Members of the Washington West Civic Association board of directors said this week they wouldn’t support or oppose the Pine Street Storm Relief Project until the Philadelphia Water Department releases its final plan.
About 15 area residents and merchants attended the association’s monthly board meeting March 10 to discuss the city’s plan for the possible construction project on Pine, which would shut down portions of the street for at least two years.
The PWD said it needs to install a new sewer system to stem back-up flooding that occurred in 42 houses in the area after several heavy rainfalls. Although no houses have reported flooding since 2006, the department said the project would prevent potential back-ups.
The department’s original plan proposed the construction to stretch from Broad Street to the Delaware River on Pine but, after a community meeting, shortened the construction route from Broad to Seventh on Pine.
More than two-dozen area business owners sent a petition last month to Mayor Nutter and PWD requesting that the project be halted.
Ed Hermance, owner of Giovanni’s Room, at 12th and Pine, asked the board during this week’s meeting to lend its support to the merchants who oppose the construction project.
“We’re here to ask you all to tell the Water Department that their proposal to dig up Pine Street is unacceptable,” Hermance said. “It’s not reasonable to solve the flooding in 42 properties by destroying dozens of businesses and even the buildings they are in. There must be a better way.”
Carl Engelke, the board’s vice president, said the association did not want to take any formal position on the issue until the PWD has confirmed whether or not the project will proceed on Pine Street.
Joanne Dahme, PWD Watersheds project manager, said last month that the agency is considering moving the sewer project to Lombard Street or to an area of South Philadelphia that is not as populated.
“At this point we’re waiting for a new plan,” Engelke said. “They’ve gone back and changed the plan several times already based on the meetings they’ve had and the input they’ve gotten, so we’re waiting to hear back again. Given it’s already changed several times, we anticipate it will change again. Until we see that plan, it’s premature for us to say we oppose it.”
If the plan proceeds in its latest incarnation, one- to two-block sections of Pine Street would be closed off to vehicular traffic for two to three months at a time, wooden planks would be laid across the sidewalks and many trees would need to be removed. The entire project would cost the city about $15 million, according to Dahme.
Jack Kirk, owner of Antique Design, 1102 Pine St., said the project could destroy the small businesses that work to keep the historic street thriving.
“With the economy being the way it is and now with this, they’re just going to put a couple more nails in there and it’ll be the end of a street that’s been around for 300 years,” he said.
Kirk asked the boardmembers if their opposition or endorsement could affect the project.
“This is the city deciding what needs to be done and making a plan,” Engelke said. “Hopefully our voice would count for something, but there’s no formal process, no way we could appeal it. We would just be able to let the city and the Water Department know how we feel.”
PWD did hear opposition this week from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, whose executive director, John Andrew Gallery, sent a letter detailing his agency’s resistance to the Pine Street project.
Gallery said 107 properties on Pine between Seventh and Broad are listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and could be damaged by the sewer project.
Gallery also noted that, because this area of Pine Street is located in a National Register Historic District, if the city uses state or federal money, it would need to undergo a formal review process per Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to determine how the project could affect the area.
Iris Gold, board secretary, encouraged Hermance and opposed merchants to author an opinion piece on the project for publication in the association’s newsletter.
Hermance said he and several other business owners had not been informed about the original public meeting with PWD that took place about a year-and-a-half ago or the more recent one in October.
Engelke said the board will work with PWD to ensure all residents and merchants are properly informed about any upcoming meetings concerning the project.
“The minute we hear about a plan, we’ll ask them to call a meeting, we’ll put out an e-post, post it on our Web site and ask the Water Department to do a better job of notifying people,” he said.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].