140
PennPraxis
WRT
William Penn Foundation
Goal 3: Invest in a Sustainable Riverfront Invest in ecologically productive parks and open space
Discussion
to ensure the long-term sustainability of the riverfront.
All citizens benefit from attention to ecological improvements. Three of the worst floods on record in the Delaware Basin have occurred in the past five years—all storm-related. The amount of tide-exacerbated flooding is projected to increase in coming years, and portions of the hundred-year floodplain vary from 50 to 2000 feet in width throughout the project area. All bulkheads in the central portion of the riverfront will likely be exceeded by water levels in hundred-year flood storms. And since much of the project area is already covered with impervious materials that prevent rainwater from infiltrating soils, the land is not
From left: Pier 70 Habitat Park Washington Avenue Park Snyder Avenue Park
The central Delaware riverfront presents Philadelphia with an opportunity
able to properly mitigate the volume of water coming from the city.
to practice techniques for sustainable design on an unprecedented scale. River ecology is an increasingly important planning issue in light
This is why the riparian buffer and related plan elements are important.
of Hurricane Katrina and concerns about climate change. Integrating
This vegetated buffer will help meet the city’s stormwater-management
ecology into development practices and public policy will benefit the
requirements for some developments, acting as a treatment facility as
riverfront and the region in the long term.
well as a beautiful addition to the riverfront. It will have the capacity to filter 1 inch of stormwater runoff—the performance standard—from
Plans for the Delaware have the potential to be ecological, equitable
the proposed trail and Delaware Boulevard. Thus, the addition of
and profitable. This civic vision recommends that the city look beyond
pervious surfaces will help manage stormwater and support the civic
the short-term practices that drive current development. We can think
principles of connectivity and sustainability.
of all our public spaces—streets, parks and others—as productive tools to ensure better water quality, air quality and public health. Even a series
It has been estimated that 95 percent of the once-contiguous freshwater
of small but cumulative strategies across the project area can benefit
tidal wetlands on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware have been
and position Philadelphia as a leader in sound planning and design.
destroyed. The decline of this habitat has had deleterious effects on