ULI Philadelphia is recruiting 10-12 members to serve on a two to two and half day Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) that will provide West Whiteland Township (Exton, PA) with recommendations on leveraging public and private assets to create a unified sense of place that is greater than the sum of its parts. Panelist and stakeholder safety is the top priority as we continue to deliver critical technical assistance to communities. As a result, this TAP may be delivered through a combination of virtual and in-person engagements, to limit the overall exposure of panelists to outside stakeholders and conduct all in-person engagements in a safe, socially-distanced manner. In addition to the approximately two-day engagement (October 21-23, 2020), panelists are expected to review extensive briefing materials prior to the initial in-person convening, which may include briefings by conference calls in addition to electronic background materials.

Centered on the intersection of Lincoln Hwy. (US Business 30) and Pottstown Pk. (PA 100) in West Whiteland Township, the community of Exton has been a nexus of Chester County transportation and commerce since colonial days. As the road intersection grew in importance and capacity to become the “Crossroads of Chester County,” other modes of transit became available: the Exton train station is a stop on SEPTA’s Paoli/Thorndale line, and Amtrak provides one-seat service to Center City, Harrisburg, and Manhattan. Exton is also served by SEPTA’s 92 and 204 bus routes and the local Krapf bus service. The Chester Valley Trail – soon to be extended westward to Downingtown – passes through the Crossroads area, providing a recreational resource and commuting option for pedestrians and cyclists and serving as the backbone of the Township’s own Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.

The landscape of the Exton Crossroads has evolved around vehicular transportation, although Exton is in the midst of a development boom that is bringing people to the area who value both the existing transportation options as well as walkable communities and quality places. Over the past five years the Township has developed and adopted various studies, plans, and ordinances promoting a vision of the Crossroads and a planning philosophy they call “Development by Design,” or “DxD.” The vision is to create a place that is more than the sum of its parts with desirable places to shop, work, eat, gather, and live while retaining a sense of openness and nature that is more characteristically suburban.