I'm not sure if I promote it as well, sir.
Okay, thank you.
Meredith, do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, thank you.
Someone just notified me that my audio was not good. Can everyone hear me okay?
I can hear you. I hear you pretty good.
And Mr. Shermer's on, right?
My colleague is Mr. McClure.
Well, there's another attorney who was representing a neighbor.
Yes, I'm here.
All right.
Thank you, Mr. Sherman.
Townsend Trego, please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Can everyone, oh, there it is.
It's coming up.
Can you see my screen?
Yeah, it's fine.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board,
We are here today with a request for a special exception for the removal of 48 heritage trees
within FDR Park.
Like I mentioned, we are here on behalf of Fairmont Park Conservancy, who has an agreement
with the City of Philadelphia to act as the contractor for the FDR Park improvements that
are proposed.
The Conservancy is a 501c3 organization that supports city-owned parks and playgrounds
and programs in partnership with the City of Philadelphia.
The Department of Parks and Recreation, which is the owner of the property, is also here
today and will be testifying in support of the project. Just to reiterate, we have filed all of
our exhibits, numbered 1 through 26, with the board. These exhibits include all of the required
information, including details about the need for a special exception, a tree survey and landscaping
plan, an affidavit from a certified arborist detailing the condition of the existing trees
in the project area, as well as documentation of the notices that have been provided to the community.
We'd like to specifically highlight the letters of support in Exhibit 18, which include a
letter of support from City Council President Johnson, as well as 260 petitions of support
from near neighbors and several letters of support from community organizations.
To document our record for the appeal, we'll be having the following witnesses speak on
this matter.
Allison Shepker, who is the project manager with the Fairmont Park Conservancy, Aparna
Palantino, who's the Deputy Commissioner for Parks and Recreation, Charles Neer, who's the
landscape architect for the project, Michael Trumbauer, who's the project's restoration
ecologist and consultant, Brian Saladin, who's our arborist, and additionally, Mara McCarthy,
who's the Executive Director of the Conservancy, will be available for any questions from the
board. Just to orient the board, FDR Park is a three hundred and forty
Just to orient the board, FDR Park is a 348-acre public park located west of Broad Street in
South Philadelphia. As you'll hear today, the restoration of the park represents a significant
public investment that will enable the majority of the park's 348 acres to return to nature as
lakes, wetlands, meadows, and nature trails. The outer edges of the park will then be raised in
elevation, allowing those areas of the park to be used for athletic fields, playgrounds,
concessions, and other active recreation uses.
Our zoning application before you today concerns only the removal of 48 heritage trees, which
is permitted as a special exception under the zoning code.
The removal of these 48 trees is necessary to bring this phase of the plan, which is
also called the picnic and play phase, into fruition.
Specifically, the removal is necessary for the construction of five multipurpose fields,
four basketball courts, a playground, a picnic grove, and much-needed parking facilities for the park.
It's important to note from the start that the trees proposed to be removed are located on an abandoned golf course
in the northwest corner, which permanently closed in 2019, due in part to frequent flooding of the golf course.
Prior to its permanent closure, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Conservancy had already begun a years-long planning process for the restoration of FDR Park.
The resulting park plan represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine how this park can serve today's Philadelphians, while also adapting the park to the realities of a hotter and wetter climate.
As you'll hear today, our application meets the criteria required for the removal of these heritage trees.
that criteria is found in section 147051F.2 of the zoning code. Our witnesses will testify to
the satisfaction of these criteria, including that we have satisfied all of the tree replacement
requirements contained in section 147051G, that we have satisfied the general criteria for special
exception approval found in 143037 of the zoning code. And lastly, that there are no practical
alternative designs that would prevent the removal of these trees. We'd like to also note that
notices of this project, in addition to being mailed to the community, have also been mailed
to the director of the Office of Sustainability, which is required under the code. We point to the
board to exhibits 14, 15, and 16, which demonstrate compliance with all notice requirements.
To introduce our witnesses' testimony, I'd just like to relay a few facts about the property.
The project area is a 348-acre active recreation park located in South Philadelphia.
As shown in our Exhibit 2, the property is zoned SPPOA for active parks and recreation.
