Lancaster Gateways Plan

The Lancaster County Planning Commission was looking to develop a Gateways Revitalization Strategic Plan to provide a vision and a set of achievable goals for the revitalization of approximately 600 acres of urban land in the vicinity of Lancaster's Amtrak Train Station. The project became known as "Gateways" due to the multiple bridges and underpasses that serve as gateways between the neighboring municipalities and between neighborhoods and commercial areas, and because of the Amtrak Train Station, which serves as a gateway to Lancaster County. As a central feature of the area, the Lancaster Amtrak train station caters to a wide variety of purposes, from heavy industrial to commuter and leisure travel. Momentum for investment is building in the area, encouraged by the successful Clipper Magazine Stadium and other adaptive reuse projects.

The Approach 

McCormick Taylor led this effort through the City of Lancaster and Manheim Township. The project includes land use planning and urban design, transit-oriented development, transportation/transit circulation and substantial stakeholder outreach. The plan needed to remain consistent with generally accepted smart growth principles, Envision, Lancaster County's Comprehensive Plan and Growing Together, the Lancaster Inter-Municipal Comprehensive Plan. The team remained focused on the goals of the plan to reconnect various areas of the community through a coherent and cohesive visioning and land use plan and revitalize the economic base by recycling industrial land consistent with job-producing opportunities tied to clean growth industries.

The Result

The Gateways Specific Plan provides a strategic vision and comprehensive revitalization strategy for the study area. The plan provides a cohesive framework where public and private interests can work together to create distinct places. It will reinforce the idea that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts as this gateway becomes a destination and a great place to live, work, shop and play.