Public Infrastructure

RFPs issued for Market East

mgolas — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:09:32 -0500

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Nov. 14

By Thomas J. Walsh
For PlanPhilly

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. this week issued four request-for-proposal documents related to the Foxwoods Philadelphia casino development and the redevelopment of certain blocks of East Market Street near The Gallery.

The RFPs seek casino and retail architects, real estate and economic advisers, strategic planners and traffic study consultants for the “Convention Center/Market Street East area of Center City.”

PIDC is working with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the city Department of Commerce and the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia (RDA) in what is shaping up to be a major overhaul of the Market East commercial district, considered the “hole in the donut” of Center City revitalization efforts.

The solicitations were issued Wednesday, a day before City Council passed bills creating a “commercial entertainment district” (CED) classification for Center City and another to re-zone The Gallery itself, from its current C-5 commercial designation to CED. The legislation was met with plenty of public resistance. Plans to bring Foxwoods to The Gallery from its original intended location on the Delaware River waterfront have been vehemently protested by anti-casino activists and residents of Chinatown and other neighborhoods. (See Kellie Patrick Gates’ coverage here.)

The RFPs make plain that a redevelopment of the Market East district will likely have a casino.

“The City of Philadelphia is involved in planning and negotiating a mixed-use, public-private real estate transaction involving retail and, potentially, gaming uses in Center City Philadelphia,” the RFP for architects says. “To that end, the City wishes to retain a retail and casino architect to support and advise members of city government as they review proposals for a downtown casino in the City of Philadelphia.”

In its filing for real estate advisory services firms, PIDC says it is looking for consultants with experience in:
• Mixed-use retail, including downtown retail and mall development
• “Entertainment, gaming and leisure projects, including slot parlors”
• “Gaming-driven mixed-use retail development,” and
• “Complex public-private real estate development”

It is also evident that PIDC believes the timing of the work might be sooner rather than later – developers and consultants have been told that questions, or requests for more information, must submitted by 5 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 20). The RFPs state that PIDC “anticipates that the contract will have a term of one year, with the majority of work likely to occur during an intensive three- to six-month long period at the beginning of the engagement.”

Councilman Frank DiCicco, though, said the zoning change legislation was only the first stage of review processes with the Planning Commission and other agencies that will be ongoing through next spring, and that Foxwoods did not have a signed deal with the city.

The “strategic plan” RFP encompasses “land use, public space improvements, physical development and transportation in the Convention Center/Market Street East area of Center City Philadelphia. ... The team shall include, at minimum, members with expertise in urban planning and design, architecture, historic preservation, landscape architecture, and cost estimating.”

The city will retain its own traffic planning consultant, assigned to work as part of the consultant team, to study the area “bounded by 5th Street on the east, Walnut Street on the south, 16th Street on the west and Callowhill Street on the north. The study area includes major commercial streets of the Central Business District, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and a significant portion of Chinatown. Though the study area does not formally extend north of Vine Street, the traffic study does need to identify implications for development there.”

Paul Levy, executive director of the Center City District and the Central Philadelphia Development Corp., wrote recently about the casino proposal in the CCD’s newsletter. In detailed terms, Levy tried to place the idea of a casino in the context of this large area of Center City, noting that “it will be a 300,000 square-foot tenant ... occupying three floors in a 1 million square-foot regional shopping center with scores of other tenants.”

But because the Commonwealth “clearly dealt us a mediocre hand with their slots-only restriction on Pennsylvania casinos,” Levy wrote, “PREIT [Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust], the owner of the mall, and Foxwoods have a special obligation to use the casino as an anchor that generates volumes of new customers who can support re-leasing the mall with entertainment, boutiques and destinations with broader appeal.”

Contact the reporter at tom@thomasjwalsh.info.

Home Page Summary

Nov. 14 / By Thomas J. Walsh PIDC this week issued 4 request-for-proposals for the Foxwoods development and the redevelopment of certain blocks of East Market Street.

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November 13, 2008

Abstract

Waiting for waterfront manager

mgolas — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:57:02 -0500

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Nov. 3

By Alan Jaffe
For PlanPhilly

The first item on the agenda when the Action Plan for the Central Delaware was unveiled in June: “Appoint an open, accountable, effective waterfront manager.”

Mayor Michael Nutter applauded the proposal and offered his full support to the idea of reforming -- in fact, replacing -- the Penn’s Landing Corporation. He pledged to announce a new board to lead the waterfront’s redevelopment within 30 days of the public gathering.

Three months after that deadline, Philadelphia is still waiting for the new board to be named.

Senior administration officials acknowledge the delay but say action toward that end has begun.

Andy Altman, the new deputy mayor for commerce and planning, says the city has been working on the composition and role of the board since Nutter made his promise, meeting with Council and state representatives, “getting organized” and tending to “a lot of technical work to get ready” over the summer and early fall. It’s just that a few things have gotten in the way of the process: a budget crisis, the violent deaths of several police officers, and the continuing debate over where the casinos will end up.

Altman is optimistic that the new Delaware Waterfront Corporation, as the mayor renamed the entity, will be in operation shortly. “I can’t say 15 days or 30 days, but we’re trying to get it done soon.”

Past Mistakes

The Penn’s Landing Corporation was created in 1970 as a non-profit, quasi-public organization that would manage publicly owned land on the Central Delaware from Spring Garden Street to Reed Street. Its goals were to serve as a catalyst for development in the district and to program year-round events for residents and tourists. The members of the board of directors were made up of at least 11 elected officials and members of the sitting administration and nine representatives from the private sector chosen by the board.

But critics say the corporation wasn’t even “quasi” public. Meetings and decisions were held behind closed doors, without any citizen input. Even the names of the entire board were not publicized.

Within that secretive climate, the organization developed a reputation for patronage and waterfront projects were stymied by scandal. Former Councilman Leland Beloff was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring with local mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo of trying to extort $1 million from developer Willard Rouse 3rd in exchange for legislation that would permit a $70 million project on the river.

In 2006, Leonard Ross, who had been appointed by Mayor Street to chair the Penn’s Landing Corp. developer-selection committee, was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 30 months in prison for using his position to pressure candidates to contribute to the mayor’s re-election campaign.