And as shown in the hatched overlay, indicates that it's also located in the 100-year floodplain.
FDR Park currently consists of active and passive recreation uses, and the project area was, until 2019, a golf course.
That's this area right here.
inbred. Lastly, we'd like to just address up front the letters of opposition that have been
provided to the board by two RCOs in particular. As you may already be aware, following our February
13th, 2023 RCO meeting for this application, two RCOs, the Packer Park Civic Association and the
Friends of FDR Park submitted letters of opposition. We'd like to briefly add some context to that in-person
meeting, which was hosted on February 13th. As stated in the RCO's letters, a majority of their
289 votes that were counted at the meeting voted against approval of the special exception.
But we'd like to note that voting at the RCO meeting was not necessarily restricted
to attendees living near FDR Park or even residents of the city of Philadelphia. Friends
of FDR Park is an RCO that permits any member of its organization to vote on an application,
and it does not restrict membership to a geographic area, unlike many other RCOs in the city.
So further, we understand that both RCOs restricted voting to dues-paying members only.
So this was a $25 fee that was required in order to cast a vote at that meeting.
As such, any attendee or a person who was present and was not willing or able to pay
that membership fee was excluded from casting a vote that evening.
Instead, we'd like to draw attention to our Exhibit 18, which includes our letters of support from the council president, petitions from over 200 near neighbors, along with several letters of support from various community organizations who support youth athletics across Philadelphia and who enthusiastically support this project.
We'd like to thank you all in advance for your time and attention to this matter, as we do feel the need to assemble a detailed record demonstrating our compliance with the special exception criteria, given the potential opposition to the application.
given the potential opposition to the application um i'd like now to elevate allison shatker who's
I'd like now to elevate.
the project manager for fairmont park conservancy as a panelist hey meredith i may interrupt for one
second mr chairman can you hear me yeah uh mr chairman uh i wasn't elevated to just now but
mr schirmer is uh attending and if he is going to seek party status the ability to cross-examine
witnesses, I would like to voir dire his client before he does so. Mr. Shermer? If we were in
court, that would make sense. But this is the zoning board of adjustment. The rules of evidence
don't apply. Mr. Shermer, that is not correct. The rules of evidence do not apply. That is correct.
But you do have to show up with your client if you seek party status.
Your client can comment, but to participate as in a council in a hearing, in a quasi-judicial hearing under Pennsylvania rules, you have to have your client be present.
And I have to have the opportunity to voir dire them to see whether they can have standing for party status.
If you did not show up with your client because you were seeking a continuance, that is not our client's or all the other folks here issue.
That is your own issue.
So is your client present?
He is logging in now.
Thank you.
Is there a member of Fairmount Park?
They are certainly here, and you're certainly allowed to cross-examine them when they come up, provided the board gives you party status.
Mr. Chairman, is your client on?
Mr. Chair, I have a Christy Glazer and a Richard Guerrilla with their hand raised.
Are they your clients?
Richard.
Yeah, okay.
And he is a neighbor?
Correct.
okay so we'll we'll get to him when we get to him all right well so merdith why don't you start
yeah thank you um mr chairman sorry thank you um yes i'd like to elevate allison shatker
with the conspiracy as a panelist
they'll be rejoining as a panelist shortly sure thank you
allison yes can you hear me now yeah i can could you please uh good afternoon by the way could you
state your name and spell it for the court stenographer yes my name is allison schapker
s-c-h-a-p-k-e-r you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. Proceed, counsel. Thank you. Ms. Schotker, can you please describe your position at Fairmount
Park Conservancy and briefly summarize your professional background? Sure. I'm the Chief
Project Officer with the Fairmount Park Conservancy. I am trained as an architect and a landscape
architect and I have over 19 years experience delivering large-scale multi-phase projects in
the public realm. Thank you. What is your role with the FDR Park Project and how long have you
been involved with this plan my role for the fdr project is to function as the project manager
representing the city of philadelphia in the fairmount park conservancy to our consultants
i've been involved with this project since june of 2018 when the community engagement phase began
thank you i'm going to turn to our exhibit three which is a aerial of the fdr park area
can you please describe the location of the proposed improvements and tell us about how
this area of the park has been used in the past yes so exactly your cursor is indicating the
location of the picnic and play phase this is primarily a large soil stockpile about half of
a former driving range in a portion of one of the fairways of the former golf course this part of
the park was originally four fairways and a driving range, and today it is used as an informal dog run
and a soil stockpile. Thank you. Turning to exhibits 4A and B, can you tell us a little bit
about the existing conditions of the park? Absolutely. It's important to understand FDR
Park to understand how it is affected by groundwater and stormwater. FDR Park is represented
and the heavy bold line on the image on your page. You should think of that line as the rim
of the bathtub where most of the park sits below the rim of the bathtub. The areas in pink represent
portions of the park that are below the existing floodplain. These areas are going to experience
These areas are going to experience groundwater flooding.
