Project to create new 33-acre wetlands at FDR Park meeting community opposition
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Construction has begun on the latest phase of a revitalization project in FDR Park, but some are calling for the work to stop. Critics say there is a lack of communication and safety issues as well.
There have been petitions and community outcry against this project from the beginning. Now, some argue they had no idea construction was starting and they want it stopped.
As decades-old trees toppled over inside FDR Park this week in South Philly, walkers and runners say they were left in the danger zone with no barricades or signage alerting them of a construction zone.
"People were within yards of trees falling as they were coming down," Kat Kendon said.
Philadelphia Parks and Recreation has partnered with the Fairmount Park Conservancy for the Nature Phase in the park, where 33 acres currently inaccessible to the public will become a wetland.
Maura McCarthy, the executive director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, says a perimeter was established but intentionally removed.
"Unfortunately, people do come in the nighttime and remove the signage and barricades put up," McCarthy said.
The safety concerns are the latest ongoing opposition to the city's master plan to revitalize FDR Park to make it more sustainable.
The plans were finalized before the pandemic, but the group Save The Meadows wants construction halted and it wants the city to reevaluate the plan to save this green space that many discovered for the first time during quarantine.
"There's tons of little art installations," Kendon said. "You can see a lot of people have engaged with community gardening.
"I think we need to like really open the conversation to a much larger level," Lady Danni said, "and more importantly, the city to listen."
"There's been a constant ongoing engagement and there will continue to be during the entire plans' execution," McCarthy said.
There is a lot of passion on both sides.
The city says this change is needed to combat climate change and is reminding everyone this park is about 380 acres, 200 of which will remain natural open space.