Besides the decades of silence and corruption, the corporation never realized its goal of transforming the waterfront. Sweeping, expensive projects to redevelop Penn’s Landing fell through. And the smaller projects that were finished reflected a piecemeal approach to the waterfront.

“I think the mission of the Penn’s Landing Corporation from the start has been development-focused, so what is now 2.2 miles of public waterfront has largely been handed over to private developers on a long-term lease,” said Harris Steinberg, executive director of PennPraxis, the primary author of the Civic Vision and Action Plan for the Central Delaware. What could have been public space – trails and piers and parks – has been developed “without any overarching plan or sense of connectivity to the city as a whole,” Steinberg said.

“They looked at parcels on an individual basis. They looked for developers for individual parcels. But there wasn’t any sense of legacy, common good, or creating public spaces that would leverage a quality urban design.

“They seemed to be just deal-making.”

A New Mission

The recommendation of the Action Plan is that the new waterfront manager transform from being a development corporation to one that designs, implements and manages public space, Steinberg said.

“Which means the old model of trying to find a master developer for sites like Penn’s Landing and Festival Pier is not the model that we’re recommending. [The Action Plan] is really one that helps to create and manage open spaces that then provide a catalyst for development that it would support.”

Altman and the city administration support the revised mission.

The new board will have a broad mandate, Altman said, expanding its geographical jurisdiction to include the Central Delaware from Oregon to Allegheny Avenues.

And its role will change, in accordance with the Action Plan recommendations. “We’re taking the PennPraxis vision very seriously,” Altman said. “We want to have a single point of contact to manage the activity on the waterfront,” from creating open space, to encouraging appropriate development, to building the needed infrastructure. The organization will have the capacity “to manage a diversity of activities,” he said.

Among the first goals of the new board will be the creation of space for “the public realm.” There are several piers owned by the city that could be revitalized for recreation, much like New York’s Hudson Park, Altman said. “The focus will be on creating great public spaces.”

“This kind of job is often a multi-year, often multi-generational effort,” he said. “It will be solely dedicated to governance of the waterfront.”

“We’ll see a real change. But it won’t happen overnight,” said Altman, who ran the waterfront corporation in Washington D.C., and spent three years working on its master plan. “It’s a great thing for this administration that PennPraxis has drawn this great plan. Our challenge is to implement it.”

Quality, Not Quantity

From its current size of 26 slots for members, including nine appointed by the mayor, the board should be slashed to seven or eight, according to Steinberg. “The goal is to change the board from being a political ex-officio board to a lean, corporate board.”

Part of the problem with the existing corporation has been its cumbersome number. The other factors required in the process of reforming the board are “the caliber of people,” a new mission, and the end of “political horsetrading,” he said. “If it has a refocused mission, if it has a board that is above politics, we believe it can move quickly to implement” the other proposals of the Action Plan. “We also believe it can regain the public trust, which is critical. Right now, the civic associations of the river wards, as well as the public at large, view Penn’s Landing as a lost cause.”

For years, Philadelphians have been shut out of the decisions on what would happen on their eastern waterfront. “So the role of the public in the future of Penn’s Landing is absolutely critical. To maintain the public trust, things must be done in a transparent fashion. This has got to be not about politics, but about achieving public good, because these are public properties. The public owns them. It’s all public funds that are used or leveraged, and regaining the public trust is critical.

“So, it’s not the size [of the board] that matters, or that we think a smaller size will be able to act more expeditiously,” Steinberg said.

It’s who and what they do, and how they do it.

The composition of the board should include members with competencies in law, real estate, development, and design, Steinberg said. The authors of the Action Plan have also called for the inclusion of community leaders. “We haven’t specifically made recommendations [on which groups] other than the Central Delaware Advisory Group,” the organization that grew out of the 15 civic associations that participated in the drafting of the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware.

Altman agrees and echoes those recommendations for members. “We’re looking for someone from the field of finance, because one of the biggest challenges will be how to finance the public improvements that are needed. We also want people from real estate, because of the complicated real estate issues there. We’re going to want some business leadership to make it a reality. We want a community representative, and someone from the design and environmental professions.

“This board has to have a high profile, it has to signal change, and we’re looking for people that can bring that stature and leadership to the board,” Altman said. “They should have a good network of connections.”

The proposed change for the waterfront will be a “huge project, and it’s going to be complicated, especially in this economic climate. It will take a lot of creativity” on the part of the new board,” he said.

Will Altman, with his experience in waterfront management, be on the board? “I hope to.”

Steinberg, who refuses to name anyone else he’d specifically recommend for the board, calls Altman “a natural.”

The recommendations to the mayor have emphasized that the board must “be of the highest civic and ethical caliber,” Steinberg said. “It has been a bastion of political patronage and payback over time. If the mayor is serious about a reform message, the folks he appoints should be of the absolute highest caliber. Anyone who is appointed should have national or international credentials in corporate governance, development, real estate law, planning and design. And that should be the standards that they’re held to.”

A key step in the process is “to convene the old board to kill the board to create the new board,” Steinberg said.

The new members can then revise their mission, refine the bylaws of the board, and create a system “by which is can perpetuate itself in a transparent fashion” and transcend mayoral administrations.

Who Should Stay?

The recommendations for dissolving the Penn’s Landing Corporation distinguish between “governance and operation,” Steinberg noted.

Penn’s Landing, after all, has become home to July 4th week fireworks, winter ice skating, river tours and ship tours, concerts on Festival Pier, tall ship festivals, ice cream festivals, and a world of ethnic festivals – some 70 events each year. And the roadways, paths and medians near the Landing have been beautifully planted and maintained, with the help of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

The programming and landscaping is credited to the Penn’s Landing Corporation operating staff, which has been led since 2004 by acting president Joe Brooks.

Brooks and his colleagues were at the unveiling of the Action Plan at the Independence Seaport Museum on June 26, an “unnerving experience” for the employee of the corporation since 1989. “We knew about the broad brushstrokes of the Action Plan, but we were hearing the details for the first time.”

It wasn’t as if Brooks, who supervises a staff of 150 full-time and seasonal workers, didn’t know about the problems and the criticisms of the Penn’s Landing Corporation.
“It was especially frustrating over the years for me because I’m out there, talking with people – and I was never one to hide or shy away from anything.”

