Public Comments

The East Falls Community Council held a public meeting with the East Falls Development Corporation and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s design team on the evening of August 10, 2009 for an open conversation about a conceptual design proposal for integrated streetscape improvements and stormwater management along Midvale Avenue from Ridge to Warden Drive.

Overall the public’s comments were positive. The PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded by clicking here. Comments were recorded according to 3 segments of the design and are recorded below. We invite you to share your comments as well by posting to this blog.

Section 1 – Conrad Street to SEPTA station

*Why width of green way? By amount of H2O to store or other considerations – width of cartway calms traffic.

*Concern: parking - do not remove need to count spots

*NW cities may be ahead of us. Would design accommodate future land use on commercial side?

*SEPTA steps that lead down to Midvale – address this issue

*Pedestrian crossings – how to get across

*Maintenance a critical issue

*Look into porous pavement

*Bikes sharing vehicle lane – should not go above 20 mph

*Larger study area needed

*Congested intersection at Conrad & Midvale needs turning lanes

*Bikes pick up speed going down on coastway – should be segregated in both directions

Section 2: St Bridget’s to Business District

*No comments

Section 3: Business District

*Doesn’t like angle parking: back up hill not good

*Where are all utility poles – same location

*Frederick Street Narrow

*Angle back in parking works well in other cities

East Falls Stormwater Blog is ALIVE!

INTRODUCTION

The City of Philadelphia has declared its intentions to become the greenest and most sustainable city in the United States. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Green (PHS) program is working in support of that goal on many fronts, including innovative stormwater management projects, particularly projects related to Green Streets. Funded by a grant from the William Penn Foundation, PHS is partnering with the East Falls Development Corporation (EFDC), Philadelphia University, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and several City agencies to create a comprehensive neighborhood approach to managing stormwater. PHS is managing one aspect of the program: development of site specific designs to capture and reduce runoff from Midvale Avenue - runoff that would otherwise discharge directly into the Schuylkill River. Midvale Avenue is a major transit and commercial corridor that provides exciting opportunities and significant design challenges for establishing alternative stormwater management practices within the public right-of-way.

PHS has proposed an innovative approach to design development for East Falls projects, based on site investigations and community engagement undertaken 2006 – 2007, and described in the final report, East Falls Neighborhood Model Stormwater ftp://ftp.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.com/PR/PhiladelphiaGreen/eastfalls.pdf . Given that design guidelines, permitting and approvals, maintenance, and operation will involve multiple agencies and support from local residents and businesses, PHS and EFDC will organize the design process to include a broad range of technical expertise, government regulators, policy makers and stakeholders. The goal is to have fully engaged participation at every level of intersection between the physical projects, a broad variety of stakeholders, end-users and eventual caretakers.