The officials drove their cars around semitrucks and
shipping crates, and parked in the large space between a licorice factory and
Camden County's wastewater treatment plant.
This industrial five-acre lot in Camden's Waterfront South
neighborhood is slated to become Phoenix Park come spring. It would be the
neighborhood's first access point to the Delaware River - and a welcome escape
for the community, which has for decades been impeded from its riverbank by
power, sewer, and cement plants, and an incinerator.
"This community has been considered one of the top
environmental-justice communities in the state," Camden County Municipal
Utilities Authority (CCMUA) Director Andrew Kricun said, referring to a U.S.
Department of Environmental Protection designation given to communities
severely affected by pollution.
"This is an environmental-justice project in that it
provides citizens with access to the riverfront, access to a beautiful view of
the Philadelphia skyline, a nice place for picnics, to see a sunset, or to
throw a Frisbee around," Kricun said.
At a groundbreaking Thursday, it was hard to imagine a green
space blanketing the concrete slab, blocked off by fencing that obstructed any
view of the water.
It was a bit of a déjà vu scenario - officials held a
"groundbreaking" for the same park in 2012, but on that occasion it
was to launch the demolition of the American Minerals Inc. factory, which had
stood vacant on the land for years.
This time, state, county, and city officials gathered in a
parking lot, adjacent to where the park will be, to ceremonially plunge shiny
shovels into a prepared mound of dirt lying on the ground.
Plans for the park include a kayak launch, green space, a
pier, and a connecting pathway to nearby landlocked Liney Ditch Park.
A six-foot-high berm is also planned to separate the park
from the treatment plant. Lorna Davis, a 30-year resident of Waterfront South,
wondered if that addition would eliminate the smell from the plant, which hung
in the air Thursday.
"It'll be a visual screen but not a barrier from the
odor," said Jeremiah Bergstrom, a landscape architect with Rutgers
Cooperative Extension, which designed the plans.
Phoenix Park gets its name from a large park in Ireland - a
tribute to the Irish-born Rev. Michael Doyle, a fixture in Camden who has been
advocating for access to the water for more than 30 years.
"The people of Camden have a right to that which
inspires or uplifts the spirit," Doyle said in an interview. "People
will gather here. Children will play, they will see sunsets and beauty."
The park is being funded by $800,000 of county Open Space
money as one of five CCMUA environmental projects.
The authority purchased the land for $903,500, according to
property records, from Jefferson Property Partners L.L.C. in 2010. Jefferson
had purchased the land from American Minerals Inc. for $460,000 in 2008.
Kricun said the reason for the higher purchasing price was
that Jefferson agreed to sell the property and demolish the factory, which had
been vacant for decades.
Colandus "Kelly" Francis, a longtime activist and
president of the city's NAACP chapter, has argued against the park at CCMUA
meetings. He says making the land - originally zoned as industrial space - a
county-owned park deprives Camden of needed tax money.
This summer, two waterfront properties were promised to the
76ers and Holtec, a nuclear energy company, along with high state tax breaks.
Kricun said no companies had expressed interest in the
Phoenix Park site and that the park would also help with flood mitigation, as
part of CCMUA's green efforts in the area.
In the process of building the park, the county will need to
remediate the contaminated soil left on the site. Francis questioned why
American Minerals, which manufactured cosmetic and industrial powders, was not
on the hook for the cleanup.
Jeff Tittel, executive director of New Jersey's chapter of
the Sierra Club, commended the project but said the city needs to do more than
building a park to help the community.
"This area also has some of the worst air quality in
the nation," Tittel said in a statement. "What they really need to do
to help the Camden Waterfront community is, close the incinerator and cement
plant."
The neighborhood was once so polluted and mired in decay,
former Mayor Melvin R. "Randy" Primas Jr. said, it would be
"irresponsible" to add any more housing to the area. The city has had
to dispel rumors it was considering demolishing homes and razing the entire
neighborhood.
In recent years, organizations like Heart of Camden have
built hundreds of homes in Waterfront South, fought against a proposed
methadone clinic, installed rain gardens, and built a new gymnasium. The South
Camden Theatre Company, across from Sacred Heart School, starts its 10th season
in the fall.
Mayor Dana L. Redd, who grew up in South Camden, said that
just like the mythical phoenix, "who rose from its ashes, Camden is in the
midst of its rebirth."
Barbara Pfeiffer, a resident since 1986, called the park
"a great thing" but said living among industries can be a challenge -
she's often woken up by the grinding metal of Camden Iron & Metal, which
operates five blocks away.
"For us," she said, "any green space is
good."
Source: Philly.com
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