Decision on whether 48 heritage trees in FDR Park can be taken down to build fields is coming next week

Philadelphia residents should know next week whether 48 heritage trees in FDR Park can be chopped down as part of a larger effort to reimagine the former golf course, the Zoning Board of Adjustment said Tuesday after more than an hour of public comment from people overwhelmingly against the proposal.

Testimony against the proposal ranged from devastated to cheeky.

Danni Morinich, a local forager who guides walks in the South Philadelphia park, opened her testimony by weaving a tale of a “group” helping make South Philly cleaner.

“It’s eco-friendly, free, and the kind of group that Mayor [Cherelle L.] Parker would want to use as part of her clean and green initiative,” said Morinich. “But instead of embracing it, it’s being destroyed. And the group: They’re called trees.”

Parks and Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy are asking for a special exception to remove these large trees the zoning code deems protected because of their species and trunk size and allow them to move forward with plans to install five multipurpose fields, four basketball courts, and four baseball diamonds, as well as tennis and pickleball courts. A picnic grove, playground, and parking lot would also be carved out in that part of the park.

Even among supporters of a park overhaul, knocking down the 48 heritage trees, which are protected because of their ecological significance, has proved to be one of the most contentious aspects of the $250 million plan the city argues is necessary as climate change ushers in more frequent flooding in parts of the 348-acre green space. According to the city, only 31 species are eligible for the heritage tree designation, and their trunk diameters must be at least 25 inches. Critics say Parks’ more than 1,000 proposed replacement trees won’t make up for the canopy lost.

“We are not opposed to the master plan,” said Lindsey Scannapieco, co-president of Friends of FDR, and one of dozens of residents who wrote or spoke against the zoning exception. “In fact, we are exceedingly enthusiastic about the opportunity for investment and support within FDR. However, our concerns lie with the lack of community input in this specific zoning application.”

Scannapieco and others said they believed an alternative plan could save about 30% of the heritage trees targeted for removal and would require sacrificing only one multipurpose field and a couple of basketball courts.

In addition, the registered community organizations Friends of FDR Park and Packer Park Civic Association called for a traffic and security study before any work began on the proposed fields.

Though only five neighbors offered public comment in favor of cutting the trees, the city came equipped with letters of support from City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and several youth sports associations, as well as a petition of support signed by more than 200 area residents.

Sherell Robinson, a mother of two who spoke in favor of the exception, said she sees the plan as a way to improve public health and quality of life.

“I think that plans for public spaces have to be in favor of improving and maintaining all life, not just animal and plant life, human life, as well,” she said.

Work on the park makeover has already begun and is scheduled so no one part of the park is out of commission for too long. A playground lauded by play experts for its innovative design opened in October. Meanwhile, a welcome center near Broad Street and Pattison Avenue slated to have 14 restrooms and community spaces remains in progress.

But one of the most hot-button issues concerns the former 150-acre golf course, which grew wild in the early days of the pandemic and became a refuge for residents desperate for green space during lockdowns. The old golf course soon picked up “the meadows” as a nickname and users urged the city to reconsider plans to divvy the land to create a 33-acre wetland and install multipurpose fields, saying the space had organically found a new purpose.

To build the proposed field, picnic, and parking areas, the city would have to cut hundreds of other trees, including species not suited for long-term flooding and heritage trees found to be damaged or diseased, in addition to the 48 healthy heritage trees that require the zoning exemption. To make up for the trees slated to be felled, the city plans to plant more than 1,025 native trees in their place.

Yet resident concerns voiced Tuesday went beyond what’s being lost; people also worried about what’s being introduced to the park. Critics said they worried that the fields’ synthetic turf won’t be free of forever chemicals called PFAS, which the EPA has linked to illnesses from asthma to cancer, and that the quality of the park’s canopy will take a hit as large, established trees are replaced with younger ones. Birds and other animals that rely on these heritage trees, said opponents of razing, will be left without a home.

» READ MORE: A stew of toxic chemicals lurks in artificial turf. Some experts worry they could be linked to cancer in young athletes.

Still, Parks and Recreation argues that doing nothing in a part of the park that floods often is not viable and that the synthetic turf would be carefully vetted.

The city plans to excavate the wetland area so it can better sponge up rainfall and use the excess soil to elevate the spaces set aside for fields.

In a February zoning hearing about the exception, Aparna Palantino, deputy commissioner for capital infrastructure and natural lands management at Parks, said about 21,000 kids ages 5 to 17 live in South Philly, with nowhere near enough fields for them to use. Palantino said the proposed fields could serve up to 60,000 athletes annually and still not be enough.

Tuesday’s meeting ended with board members asking for time to review written testimony submitted by the public. Their final decision will be announced next Wednesday.