Upper Darby,” LaRue outlines. “There’s Ferne Boulevard where the small businesses have banded together and helped develop that area. There’s another corridor, Long Lane, where we’ve just invested Community Development Block funds in renovating the parking lot so that people have better accessibility and so that the business owners can have loading zones.” Backed by a $3.8 million Business Development program, the township is concentrating on its commercial corridors and looking for ways to revive underutilized areas. “We’ve had conversations and met with developers about their vacant properties and how these properties can best serve our residents with housing and new businesses, with focus on that mixed use approach to development,” explains CAO Crandall Jones. “One of the things we are looking at, not only in the 69th Street area, is creating a bit more evening commerce as well in various areas across the township.” Although the township is fairly built out, plans are underway with a local developer, regarding a 14 acre site. LaRue recounts, “We are talking to him about having a mixed use development. There would be apartments and some single family townhomes and a grocery store, and some amenities there, as well as pathways. Our green space is important to us, and we want that integrated into every development.” 153 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 08 UPPER DARBY TOWNSHIP, PA
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