When Dominic Sabatini retired from the president’s position in 2004, Brooks called for a more open, accountable waterfront agency. “But the board didn’t share that desire for openness that I had wanted.” In 2006, he drafted what he calls a “Sunshine Act manifesto” to the board, seeking open meetings, public notices and public participation at the meetings. “The board didn’t vote on it. I was smacked down,” Brooks said.

“I had wanted it because we were getting clobbered, and in certain instances rightly so, as a do-nothing, secretive Penn’s Landing Corporation. I wanted our doors open, I wanted the press to know, so we could break down those tired clichés about PLC, and to see how hard the staff worked.”

Brooks has been working on his own plans and proposals for the city since 2007, drafting a “transformative document” about what needs to be done with the corporation.

“We have a massive board of governors that is completely political in nature. Those folks who weren’t voted on were still a part of the elective process. Our document said that you have to change the paradigm on how you appoint members of the board. No longer could it be the lawyer who would get all the bond work. No longer the person who wrote the biggest check. Or the ward leader who was important to an elected official,” Brooks said. The board needs members with experience in design and architecture, hospitality, and grant-writing, and representation from the community. “Until then, we will always be a vehicle for elected officials, not a vehicle for bringing about renewal of the waterfront.” Brooks said.

Since June, Brooks has been in dialogue with the Commerce Department about the changes to come. “We haven’t received a specific time frame. My guesstimate is that this gets done sooner rather than later,” he said.

Brooks would very much like to keep his job. “This place has been a passion for me. I asked my wife to marry me at Penn’s Landing. I started here fresh out of college and worked my way up. The waterfront has been such a part of me … I have a desire to see through what I think I’ve had a key role in getting us to until this point. And I think I have something to bring to the table.”

Making It Happen

Whoever leads the new waterfront management entity, on the ground or in the boardroom, its new, reformed, refocused and expanded role will require more funding. The operating budget of the current Penn’s Landing Corporation is $8 million per year, mainly earned through leases and parking revenue.

Tax increment funding has been considered as a way to support the major infrastructure improvements of the Action Plan. “But with the market as it is, how useful a TIF is right now is questionable,” noted Steinberg. Other possibilities include transportation enhancement dollars from PennDot, assessing fees from a designed business improvement district, and casino revenue.

“There is also a potential to leverage federal dollars,” Steinberg said. “I know we are about to spend $700 billion to bail out Wall Street,” but Barack Obama has talked about creating a public works program that should include a project like the Central Delaware. “It’s a regional asset that, if done correctly – and might even include the redesign of I-95 -- could be the kind of transformative investment in infrastructure that continues to keep Philadelphia a city of choice for the next economy,” he said.

“So we have a list of possible funding sources. I think the goal of the corporation now is to reorganize, look at the funds that they have, and see what they can leverage in terms of city dollars, private foundations and other sources to keep the momentum going until the market picks up.”

Philadelphia’s new waterfront manager can look north to the Hudson River Trust in New York City as a model. The trust raises $18 million a year and has already designed and implemented about five miles of trails, piers and public spaces, as well as private recreational facilities, Steinberg said. It acts partly like a special services district and functions as a waterfront manager.

“That’s an example of a city- and state-appointed board. It is a non-profit with extraordinary powers to define its mission, boundaries and membership.”

While Steinberg had expected Philadelphia to be a little further ahead in implementing the first stage of the Action Plan, the timing may help the new waterfront board.

“The benefit now with the market being slow, or stalled, is that the new corporation can take time to get on its feet, really come up with a revised mission agenda, start its outreach to the private sector, and form a foundation with the community.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity now to really get it right. The development pressures are much slower than they were even a year ago. Two years ago, when we started the process, there were 22 condominium towers planned. Even the fact that one of the casinos may be moving, and the other is talking about changing some plans, means that there is a lot of civic momentum towards implementing the Action Plan and the Vision.”

Contact the reporter at alanjaffe@mac.com.

Home Page Summary

Nov. 03 / By Alan Jaffe City says process that will create open and transparent entity to succeed Penn's Landing Corporation is in the works and is a priority.

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Written By

AlanJ

Publish Date

November 3, 2008

Abstract

Water: a crucial challenge

mgolas — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:28:49 -0400

Bio

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Oct. 21

By Alan Jaffe
For PlanPhilly

(This is the eighth in a series of stories examining the infrastructure projects and challenges raised in the Civic Vision and Action Plan for the Central Delaware. This article looks at the issues involved in creating new water infrastructure and sustaining and improving what already exists.)

Previous stories:
Infrastructure overview
Parks and green space
SEPTA funding
Grappling with I-95
Center City Commuter Connection
The Street Grid
The role rail plays

The goal of the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware is to reconnect the city and its residents to the river's edge. So on one hand it's about making the best use of the riverfront land. On the other hand, it's about finding the best ways to use and protect the water.

But in the aging, urban environment of Philadelphia, the combined sewer and storm water collections systems that serve the city are already overwhelmed each time there is a heavy rain. It's evident by the overflow from the century-old pipes – operating as originally designed at a time in our history when environmental impacts were less understood - that contribute to the pollution of the rivers and remaining streams. The proposals for the Central Delaware would result in an eventual expansion of Center City by 30 percent along the river, increasing development and demand proportionately for this overburdened – by today’s standards - collection system.

To meet that challenge, a variety of approaches are being planned and some are already under way in other parts of the city.

There will be extensions of the traditional gray infrastructure - the underground pipes - that carry water to homes and businesses and move sewage away from the buildings.

There will also be green infrastructure - in the form of street trees and plantings, green roofs and rain gardens - to reduce and manage the amount of storm water runoff.

And there will be a renewed focus on blue infrastructure - the waterways themselves - and the best ways to restore, clean and appreciate them.

The Combined System

The Philadelphia Water Department has three purposes: to provide drinking water, to move and treat sewage, and to manage storm water. In Center City, as in older American cities, the wastewater and storm water are typically conveyed in a combined system. "The problem is, when it rains, the system tends to overflow," said Howard Neukrug, director of the department's Office of Watersheds.

