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It’s a classic South Philly scenario sparked by the Philadelphia Water Department’s ongoing strategic plan it calls Green City, Clean Waters – change is coming to 16th and Wolf streets, and not everyone’s on board. The program aims to alleviate mounting pressures in the City’s sewage system and water treatment facilities by installing infrastructure and creating green spaces that directly improve the health of the Schuylkill River. After successfully executing projects at Columbus Square Park, 12th and Wharton streets, and Herron Playground, 250 Reed St., and creating the City’s first porous street on the 800 block of Percy Street, the Water Department has set its sights on the Guerin Recreation Center, 2201 S. 16th St.
The City is confronted with watershed issues due to a structure of wastewater collection fairly typical for older cities called Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). During dry weather, the city can appropriately treat sanitary sewage before it enters into 164 combined sewer outfalls along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers and the Cobbs, Tookany/Tocany-Frankford and lower Pennypack creeks. It becomes more challenging during wet weather and seasons of snowmelt, when sanitary sewage gets treated but untreated stormwater and meltwater gets dumped into our rivers and streams, threatening native species and inviting in invasive species and degrading the landscape.
These CSOs exist in the older parts of the city, including North, West and South Philly. And the Water Department’s newest site, at the Newbold-situated Guerin Rec. Center, is looking at a 2015 start date for construction. But it has already been years in the making.
“I first met with the community two years ago in ’12, that was the very beginning of the planning process,” Maggie Wood, a community planner and outreach specialist for the Water Department, said. “At Guerin Rec., we have an opportunity to manage stormwater from the streets surrounding the Rec. Center – it’s the same process that brought us to parks throughout the City.”
Through this process, the Water Dept.’s primary goal is to use its budget to focus on ecological health, but in doing so, it aims to interact with the community and perhaps offer simultaneous improvements to the space in question.
“The focus for the water department is on stormwater management, but what we try to do is work with the community as much as possible to suit other needs as well,” Wood said.
Meaning, the Department is going to come in and dig up parts of Guerin Rec. by right because the land is public and owned by the City. But if community members are interested, they can help establish a green space or community garden. Green spaces are something the company greatly encourages.
“In our first community meeting, there was some interest from a number of people about having more green space on the site and when we provide more green space it does help to manage stormwater – we like to encourage green space as much as possible,” Wood explained.
Naturally, this is South Philly and parking seems to be one of the only reasons area residents cite for having no interest in any green space. Or at least, of the two projected plans of ripping up some of Guerin’s parking lot, a small but vocal minority would prefer the smaller green space or none at all.
“So basically something’s going to happen there, and the question is what will it look like and what will we do with it as a community?” Levana Layendecker, the president of the Newbold Civic Association and resident of the 2200 block of South Hicks Street, said.
Her civic focuses on a good deal of Broad to 18th Street south of Snyder, as well, including parts of West Passyunk Avenue.
“There’s a difference of opinion,” she said.
Wood and the Water Department have had multiple meetings with the community at the center, and the past couple have included mockups of potential plans.
“They came back this year, in August, to the civic and the staff of the Rec. Center and said ‘Here are some plans that we have.’ We sat down with them and gave them some immediate feedback, and they made some relatively minor adjustments and brought it back to present to our Civic Association in September,” Layendecker said.
At those two meetings, a large majority of attendees voted for the larger green space, in fact, Layendecker said “when we had the second meeting, we had 53 people there and by show of hands about 50 people voted for the larger green space.”
But the recreation center has a huge parking lot that can accommodate nearly 70 spots but the lot can be used only when there’s an event at the Center.
“[The lot] is zoned for parking when there’s an event at the rec center. It’s not even supposed to be used for general parking purposes, and I think that space is huge. It’s plenty big so that we can have parking when there’s an event,” Judy Moon, a resident of the 2100 block of South 16th Street and an active gardener, said. “Parking seems to be the biggest complaint – that seems to be the biggest kink in the chain.”
Moon, a vocal advocate for greening spaces in Newbold, added there was even opposition to the rec. center’s mural that was completed in ’09.
“I do believe that people come from far away to play bocce, and I think we’re the only indoor bocce court in the city,” Layendecker said. “As someone who’s concerned about preserving the history of our neighborhood, I’m perfectly willing to accommodate that people are coming from far away.”
Guerin’s manager, Debbie Darroyo, wouldn’t comment without the permission of her boss, who is on vacation. She did say some folks on Mole Street would be eager to voice concerns.
There’s still time for area residents to be vocal at an essentially final meeting with the Water Department in early ’15.
“When they come back with the plan, it will be more detailed about how they would divide up the space and where the gates on the fences will be, infrastructure that they can provide in order to give us some of the things that we’re interested in and what they can’t provide,” Layendecker said.
The civic and area Marconi residents may be tasked with raising money if they want to get ambitious. She is optimistic, though, saying “98 percent of the people who participated are really in favor of this, and that’s not just new people that just moved here. It’s a good thing.”
Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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