the exception of golf this park plan offers more trails more natural areas more fields more recreation
amenities than what is reflected in the park when we began the planning process.
Thank you. You mentioned the sort of blue-green sort of center of it. And as you previously
noted, the park is mostly located in the floodplain. Can you please explain how the floodplain
impacts the proposed plans and the design? Absolutely. It's really important to understand
and go back to thinking about that image where parts of the park were pink and then the very
edge of the park was white. The area that you see in pink, that is the active edge. These are the
areas of fields, courts, playgrounds, parking, buildings that need to stay high and dry so that
Philadelphians are able to access and use them. These are types of programs that we wouldn't
necessarily want to see get flooded however the plan for this park is always to balance
activity nature and water so the blue green area of the park represents the parts of the park that
we will allow to be impacted by groundwater flooding represents the areas of the park that
will be managed for their habitat that represent the part of the park that can act like a sponge
for the rest of the landscape. And the way that this is going to happen and is already happening
is the portion of the park in the southwest corner that you see called the wetlands,
that was the 40-foot tall hill of construction waste material. That material was lift, sits on
the low part of the park. It was lifted up and placed in the footprint of the picnic and play
site our project site for this meeting that hill will be spread out to elevate the picnic and play
phase and when we elevate that landscape we are able to now get storm water management under those
fields in those parking lots that further help us protect what's coming off the surrounding surface
roads and help us protect that blue-green ecological core. So basically the active urban
edge of the park not only provides important amenities, it also helps us protect the ecological
core of the park from the stormwater that's impacting it today. Thanks. Can you briefly
tell us a little bit about the specific improvements that are proposed for the park
picnic and play phase the picnic and play phase includes five multi-purpose fields
four basketball courts a baseball and tennis cloverleaf and tennis or pickleball courts
critically it also provides the amenities that we know are really important to make
sure that caregivers and families enjoy the youth sports experience as well so we have
accessible parking, we have two large picnic areas, we have a playground, and we have plenty of shade
trees. Thank you. Why was this particular site selected for the proposed athletic fields and
courts? Because a large portion of this site is already a soil stockpile and the remaining portion
of this site was former fairways. It has a low ecological value and using the existing soil
stockpile we're able to elevate the landscape include storm water management and in at this
site in doing that here we don't hit wetlands we don't hit high value habitat areas that have
been identified elsewhere on the park plan thank you um our passive and recreation uses such as
trails and open spaces um are are those provided for within the park plan absolutely we have 348
acres here, and I will just draw your attention to Area B. This is the first part of the ecological
core, 30 acres of which are already under construction in the tidal wetland, and the
balance of which is in design currently, and this includes the soft surface trails that are so
important for folks to gain access to these valuable natural areas. Thank you. Ms. Schapker,
based on your years of experience working on this project, are you aware of alternative practical
designs for the proposed improvements that would prevent the need to remove these 48
heritage trees without compromising the other important goals of the plan, including flood
without compromising the other important goals of the plan,
including flood management, programming,
management, programming.
and the protection of other ecologically sensitive areas?
I am not.
Thank you.
Does the board have any other further questions for Ms. Shepker?
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
I think I think we're fine.
Thank you.
We'd now like to elevate.
hold on hold on one minute um hillary do you want to have mr schirmer take uh
questions okay prepare questions forgive questions um i believe that would be appropriate i understand
yes mr chairman i do okay um i actually do have a couple of
of visuals. So if I can pull these up. And if I can, well, I guess first I would ask,
as far as designing this project, is there some ordinance or resolution from city council
that authorized Fairmount Park Commit, Fairmount Park Conservancy to make these changes?
The Conservancy has been working in partnership with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation on this
project, and each phase of work that we do with the City of Philadelphia, we enter into
an agreement authorizing that work with the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation.
uh are those agreements in the record yes they are they're exhibit uh 26 that have been provided
to the board okay i i had requested copies of the exhibits that were put in but hadn't been
able to review them uh would like to request to the board that i if i can share my screen briefly
a lot quicker murdiv can you take yours down sure yes thank you kindly
this thing
did mine on chair or no
mr chairman
thank you have the addresses of mr shirmer's clients just so we
could at least understand where they're from?
I asked you originally
what neighbors. Do you have your clients
where they live? What blocks?
Yes. If I
can call
Rich, I think if they can put
their hands up.
Do you don't know where your clients
live? No, Rich has
I do not know the exact locations.
Rich has his hand up
if we could have him
okay put on to get out to speak okay hi could you state your name please and spell for the
court stenographer my name is richard garela g-a-r-e-l-l-a right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do miss gerald could you please give us
your address it's 1642 south bancroft street philadelphia pa
that's a
1600 block south you're saying yes so you're not you're not necessarily a neighbor
i'm not an immediate neighbor but it's on the large park nearby
may i ask the question of mr uh mr grella sure mr grella how many blocks are you away from the
park um i guess about 12 to 15. i'd have to look at a map 12 to 15. over a mile
um yeah i think it's over a mile you live in packer park no i object to um mr mr
grello being a as a party and as such i object to any ability to mr sherman to participate as
attorney for Mr. Gorella. Mr. Gorella, obviously. Okay. All right. Okay. Mr. Sherman, do you have
response to that? I mean, do you have a client that lives near here? Well, first the response,
this is being touted as a regional area, a regional draw. And if the input from a neighbor
who is not immediate neighbor is rejected, then I would ask that the board reject all the letters
of support who are coming from people who are not immediate neighbors either there's one standard
Either there's one standard and anybody who is going to be benefiting from this, whether they're throughout the entire section of Southwest Philly, then that standard should apply for standing.
and anybody who is going to
If the applicant is going to say these are people who will benefit from it and they can be from anywhere, the people who will be receiving or are harmed by it can be from that same area.