In a combined system, sanitary waste, which uses a small fraction of the capacity of a combined sewer, is carried to a treatment facility. A small amount of rainfall can usually be accommodated by the interceptor sewer, which delivers the first flush of the rainstorm and sewage to the wastewater treatment plant. But as soon as the rain intensifies, the interceptor sewer fills up and the sewage tainted water flows out to the river, explained Mami Hara, a principal at WRT, the design firm that is working with the Water Department to articulate alternatives to the traditional systems.

"There are many ways the system will be changed in coming years," Hara said. "You have to use many different approaches. So some re-piping will probably be necessary just given the sheer volume and urgency of the issue. When you think about the degree of impervious cover in our city and you multiply that area by even one inch of rainfall, the volume the system must handle is just extraordinary."

About 95 percent of the flow into the waterways from the large outfall pipes is storm water, which carries trash and pollutants from the streets and sidewalks, and 5 percent is sewage. “Although these contaminants are diluted by the much large storm water volumes, the goal is to prevent these overflows from occurring under most storm conditions.," Neukrug said. "During a storm, a river or stream is flowing full, and contains pollutants discharged by pipes or picked up by stormwater runoff. That is why we also need to tackle these issues on a watershed basis, as Philadelphia is always the downstream community."

The Office of Watersheds, therefore, looks at how to keep the water out of the sewer in the first place. And if that can't be done, it looks at that gray infrastructure and considers the alternatives. "Do we build tunnels? Do we build tanks? Do we increase the size of the sewers? Do we separate the system so that the storm water is still dealt with through infrastructure, but separately from the sewage?" Neukrug said.

"So we're dealing with this through land-based or infrastructure-based solutions."

The Gray Way

The current system along the Delaware consists of a large, underground sewer pipe that runs parallel to the river and intercepts all the sewer lines, which once carried wastewater and storm water straight out to the river.

Aramingo Canal

Those original systems were developed in the mid- to late-1800s, when waste was dumped directly into the city's small streams. Dozens of creeks wound through and down the city's natural slope toward the Delaware. "The streams became less and less valuable to the city because they became more and more polluted, and they became places that didn't allow for easy transit over them by trolley or horse. So they became places to collect that stream into a sewer and cover it over," Neukrug said.

“Over time, our infrastructure has significantly expanded,” he said. There are now 3,000 miles of sewers. There are combined sewer outfalls, where the pipes discharge into the river, in addition to 454 storm water outfalls in parts of the city where separate lines carry only rainwater.

Major gray infrastructure projects continue throughout Philadelphia, including a three-million-gallon tank being built in Manayunk to reduce overflows to the Schuylkill River and a $40 million storm water tunnel system nearly
finished under Kelly Drive in East Falls.

New infrastructure is a very costly and disruptive approach, Neukrug said, "but it's the approach that has always been used. It's how we've dealt with everything to date. Our philosophy has been to move the water and sewage away from the people as quickly as possible. That is the philosophy that has gotten not just Philadelphia, not just the United States, but the whole world in the kind of water situation that we're in now." The importation of American sewer system technology has led to enormous sanitation problems in developing nations, he added.

"At the same time, you look at this system and wonder how sustainable it is move the water away from folks, away from where they live. So part of our philosophy is to bring that back around and to make Philadelphia and the region more sustainable. And part of that is to use and re-use water where it lands, or as close to it as possible.

"So we keep getting back to the land-based program, and that's a sustainable, green approach for the future," he said.

It is also "one of the hardest things for us to do. It's very easy to build a pipe and move water away. What's a lot harder to do is to mimic nature in an urban setting, and infiltrate water back into the ground water system. ... Now we're trying to design ways to make it easier, and make sure it makes sense."

The Green Route

The PennPraxis plan points out opportunities for land-based storm water management at the most sensible sites along the Central Delaware, what Micale of WRT calls the "historic hydrology of the water's edge."

The Civic Vision foresees storm water solutions wherever there are low lying areas through which the creeks once ran and at each riverfront park that was once part of that creek system. Restoration of those sites would allow absorption, storage and filtration of storm water through rain gardens and other eco-technology.

The proposed urban boulevard along the river could be landscaped with trees growing in trenches over underground cisterns, curb openings that carry runoff to infiltration zones, pervious paving and green-roofed
buildings.

Illustration from Civic Vision, page 89

A particular focus for green solutions in the PennPraxis plan is the I-95 Girard Avenue Interchange, which is being redesigned and reconstructed by PennDOT. "At the interchange, the idea is to mitigate the impact of the highway in place," Micale said. Rather than allowing storm water runoff to continue under the current systems and regulations, "we're saying if they're going to redesign it, why go with the status quo?"

The Central Delaware plan redirects the runoff into rain gardens that are part of a recreational resource at the base of the interchange. The new green space would include trails for running and biking below the highway on land that now is mainly used for parking.

Many of the storm water management techniques incorporated in the Civic Vision are also being proposed for GreenPlan, the citywide sustainability program that is expected to be introduced in January. WRT is helping the engineers at the Water Department and from CDM, the consulting and construction firm, to develop and articulate the possibilities for green streets throughout Philadelphia, including the proposed street grid on the waterfront.

The WRT drawings show large streets with greened medians, and medium-sized streets with tree-lined sidewalks. Below the surface of the streets are continuous trench systems that can store and absorb much of the water that would otherwise go into drains and the sewer system.

Dickinson Street before / WRT image

Dickinson Street after / WRT image

"We also have a lot of really narrow streets in the city," Hara noted, "and sometimes there are so many utility expressions along the sidewalk that it's impossible to plant a significant number of trees. Every single foot might have some kind of water or gas main. But that doesn't mean it precludes some kind of greening that can bring storm water management enhancements."

She pulls up drawings of continuous beds of gravel below the parking lanes and bump-outs which can provide storage capacity for storm water. "Here engineers originated the idea of vine-covered poles, using plants that can take up that water."

The illustrations show not only the opportunities for storm water management, but also the "other values, such as traffic calming to the intersections, the high potential for aesthetic value, and all the other values that trees bring," Hara said.

