It’s been one year since the Philadelphia Redevelopment
Authority (PRA) gave the Eastwick community and environmental advocates new
hope. On a rainy afternoon, two days before Christmas of 2015, the
Redevelopment Authority's board voted unanimously to officially end the largest
urban renewal project in the country, ending a process that started in 1961,
encompassing 2,500 acres of land and four stages of development.
The Eastwick Friends and Neighborhood Coalition had been
fighting since 2012 to stop redevelopment plans for more than 100 acres,
including a new 722-unit apartment complex proposed by New Eastwick
Corporation/Korman, a 1,000 car parking lot, and additional acres transferred
to the Philadelphia International Airport.
Eastwick is within FEMA’s Special Hazard Area or 100-year
floodplain, a high-risk flooding zone, and it was built on the Darby Creek’s
marshlands.
There used to be 6,000 acres of wetlands in this area,
the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge now protects less than 200. The
marshland acts as a buffer that absorbs stormwater and purifies the Darby and
Cobbs creeks before entering the Delaware.
Residents feared the new development would leave the neighborhood
with less permeable land and more density, which would only increase their
already traumatic flooding problems and the potential contamination spread from
two adjacent Superfund sites.
The years-long fight ended with a victory for Eastwick
neighbors.
After decades of neglect, the PRA and the city committed
to include Eastwick residents in a community-oriented planning process for
their neighborhood. The resolution adopted by the PRA board on Dec. 23, 2015,
authorized the termination of the redevelopment agreement with New Eastwick
Corporation and a $5 million settlement to take control back of the 135
undeveloped acres.
For details on the PRA board's new contract for a
planning study, go to PlanPhilly.com..
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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