In September, a delegation of local officials traveled to Austin to learn how they manage their water. Earlier this month, members of that same delegation visited Philadelphia for another take on urban water management and green infrastructure.
Who Was There: Dale Thayer
Not to be confused withthis Dale Thayer, the New Orleans Dale is a Senior City Environmental Planner at the City of New Orleans. He plays the role of editing and reviewing Article 23, the first ever stormwater and landscape management ordinance that's part of the new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. The city is deciding whether or not to adopt this new CZO over the next few months.
Article 23 proposes that any new development or redevelopment over 5,000 square feet needs a green stormwater management plan. Thayer says he wanted to visit Philadelphia not to figure out what policies the CZO should lay out, but how to enforce them.
“Writing the rule book’s one thing, but figuring out how to implement the rule book is going to be more difficult.”
Thayer’s been tasked with writing the new applications, figuring out the new application fees, how long the turnaround time of the whole process will be, and what kind of support will be offered to developers in filling out this new documentation.
"I’ve been tasked to have the first crack at that, so I’m going to see what they’re doing, what forms they have, and then try to put something up for version 1.0. Just put words on paper after all this brainstorming, put it on paper, sit back, and let people tear it apart. But at least it’s something.”
He expects requests for variances, and wants to know how Philadelphia handled resistance when they changed the rules.
What We Saw: The Big Green Block
It sounds more like children’s TV show, but the Big Green Block is a multi-component sustainability project at and around Shissler Recreation Center and the Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Philadelphia.
MichaelaAllwine is a community organizer in Kensington, and explained that these two neighborhoods have a long history of not getting along. Before the site was redeveloped, she says, “People over here never went over there, and people over there never went over here.”
The two neighborhoods were separated by a long wall on the ground, and a subway line up overhead — similar to the Claiborne Overpass. When the Philadelphia Water Department and multiple partners decided to turn this area into a green hub, they knocked down the walls, turned concrete "fields" into grassy play areas, turned Kensington High School into the first LEED certified school in the country, and threw in some rain gardens and tree trenches. Allwine has noticed a difference in how these two communities now interact.
“It’s a lot easier to get over now that there’s an opening from the Fishtown side to the Kensington side, and to get to the station, which increased riders by over 100 percent in just two years since opening the wall. People use this park from both sides now. It opened up the space around this great educational and environmental element for our neighborhood.”
This project shows the educational and community aspect of Philly’s "Green City, Clean Waters" initiative, and that installing green infrastructure can have a positive impact on neighborhoods and an overall quality of life.
Watershed, in Department Form: Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, Inc 00000178-a1a8-d0a9-a5fc-b3fbef070000
Now say that three times in a row. Philadelphia not only has a Water Department, many of the individual watersheds of the region have their own groups looking out for the quality of their water.
What is a watershed? It will be featured in our Coastal Glossary soon, but here is a spoiler: A watershed is all of the land that drains into a specific body of water. TTF’s mission is to enhance the health and vitality of the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Creek and watershed, and to get residents of that watershed to care, too.
TTF doesn’t own any land, but works with the water department, parks and recreation, the PennsylvaniaHorticultural Society, and partnering school districts to support overall green infrastructure and stream restoration initiatives in the region. They create rain gardens, pick up trash, and mark storm drains around the city to remind folks that they are not trash cans, and that that water goes straight to the rivers.
Julie Slavet is the executive director of TTF. She visited New Orleans last year to talk about how engage the community in these issues:
"Being in an urban environment, where we are disconnected from the creek system — it’s like New Orleans, all the creeks and tributaries that were in the city are in pipes. So people have no connection to the creek at all, they can’t see it anymore. That’s our challenge, so how do we reach out to people and explain that storm drains lead to the creek, what runoff is, and it’s not that hard to explain because people see water rushing down the street when it rains, they know it’s not supposed to look like that.”
Listen:
Coastal Producer Laine Kaplan-Levenson's feature storyon the trip to Philly
(And don't forget about our Austin Trip)
Learn:
Have you check out our new Coastal Glossary? Push your glasses back up your nose and learn terms like "turbidity" and "bioswale" as we learn them ourselves. This is an ongoing list, so email us suggestions of words you want defined!
Read:
Next City’sSarah Goodyear also visited Philadelphia, and wrote this about the trip.
*Check back soon for the details on Coastal Reporter Jesse Hardman's trip the Milwaukee, the final leg of the water tour.
Support for WWNO's Coastal Desk comes from the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and the Kabacoff Family Foundation.