Strongest Town 2023, Round 1: New Cumberland, PA vs. Hershey, PA
Welcome to this first round match-up in the eighth annual Strongest Town Contest! In this round, 16 towns are facing off, and eight will advance to the next segment of the contest, based on your votes. We invite you to read answers representatives of these cities provided to questions we posed, and then cast your vote for which place you think is the strongest.
Can’t decide? If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how we describe the Strong Towns approach.
You may vote once per match-up. Round 1 voting closes at noon CT on Thursday, March 23. For rules, and to follow along with the contest, visit the Strongest Town Contest page.
Note: All entries are lightly edited for clarity and readability.
VOTING FOR THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED. RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON FRIDAY, MARCH 24.
NEW CUMBERLAND, PA
Entry submitted by: Drew Lawrence.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
Our municipality is currently undergoing changes to the zoning code. Through the New Cumberland Collective, we are advocating for more places for people instead of cars by starting conversations around installing a parklet pilot in our small downtown area and utilizing the plethora of parking options currently at our disposal for expanding our farmers market and hosting other seasonal events like our Merry Merchants Holiday Market.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
New Cumberland is located where the Yellow Breeches Creek (what the Susquehannock people called the Callapatscink) empties into the Susquehanna River, and we're bordered by interstate 83, which crosses the Susquehanna just north of our borough. The I-83 bridge crossing the river is in need of repair, and PennDOT has proposed tolling as an option to pay for the new bridge, which includes expansion. New Cumberland Borough joined our neighboring communities in a lawsuit to stop the plan, which would negatively impact and reroute more traffic through our community.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
One area that still leaves much to desire is transparency around rewriting our zoning code. The borough is in the middle of updating the code in response to an old warehouse being denied the ability to be retrofitted as affordable housing units because of parking requirements. The new zoning code should be revealed within the next few months—until then, we're in the dark.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
We continue to push for more transparency in all local government decisions and planning. New Cumberland's 2023 budget is a step in the right direction. However I still find it to be overwhelming to sift through and difficult to understand what our infrastructure liabilities are, and what we're doing to plan for them, moving forward.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
We have no shortage of poorly designed streets and intersections in New Cumberland. My number-one target is Simpson Ferry Road/Brandt Avenue/Reno Avenue—which is a wide street that takes people from Interstate 83 through a residential neighborhood, past a middle school, our library, and an elementary school before finally presenting cars with any resistance: a lonesome stop sign. In the past, individuals would get up to request a stop sign or a traffic calming on our most hazardous streets (which happen to be state roads), and nothing would come of it. At the beginning of 2023, we started Slow Down New Cumberland, a Facebook group to gather folks to discuss and learn about traffic calming, complete streets, and what we can do to make our community streets safer. We started mapping our worst intersections here.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
The giant mural at Neato Burrito.
HERSHEY, PA
Entry submitted by: Sean Capper and Lena Becker.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
For an American suburb, the design of Hershey does a good job hiding the free parking the town offers. The two downtown garages are built in the characteristic brick style of the town, and are only two stories. Downtown parking is placed behind stores and apartments on the main drag, Chocolate Avenue, so that pedestrians do not have to cross driveways and parking lots to pop in and out of shops. More can be done in terms of removing parking mandates, but getting cars out of the way of pedestrians is a good first step.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
One aspect of maintaining current infrastructure is reducing wear and tear on roads by easing traffic. Since 2017, Hershey has offered a bike share program with stations spanning the entire Medical Center Campus, as well as Downtown Hershey. Anyone with a Penn State email address—that is, all Medical Center employees and Penn State Students—can use these bikes for free. Bikers and pedestrians frequently use the Jonathan Eshenour memorial trail, a separated bike path that connects the Med Center, Hershey, and its neighboring towns of Palmdale and Hummelstown.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
Hershey, as an unincorporated community within Derry Township, has more of a free hand in how its developers deal with zoning than other towns might. Lot sizes are small, at about 2,000–4,000 square feet, even as you leave the urban core. With the exception of Elm Avenue, front lawns are small, and setbacks are frequently 10 feet or less. There is currently considerable demand for housing in Hershey, and a new “West End” neighborhood is under construction. It will contain multifamily apartments, duplexes, and mixed-use zones, along with single family homes.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
Derry Township’s Board of Supervisors makes its budget meetings open to the public, and post recordings of meetings to their website, accompanied by meeting minutes. The township board of supervisors have passed balanced budgets in past years, and have put infrastructure improvement funds toward widening sidewalks and improving crosswalks on Chocolate Avenue, instead of widening roads.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
The vast majority of houses in Hershey’s main residential area (south of Chocolate Avenue) do not have street-facing garages. Even as you distance yourself from the downtown core, house plots are simply too narrow to allow garages to be built. Instead, cars and their garages are relegated to one-way alleys that halve blocks lengthwise. These alleys empty out onto narrow, tree-lined streets, which naturally slow traffic, leading to a more pleasurable, safer pedestrian and biking experience. Hershey’s West End neighborhood, currently under construction, will continue the street design of Old Hershey, including thin streets with alleys and garages, as well as expanding the bike paths that run past the site.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
Hershey’s interest in its own history. Its founding mission as a “Model Town” allowed it to grow in a unique way. Hershey was created to house chocolate factory employees, but Milton Hershey was committed to making a community that emphasized health and quality of life. This mission continues today. The town boasts over 15 miles of bike trails, and the amenities offered by the recently completed community center are not extensive, but, more importantly, are walkable or bikeable from the dense suburbs of the town. The Hershey Trust continues to give back to the community by funding the Milton Hershey School, a boarding school for over 2,000 low-income children.