groundwater flooding. This is the floor.
This is the flooding that occurs when the high tide in the Delaware River is higher than the ground elevation in the park.
That means that even without rain, these areas are going to be wet.
Additionally, the park experiences stormwater runoff from 95, from Broad Street, and from portions of Patterson Avenue.
You can see along the edge of the park, there are a few remaining white areas.
these are the part of the park that are out of the floodplain and you see in the southwest corner a
larger area of white. This is a construction waste area that was in the park until 2022 and has now
been restored into a 30-acre tidal wetland. This helps to restore the original drainage and creates
the soil that is in the stockpile of the image we looked at previously. Thank you. Between 2019 when
was closed when the golf course was closed and today how has that area been used and maintained
since its closure so a portion of the golf course has been allowed to um uh become overgrown um it
has experienced invasive species pressures the city did allow um residents to use the existing
cart paths for walking as a COVID relief measure. You can see here that the former fairways continue
to flood from groundwater. Is it accurate that the Department of Parks and Recreation
and the Conservancy initiated the planning process for FDR Park prior to the permanent
closure of the golf course? That is accurate. Fundraising for the planning process began in 2016,
full three years before the golf course closed. I'm turning now to Exhibit 4C. Can you please
tell us about the purpose of the FDR Park Plan? Absolutely. When the planning process began,
the park was essentially divided into two halves. The eastern half of the park had some
recreational amenities that largely ate into the historic landscape created by the Olmstead
brothers. These amenities, the fields, and the courts experienced flooding. The roads and the
parking areas were difficult to maintain because of their location in the floodplain. The western
half of the park was a 148-acre golf course with, again, that 40-acre waste site in the southwest
west corner. The golf course was suffering from dwindling use, largely due to ongoing flooding
that rendered portions of the course unusable. The park as a whole was really unable to accommodate
the changing climatic conditions and the changing recreational trends nationwide and in Philadelphia.
um and then uh what was the community engagement process that took place in connection with the
creation of the park plan yes the community engagement process was fully 50 of the park
planning budget and our goal with this engagement process was to meet people where they are and so
that included five different planning done in five different languages meetings in communities
and neighborhoods at different times of the day, stakeholder interviews. And our goal was to make
sure that we talked to everyone regardless of their ability to use social and digital media,
but to meet them in their churches and their schools and in their rec centers.
Thank you. And what were the results of the community engagement process? How are the
priorities of that process reflected in the proposed plan?
well the main the main revelation of the community engagement process is that no one was interested
in playing golf at fdr park in the future and so this revelation opened up the opportunity for us
to reconsider what that 148 acres of parkland could be and so as a result we have the potential
to deliver the multi-purpose fields and also to deliver the basketball courts that were the number
one write-in request of community members. Happily though, in 348 acres, with a diversity
of landscape types and conditions, almost all of the experiences requested by community
members can be delivered in the full park plan. Thank you. I'm turning now to exhibit
six, which shows the improvements for the overall park. The phase we're talking about
today, the picnic and play phase, is just one piece of the larger park plan. Can you
Can you briefly tell us about the overall plans for FDR Park as shown on Exhibit 6?
Right.
The overall plans for the FDR Park are about making sure that this park, all 348 acres
of it, balance activity, nature, and water to meet the needs of Philadelphians today
to meet the needs of um philadelphians today and into the future and so this includes a park that
and into the future.
is unified across its eastern and western halves a park that has almost 200 acres of what we call
the ecological core balanced by active recreation around the edges and we're excited because with