Other cities have been utilizing water runoff techniques for years. Portland, Ore., and Seattle are often cited, and Hara noted that Chicago has a Green Alleys program under way. Philadelphia has begun using land-based, storm water management at a variety of public sites, including schoolyards and recreation centers, but it is "still in the pilot phase."

Any new streets planned for the city, including those on the waterfront, "should be green streets," she said, adding that "retrofits are possible for a considerable amount of streets, too."

Schoolyard before / WRT

Schoolyard after /WRT

Land-based programs to stem the storm water overflow is the Water Department's favored approach, Neukrug said, "because it is based on keeping the water out of the sewer, and we like finding some secondary benefits to everything that we do. Whether it's planting trees, creating green streets, or greening school yards."

Examples of innovative storm water control include Cliveden Park in East Mount Airy, a project designed in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in which new inlets were dug to direct street runoff down a series of rocks, forming a gentle waterfall that flows into a rain garden in the park. Street runoff will be redirected and infiltrated into a green feature instead of into the city sewers in projects currently under way at the Liberty Lands neighborhood park in Northern Liberties and at Columbus Park in South Philadelphia. "If we could do that all over the city, it would be great," Neukrug said.

The Water Department also poured its first porous concrete sidewalk at the Waterview Recreation Center in Mount Airy. "That's really cool - one of my favorite projects," Neukrug continued, "because unlike many of the other projects, it doesn't look like anything. It's a green project, but it doesn't even look green. It's just a concrete sidewalk. But a porous concrete mix uses uses larger rocks and less fine materials, allowing the voids in the concrete to take in water. It can handle an incredible amount of rainwater. And it's so basic.

"When we started this project we thought about how to mimic nature. We were very clumsy at it. All of these things that we're doing are not really all that well designed yet, and probably won't be for another five years. How to do a rain garden, a rain barrel, a green roof - all of these things right now are a little clunky, but much less clunky than five years ago. As we move forward, we're going to find simpler and simpler designs that are less expensive and require less maintenance," he explained. "As engineers and landscape architects think about how to rebuild and do these things, we have to step back and realize simplicity really does work."

New development regulations that require more stringent stormwater management have been implemented by the Water Department. And a new method for calculating property stormwater fees is being developed to would "bring the customer base to a true cost of service fee - so that now we're charging people who have impervious cover more for us to deal with their storm water than we do people who have more green sites.

"There are a number of incentive programs and green initiatives that we're hoping to put in place with the city's sustainability programs," Neukrug said. "Energy management, reducing the heat-island effect, reducing storm water - they all come together under the programs we're hoping will take shape over the next couple of years."

Washington Ave. before / WRT

Washington Ave. after / WRT

Go Blue

The third piece of the Watershed Office strategy is its waterways program.

The federal Clean Water Act of 1977 turned everyone's attention to point source pollution - the discharge points into the rivers and oceans. "And that's what the Philadelphia Water Department became very good at, which is protecting our rivers and streams from our point sources," Neukrug said.

Residents, however, want attention not only to discharge points, but also to the greater environment. "It's not the pipe; it's what the pipe is doing to everything else," Neukrug said. "So we've opened our eyes to the rest of the water environment."

The Water Department's five goals for its waterways, including the Delaware, are that they be "fishable, swimmable, safe, attractive and accessible."

"Now we're looking not only at land-based solutions to keep water our of the sewer and infrastructure solutions to hold sewage back from the river, but we're also looking at the river itself and figuring out what we can do to return them to something that is usable for recreation and valuable to the city for development and eco-tourism."

The Office of Watersheds is exploring methods of wetlands mitigation, creation of new wetlands and ponds, daylighting streams, balancing flows, and "rebuilding every mile of stream bank that's left in Philadelphia."

Neukrug's office is also working on bringing the creeks back into equilibrium. The creeks start upstream, in the overdeveloped suburbs. Their flow is typically very low, and when it rains the flows are very high. The low flow is bad for the fish and has an increased concentration of pollutants. "We're trying to rebalance the flow and redesign the creek to handle the flow when floods happen."

Working Well With Others

Tackling the creek sources upstream means working with the suburban municipalities, in addition to the city government and other agencies and organizations. So the fourth part of the Water Department's storm water program is about partnerships.

"We are working with PennPraxis, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, and others to understand how we can design our infrastructures and our green programs to support visions and plans that are out there," Neukrug said. "We're very involved with these plans because we're trying to understand how our philosophy and our needs for our land-based and waterway programs best fit into others' plans."

At the same time, current plans for new infrastructure must coincide with "the needs of tomorrow, like those offered in the PennPraxis plan," he said. "The problem is, we're still several years away from a citywide vision of what we want to be. ... The bottom line of what we're doing here is that we're going to have to spend a lot of money on water," possibly billions, Neukrug said.

Much of the funding will come from water and sewer revenue, which means it's important to pick projects that have a visible result for the ratepayers. "Seeing additional recreational opportunities on the waterfront is important; seeing economic development in the city is important."

Pier 70 possibilities

To open the Delaware to recreation, Neukrug sees access points along the branches of that "historic hydrology" leading to the river. The finger piers also present opportunities to bring people to the water, and the Vision Plan has suggested ways to re-use the land and the water between them. "We can start combining those ideas with our ideas for some of the outfalls at those spots. We fill them, perhaps, then extend the pipe to the river, and use them for storm water storage. "There are lots of things you can do." There are also other "interesting ways of funding these things," Neukrug said. The Office of Watersheds has created an index of Watershed Registry Projects, a new resource for developers. "As development occurs on the waterfront, there's an incredible need by these developers to mitigate somewhere else for the wetlands that they're destroying, or the water that they're taking, or the shadows they're casting over fish habitat."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Army Corps of Engineers all require that the developer must then taken mitigation measures elsewhere in the region. The Watershed Registry is a list of sites where that mitigation is needed.

"There is a combination of needs up and down the waterfront, such as access for recreation, protection of habitat, and wetlands creation," Neukrug said. "The PennPraxis plan accounts for these needs, and has the same values as our program. As development occurs along the waterfront, ecological restoration is going to be needed.

"But the Central Delaware is going to have only so many wetlands sites available. So what we're creating is a wetland mitigation registry which will facilitate development while ensuring that the city’s precious water resources are preserved. Sites are being identified throughout the region,including many in Fairmount Park, another partner of the Office of Watersheds.”

