SITE REUSE 3-D PERSPECTIVE OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT CONCLUSION While redeveloping the Fairhill School site can directly benefit Fairhill residents, it also offers an opportunity to generate positive impacts on a larger scale by connecting with, and supporting larger, citywide initiatives. Currently, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission is writing the City’s comprehensive plan, Philadelphia 2035, which is centered on three themes: thrive, connect, renew. Many of the ideas included in the proposal above can link to these themes. For example, reactivating the underutilized civic uses to the south of the school site (including the retention basin, the pump house, and the abandoned firehouse) can help support the City’s theme of “renew,” part of which focuses on activating the public realm. Additionally, the proposal’s approach of building off of existing neighborhood assets, relates to the Plan’s “thrive” theme, and specifically its desire to focus on neighborhood-level development. Philadelphia is also working to improve the quality of its natural environment, and has undertaken a number of planning initiatives to help achieve its environmental goals. The adaptive reuse of
the retention basin connects with two of these plans: Greenworks Philadelphia and Green City, Clean Waters. Greenworks Philadelphia aims to add 500 new acres of publicly accessible green space to the City by 2015.xxiv By repurposing the basin as a recreation area, its 1.2 acres can contribute positively toward achieving this goal. The Philadelphia Water Department’s initiative, Green City, Clean Waters, focuses on enhancing the City’s stormwater and green infrastructure.xxv Redeveloping the basin with an adequate stormwater infiltration system would further support the City’s environmental goals. In addition to these specific initiatives, redeveloping the Fairhill School site in a timely manner would ensure that it does not contribute further to the City’s existing vacancy problem, or generate blighting affects on nearby properties. Regardless of how it is ultimately redeveloped and programmed, the Fairhill School site has the potential to serve as a catalyst for new activity within the neighborhood, and to contribute positively toward achieving greater, citywide goals.
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