Salba Apartments in Jenkintown (Image courtesy of Google StreetView)
The Jenkintown School District recently held a public meeting on the potential of a project to expand the school’s footprint to benefit its students.
The expansion would be made possible by acquiring land on 309 Walnut St., which currently is an occupied apartment building owned by the Salem Baptist Church in Abington.
At the meeting, Reverend Marshall Mitchell, Pastor of Salem Baptist Church, explained that the 51-year-old building is nearing the end of its lifespan and he would like to give Jenkintown first consideration for land use, either through a purchase or long-term rental agreement.
“How do we help strengthen the borough of Jenkintown as we look at our future?” Rev. Mitchell asked. “There isn’t any more land. There is nowhere to move. The school district is growing. But eventually, you have to have space and land and institutions to put people in.”
Both Rev. Mitchell and school board officials emphasized that the project currently is in the “exploratory” phase, and that the public will have ample opportunity to comment.
“Nothing has happened yet,” said School Board President Megan O’Brien. “There’s been no land purchased, there is no plan, this is all exploratory. The most important thing for this board was to hear what the community has to say, we want to hear how it’s going to impact the people who live there, and we want to think about the students of Jenkintown. That’s our job."
O'Brien said that a lack of space is nothing new for the district.
“We’ve been struggling with space limitations for years,” she added. “We’ve been able to make incremental improvements by adding a classroom here, a classroom there. This is the first opportunity, in many, many years, to make the kind of potential expansion to the school that could be possible.”
Some residents in attendance who currently live in the apartment building voiced their concerns.
“We received the email about this meeting, but we were never given any kind of notice that our property might be sold,” said one resident who has lived in the borough for 31 years. “It’s not like we can just pick up and move.”
With the expansion, Jenkintown could add:
“We want to hear your questions, concerns, and ideas.” O’Brien reiterated.
The next steps for the project include evaluating conceptual site designs, drafting preliminary plans for a rendered site plan and basic floor plans, estimating related costs for the project, searching for associated grant opportunities, and exploring potential donor support.
“The school district is just beginning to consider the viability of this potential project, and we want to emphasize that no decisions have been made, and no changes are imminent,” said Superintendent Jill A. Takacs in a statement. “It will take a considerable amount of time just to evaluate the feasibility of this potential initiative.”
Officials plan to send out a community feedback survey in January and will hold the next community forum in late February or early March to share developments and listen to additional public comments.
According to Rev. Mitchell, Salem wants to be in the business of helping to alleviate the strain of subsidized and affordable housing in Montgomery County.
“We have to figure out how to do that because the need is great,” Rev. Mitchell said. “We will do everything we can to support the creation of new housing and to accommodate the needs of children and families in Jenkintown, because this is home for us. This is where we started.”