Hara, of WRT, agrees that the approaches to storm water management on the Central Delaware must go beyond the Central Delaware.

"We have a long waterfront, and each section poses a whole series of point source and non-point source pollution. They present all sorts of technical challenges. So a really comprehensive understanding of all the technical issues will inform what are the best uses and opportunities."

Storm water management is "both local and global. It occurs at many scales," she said. "The challenge is to develop design guidelines and codes and regulations that support that positive relationship between those environmental concerns and our development desires."

Contact the reporter at ajaffe@mac.com

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Oct. 21 / By Alan Jaffe Eighth segment of infrastructure series: In an aging, urban setting, protecting environment while enhancing drinking, waste and recreational systems is no small task.

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October 21, 2008

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Next up in casino siting process

mgolas — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:54:06 -0400

Bio

Body

Holy Redeemer protest

Foxwoods process timeline

Oct. 10
By Kellie Patrick Gates
For PlanPhilly

The public will have at least three more opportunities to comment on the proposed location of Foxwoods Casino at The Gallery this month - and if last Thursday night's Chinatown meeting is any indication, those sessions will all be packed with passionate citizens.

* On Tuesday, a meeting similar to the one held in Chinatown took place at Jefferson University Alumni Hall, 1020 Locust St.

* On Oct. 21, the Planning Commission will consider and hold a public hearing on the creation and placement of zoning that would allow a casino to operate at The Gallery. This is called a Commercial Entertainment District.

* In late October, on a date yet to be set, a public forum to discuss casino design - particularly urban casino design - will be conducted at the city's request, but by organizations that are outside the government.

* On Nov. 1, City Council will hold a public hearing on the CED legislation. The time and place have yet to be determined. The unusual weekend day is an intentional attempt to make it possible for more interested people to attend.

Councilman Frank DiCicco will submit legislation to rezone the Gallery to a Commercial Entertainment District at Thursday's City Council meeting.

There is never a public comment period when legislation is introduced, spokesman Brian Abernathy said - that will come Nov. 1. (Read memo from Abernathy here)

The residents of Chinatown pleaded with DiCicco Thursday night not to introduce the legislation, but he said it was necessary to keep the State Supreme Court from getting involved - SugarHouse received its CED designation on Delaware Avenue from the High Court, which ruled that the city had been dragging its feet. This took power away from the city, DiCicco said, but by going forward with a process, elected leaders and officials will get a say.

The submission of legislation starts the review process of the proposal by City Council and the Planning Commission, and either body could say no, Abernathy said.

This CED will be different from the one created for the riverfront casino sites. Some tinkering is still happening, Abernathy said, but two differences are parking and set-back requirements.

The waterfront site is not well-served by public transportation and required many parking spaces. Market East is a public transit hub. And The Gallery has adjacent parking lots. There will still technically be a parking requirement, Abernathy said, but Foxwoods would likely not have to create additional parking spaces to meet it.

There will also be no setback requirement. For one thing, The Gallery is an existing building, Abernathy said. But even if it weren't, "in Center City, a setback doesn't make sense. We want to maintain an active street" with buildings nestled right up to the sidewalk.

Officials from Foxwoods and the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which leases the Gallery, are still working on their development plans for the casino, Deputy Mayor and Planning Commission Chairman Andy Altman said. It may not be ready by the Oct. 21 Planning Commission meeting, Altman said. "The plan doesn't have to be ready" because the discussion will be limited to the CED legislation and placement.

The late October public forum is being put together by incoming Planning Commission executive director Alan Greenberger - even though he doesn't officially start the job until November. He could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon, but Altman said the forum also will take place with or without the designs.

"It will be more of an open forum looking at design issues and other examples from other locations," he said. "We want to educate ourselves and the public" and examine what kinds of design and planning issues should be taken into consideration, what can be learned from other places that have urban casinos - such as New Orleans - and what changes are happening in casino design.

The input and ideas that come out of that meeting - and the other public forums - will be used to help guide the Planning Commission and City Council in what it looks for from Foxwoods and PREIT, Altman said. "It would also be good for Foxwoods and PREIT, who could apply what comes out of these meetings to their designs."

Another round of Council and Planning Commission consideration and associated public hearings will begin when those designs are in hand, and when those hearings begin is dependent on when Foxwoods and PREIT have plans to submit, Altman said.

"Both the Planning Commission and City Council have to approve the plan of development. We still have ample opportunity to determine it isn't appropriate," Abernathy said. Foxwoods could also decide the Gallery won't work for them.

Foxwoods officials have said they would consider another alternative if this one doesn't work out, but they would have the legal right to go back to the site they still own on the river - something the city does not want.

Terry Gillen, special advisor to Mayor Nutter, said that at the Gallery site, Foxwoods and the city are at "the very beginning" of the process, so there will be many discussions before any decisions are made and any permits given.

At the Columbus Boulevard site, Foxwoods would need only one additional permit, highway occupancy, before it received a building permit - the last permit needed prior to the start of construction.

The city's other proposed waterfront casino, SugarHouse, also needs a highway occupancy permit - plus a federal permit from the Army Corps of Engineers - to get a building permit, she said.

Contact the reporter at kelliespatrick@gmail.com

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Oct. 16 / By Kellie Patrick Gates Public will have more opportunities to comment on the proposed location of the Foxwoods Casino at The Gallery.

