Jenni Ferris is fortunate. Her home on Lancaster city's East Walnut Street has off-street parking.

Her neighbors have not been so lucky. Within the last few years they have had two vehicles struck on different occasions while parked along the busy street.

But city plans for rebuilding the intersection of East Walnut and North Plum streets, unveiled Wednesday evening, promise to improve traffic safety and much more.

Ferris said she thought the plans were "fantastic."

"They're improving safety. It's going to improve the neighborhood and, in a small way, improve the environment," she said.

At a neighborhood meeting at Lancaster Brewing Company, which overlooks the intersection, more than a dozen residents and business people were shown a pair of concept proposals.

Both proposals call for eliminating the merge lane from southbound Plum Street onto westbound Walnut Street. That lane, along the south side of the brewpub, is separated by a concrete island from Walnut Street. The island also would be removed.

The intersection would become a standard signalized four-way crossing.

In place of the island, a "rain garden" will be added that will soak up rainwater from the roadway that would otherwise go into the city's sewer system.

The city is under increasing pressure from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to reduce raw sewage overflows, which occur when rainstorms overwhelm the city wastewater treatment plant. The overflows go into the Conestoga River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.

"What we're trying to do is traffic safety and improvements, but do it in such a way that it might actually help save us some money in our sewer treatment bill," city public works Director Charlotte Katzenmoyer said.

Katzenmoyer explained that taking steps such as installing rain gardens and porous paving stones along the intersection is part of a citywide plan for "green" infrastructure improvements to be done over 25 years.

Those improvements could cost as much as $150 million, she said. But that price compares to about $300 million to build storage tanks that would hold overflow sewage until it could be treated after a storm.

The intersection improvements also call for narrowing the travel lanes to 10 feet wide. Officials hope the narrowing will slow traffic through the intersection and improve pedestrian safety.

A five-space, back-in parking area also was proposed.

Lancaster Brewing Company manager Gus Photis asked whether the rain garden area couldn't be reduced to add more parking for his business and the neighborhood. But he was told the area was needed to reduce rainwater runoff.

Photis said he still supports the plans and the brewery stands to benefit. A planned paving stone area outside the brewery, along Walnut Street, would provide a cafe seating area which customers have requested.

"It's a plus for everybody," he said of the intersection improvements.

A cost estimate for the project was not announced, as it remains in the planning stages. Part of the eventual cost will be paid with a $172,477 state grant. That money came from fines paid by motorists who ran red lights in Philadelphia, the only municipality in the state where red-light cameras are used.

A grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation will be used for the rain garden, federal Community Development Block Grant funds likely will be used for handicapped ramps at the intersection and the city will supply additional funds.

Work on the project is expected to begin in June and be completed in three months. A single lane will remain open on the two-lane roads during construction.

bharris@lnpnews.com