If not. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. This is Hillary. I just want to interject. The zoning code does permit anybody who to appear at the hearing and testify.
So certainly Mr. Shermer can testify on behalf of his clients, but I it is up to the board to decide whether they will be considered a party or not and would have the ability to cross examine.
but his client certainly can participate as public testifiers at a minimum.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, if I just add, we have no objection to his client testifying as a neighbor during the public comment period,
but to have a party status, you have to have an interest greater than the general public.
So the general public certainly has a right to comment, but for Mr. Schirmer to act as an attorney here today and be able to cross in.
So, Mr. Schirmer, I agree with that.
Both your clients can have access when we open it up to the public, but I think I agree with Mr. McClure and that, you know, your active role cannot take place.
Well, Mr. Chairman, you haven't heard from the other client yet.
I asked you right away, where does the other client live?
If I can get Ms. Anissa on, if she can raise your hand.
they've been allowed to speak as well hi could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer my name is anisa george a-n-i-s-a george like the curious monkey
yep do you swear do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do where do you live i live at 1232 reed street which is a couple blocks north of rich
and I do agree that this is a regional park
and it serves a model area.
So what we're going to do is
when we open this up to the public,
you will have a chance to comment.
Mr. Shermer, you're not going to be able
to take an active role in this.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Shermer.
Please continue, Meredith, with your client.
Thank you.
So we'd like to elevate Aparna Palantino, who's the deputy commissioner with the Department
of Parks and Rec, to panelists.
And I will go ahead and reshare my screen.
Is Aparna on?
No, we got you back, Meredith.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Is Ms. Palantino?
Oh, I see her.
I'm here.
Could you please state your name and spell for the courts the number?
Certainly.
Aparna Palantino, A-P-A-R-N-A, Palantino, P-A-L-A-N-T-I-N-O.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Aparna, do you have a video?
Could you come on?
I'm not sure why.
Staff, can we promote her to panelists?
Jason, thank you.
There we go.
Lower left-hand corner.
Okay, she'll be rejoining as a panelist.
Thank you.
She didn't have the capability.
She's coming back.
Can you hear me?
We can.
We're trying to see you.
I can see myself.
Okay, why don't we start the test now?
Ms. Valentino, can you please describe your position at the City of Philadelphia and summarize your professional background?
Yes, I'm here today as the Deputy Commissioner overseeing capital infrastructure and natural lands management for the Department of Parks and Recreation.
I'm trained as an architect with over 27 years of design and construction experience and have worked in the public sector for 22 years.
Thank you. What is your role with the FDR Park Project and how long have you been involved in this plan?
So in my current role as Deputy Commissioner, I'm responsible for oversight of real estate, as well as all major design and construction projects for assets comprising Philadelphia Parks and Recreation's portfolio.
for assets comprising Philadelphia Parks and Recreation's portfolio.
I have been involved with this particular project at FDR since 2017,
when we began the master planning process in partnership with the Fairmount Park Conservancy.
Thank you. I'm going to go to Exhibit 4D.
Can you please tell us a bit about what this shows, what we're looking at?
Essentially, this shows that there are 27, sorry, 21,000 children living in this area
and that there are insufficient number of fields to service them all.
Do you agree, based on your professional experience with the department,
that there is a need for additional fields and courts in Philadelphia?
I certainly do.
We often have to turn away permit requests due to unavailability of fields in our system.
Additionally, the fields that we do have are significantly overused,
and this impacts the quality of those fields.
A recent analysis of our fields by Temple determined that at least half of our fields were rate below average with a rating of 2.5 on a 1 to 5 scale.
This results in poor quality facilities for our children in Philadelphia compared to surrounding cities and counties.
Who does Parks and Recreation anticipate will primarily use the proposed fields at FDR Park?
The recreational amenities in FDR Park, including the fields, will follow current PPR policy, which prioritizes local youth teams and PPR, or Philadelphia Parks and Recreation-led leagues, for permitting the fields.
And permit fees are waived for local youth sports organizations.
Do you have a sense of how many people or children are anticipated to use the proposed athletic fields each year?
Yes. Based on a utilization study, it is anticipated that these fields could serve over 60,000 youth athletes annually.
And that's for the combined five fields proposed as part of this field?
Yes, correct.
Are you able to just briefly discuss the benefits that youth sports and active recreation amenities like these provide to the city?
So research has shown that participating in youth sports can provide significant mental, physical, emotional, and social health benefits for youth, their families, and communities.
These benefits include an improvement in overall physical health, a reduced risk of diabetes, improved cardiovascular health.
We also see lower rates of anxiety and depression, lower amounts of stress, higher self-esteem and confidence, a reduced risk of suicide and substance abuse, improved social skills, as well as higher levels of academic achievement.
Right. Included in our Exhibits 18 are letters of support from several youth sports associations in Philadelphia.
Can you tell us about some of these organizations and summarize the statements that are expressed in these letters?
Certainly. These organizations and individuals work diligently alongside our staff to facilitate positive structured activities for our children.