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October 10, 2008

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City set to see Foxwoods design

mgolas — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:36:27 -0400

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Sept. 25

By Kellie Patrick Gates
For PlanPhilly

       City officials expect to soon receive plans detailing what Foxwoods Casino would look like if it moves to The Gallery at Market East.
       "I think we'll see something by the end of next week," Terry Gillen, senior adviser to Mayor Michael Nutter for economic development, said Thursday morning. Gillen was also clearly pleased with a letter the city received last week from the Design Advocacy Group in support of relocation to the Gallery.
       DAG is an organization of architects, planners, preservationists, builders, and others whose mission is to promote design excellence in the region. "A big design group has weighed in that this is a good move. We're happy about that," Gillen said.
       DAG's letter, which was approved by the roughly 20-member steering committee and dated five days after Foxwoods announced it was considering The Gallery - states that the location is advantageous because it is very well served by public transportation and is close to existing hotels, shops and restaurants. DAG also wrote that both the site and the casino design must be thoroughly reviewed in an open process.
       "We really do welcome this. This is a remarkable option for the city," said DAG vice chairman David Brownlee in a phone interview this afternoon.
       But he and fellow vice chairmen George L. Claflen Jr., who was also part of the phone call, said while their organization has endorsed the site, much hinges on the design. DAG has invited Foxwoods' developers to a design review. They haven't heard back.
     "We are expecting to have preliminary sketches to show the city for discussion purposes only in the next few days," Foxwood spokeswoman Maureen Garrity said in an email. Foxwoods is "at least a few weeks" away from unveiling more detailed renderings, she said.
     The developments are the latest in a series of events that began in July when a contingent of state legislators said they had joined forces to get both casinos to move. The next day, Gov. Ed Rendell joined the cause - he said there had been a change in political climate in the city, and the casinos would go up faster if they changed locations. Mayor Michael Nutter, the governor and some state legislators announced in late August that Foxwoods was considering alternative locations. The group announced The Gallery site at a Sept. 10 press conference.
       Since that announcement, city representatives and Councilman Frank DiCicco's office have worked on planning and zoning issues related to the move. They have also been meeting with neighborhood organizations that represent residents near the proposed new site, including Chinatown and Washington Square West.
       Gillen said the various community groups are "in different stages" of trying to figure out what Foxwoods at The Gallery would mean to them. "The groups want to know that they can weigh in, and that this is not a done deal," Gillen said.
       It's not a done deal, she said. "We're very much in the early stages of figuring this out."
       Helen Gym, a board member of Asian Americans United, remains as frustrated and disappointed as she was the day of the public announcement - which was also the day that Gym found out a casino might be moving to her neighborhood.
       Of course she wants to see the plans, she said, but no matter what the casino they depict looks like, Gym said AAU won't give its support unless the process comes to a halt while studies are done to determine the impact a casino would have on the neighborhood and the city.
       "They were willing to do it for the waterfront," she said, referring to The Central Delaware Plan, which was developed by PennPraxis after more than a year of community and expert input. "It's hard to imagine they would settle for less for the very heart of Philadelphia."
       Gym said she knows the city will do some studies, and has heard that a social impact study has begun, but her organization has not been contacted regarding it. Asian Americans United is concerned about gambling addiction - Gym said studies have shown that Asian Americans are more prone to become addicted than other ethnic groups.
       The city is not doing a social impact study, Gillen said, but the Department of Behavioral Health is researching the question of gaming addiction in various ethnic groups. "The mayor asked them to think about what kind of program we might need to put in place, and do we have to pay particular attention to certain ethnic groups because of a move to the Gallery," Gillen said.
       The studies on Asians and gambling addiction that the department has seen show mixed conclusions, Gillen said - some say there is a correlation, others do not.
       The Department of Behavioral Health also convened a committee on Asian American health issues - including behavioral health issues - two years ago. The committee still exists, Gillen said, and "a lot of good work is in place that we can build on."
       Gym does not believe Gillen’s statement that The Gallery location isn't a done deal. She would start to believe it, she said, if the city removed gaming revenue from its 2010 budget.
       The city did move the casino money back a year, from 2009 to 2010, Gillen said. That's where it will stay. "People should understand it's not a done deal in Chinatown, but it is a done deal in Philadelphia," she said.
       Gillen said the pressure from Harrisburg has been "enormous." During the budget process, legislators from other states were threatening to withhold Philadelphia's share of casino revenue, since it is being generated from casinos operating in other places, she said. The mayor worked "channels in Harrisburg" hard to keep funding, she said, but that likely won't happen again.
       Gym thinks the new location was found in a completely backwards way. Foxwoods should not have been leading the process, she said. The city should have taken the lead and determined where the best site was, and presented that site to the casino.
       Foxwoods got to take the lead, Gillen said, "because Foxwoods has a legal right to build on the waterfront. They were given that right by the Supreme Court over our objections."
       The elected officials involved in the resiting have all said that there is nothing they can do to force Foxwoods or SugarHouse from the sites where the Gaming Control Board gave them licenses to operate, so any move would have to be voluntary.
       Foxwoods "came back and offered up a site that we think makes a lot of sense," Gillen said. "If we conclude that site doesn't work, I think Foxwoods goes back to the waterfront. They're not shopping around for sites."
       If Foxwoods goes back to their waterfront site, the city will go back to its previous position that they've got to meet traffic and other requirements before Philadelphia issues a zoning or building permit, Gillen said.
       But Foxwoods has already taken the city to the State Supreme Court over this issue. They have filed a request asking the Court to appoint a Special Master, saying that the city is once again dragging its feet in violation of an earlier court order.
       The Court hasn't rendered a decision yet, but Gillen doesn't think much of the city's chances, noting that the city has lost 12 casino-related court decisions already.
       DAG's Brownlee, an expert in architectural history and historic preservation, and Claflen, principal of Claflen Associates, Architects & Planners, can't wait to see Foxwoods' designs.
       They wonder whether the casino will take up existing retail space or only rise above The Gallery - its foundations were built to handle more floors. They wonder which street the main entrance would be on, and whether the plan will call for one, large gambling floor or multiple floors, stacked on top of each other. And they hope that there's not a big parking garage, since one of the big reasons DAG likes this site is that it's a public transit hub with existing garages and hotels close by.
       If Foxwoods is built at The Gallery, the neighborhoods which feel that impact "should not be shy in asking for mitigation funds and other benefits," Claflen said.
       Some mitigation could have broad benefits that might do more than make up for casino issues, Claflen said. For example, he said, many have talked about the expensive prospect of sinking I-95, but 676 is already sunken. In some places, including Logan Square, it's covered. And it could be covered in Chinatown, he said.

Contact the reporter at kelliespatrick@gmail.com

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Sept. 25 / By Kellie Patrick Gates Initial sketches for new location at The Gallery at Market East in works; Design Advocacy Group endorses move.

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September 25, 2008

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Postcard from Germany!

mgolas — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:54:31 -0400

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Aug. 13

Postcard from San Francisco

Postcard from Pittsburgh

By Arrus Farmer
For PlanPhilly

BADEN-BADEN, Germany - “Yes, we’re going to have to go right to ludicrous speed”

It’s 717 kilometers from Berlin to Baden-Baden, quite the stretch by European standards where culture and language can change from village to village. But the trip is impressive, beautiful countryside, an incredible piece of infrastructure, and a driving culture where the user understands that the right lane is a passing lane. Here driving is a joy, people take pride in their automobiles, and they drive really, really fast. For a person who is unaccustomed to riding at speed of 130 mph+ it can be stressful, especially in those curves that probably should have a speed limit, or a warning sign, or something for the love of god…

Lucky for me, there were a few interesting planning applications along the way which helped to preserve my mental health and overall emotional stability. No matter how interesting though, these distractions could do little to save the door handle which will from now on bare the imprint of my five sweaty fingers.

Like Polka Dots of Civilization

The small towns that dot the German countryside are compact nodes of development contained and surrounded by working fields that produce varieties of grain, feed, and vegetables. Farmers this time of year in southern Germany are cutting their hayfields in wide swaths and the highway is lined with freshly shorn golden fields of stubbled stalks. Some solid planning over the past four centuries has helped to preserve these working landscapes and the towns that they surround. Compact nodal development is prevalent throughout the country and planners use a performance based zoning to manage growth and mix uses.

Although every town does it a little differently, German zoning can best be characterized as build to fit. Height, density, building envelope and even use are often permitted based upon the existing built form or the context that will hopefully be achieved. Similar to American zoning, the Germans have several residential classifications, a few mixed use categories, an industrial classification and a few odds and ends to fit other miscellaneous uses. While the primary goal of zoning in the US has been to separate incompatible uses, Germans historically have used zoning to encourage compact mixed use development which preserves both natural and workable land (agriculture, mining and timber, industry or heavy commercial). This solid regulatory framework produces an enjoyable and consistent form in most German cities. Combine that with high quality European design, pedestrian primacy and a tradition of urban-green, and you’ve got what many planners would call a city well built.

Once Baden, thrice named
Though they may be gifted in the creation of regulations for their cities, Germans have a rotten way of naming them. There is a strange habit of calling multiple towns by the same name, usually they are specified by some other characteristic like the river nearby i.e. Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurt on the Main River, and Frankfurt am Oder: Frankfurt on the Other River. No kidding, those are the actual names of the rivers, and their English translation.

There are no less than three Badens though: Baden bei Wien, Baden im Argau, and of course Baden-Baden. Why the repetition? Baden-Baden is in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg, thus the meaning Baden in Baden.

This Baden is a small hillside town at the foot of the Black Forest near the Swiss and French Borders. It’s a popular vacation destination, especially well known for its baths which have been said to have healthful qualities since the time of the Roman Empire. The streets here are lined with impressively preserved Villas that bare the same French influence which plays upon the region’s cuisine, language, and residents. There are nearly 60,000 Baden-Badenites, many of whom walk the streets and sidewalks of the bustling pedestrian zone in the center of the city. Cafés line the streets and one gets the impression that everyone is on vacation, or living out the golden years of their lives since many seem to be of my grandmother’s generation. That could explain the somewhat outlandish prices: 3€ for a cone of lemon gelato (smacks of Capagiro on Rittenhouse Square) but its worth it to be able soak up the warm summer air and enjoy an afternoon of my favorite hobby, people watching.

Casi-Yes

One of the most popular spots in the city is the 200 year old Casino Baden-Baden and in contrast to our American standard it is a sight to behold. The Parisian Chateau inspired building is located at the rear of a public park in the town’s center which it also shares with a small-scale outdoor concert venue, two cafes and a number of small boutiques.

There is a lot of activity here, the café terraces, like those in the vibrant pedestrian area are filled to capacity with folk seeing and being seen. I get the impression that most aren’t here only for the casino, and that they are both residents and tourists alike. The design of the surrounding buildings addresses the park as the centerpiece of the locale. The surrounding uses are accessory to the public and social use of the open space.

The casino building itself is exquisitely designed and ornamented, such that it resembles a small palace or large mansion of its day. A strict dress code of smoking jackets for men and evening wear for women is equally nostalgic. The interior of the casino is reminiscent to the gambling scenes of James Bond films: 007 could approach the bar at any moment, make eye contact with the stunning vixen across the bar, and gesture to the bartender: “Vodka martini, shaken not stirred.” But there is some other force at work here that makes this scene belong to another time and place: there are no cars.

It’s the Parking stupid
Although the streets bustle with passers by, window shoppers and café goers there seems to be little auto traffic here. The roadways seem secondary to sidewalks and there are far more people than cars about. Around the casino are all of the peripheral uses one would expect, numerous hotels, restaurants, high-end retail. What one may not expect after having visited Vegas or Atlantic City is that folks here walk from their hotels to restaurants, gaming houses, shops and parks. The casino is just another destination in a well planned urban system of public and private spaces.

This pedestrian-friendly environment is made possible in large part due to an extensive network of underground parking garages. There are few surface lots to be found here. Hotels, restaurants, and even public spaces like parks and the successful pedestrian shopping district all stand on top of multiple levels of auto garages.

More than 2,000 spaces are managed by a quasi-municipal parking authority which collects user-fees through numerous automated ticket booths, maintains existing lots and provides parking garage planning, construction, and management services to private developers. Additionally, the parking authority administers a bike rental system with depots located at each of their lots throughout the city. Reasonable hourly and daily rates are made available and paid through the same automated system as the parking fares. Through the provision of these services the Baden-Baden Parking Authority finances maintenance and expansion of their product.

When parking is done right it facilitates design with a different emphasis: a pedestrian emphasis. Fewer cars on the roads mean more room for sidewalks, street-side cafes, playgrounds, and other amenities. Removing the developer’s burden of building parking palettes and seas of surface lots makes it possible for public and private spaces to flow seamlessly and the value of public edges to be captured. (Think of the hotels on Rittenhouse Square. Where would they be if there were 500 spaces separating their front door from the park?) Subterranean parking allows for multiple entrances and exits to public and private space, allowing large uses to be integrated into the city’s fabric. The casino and its supporting hotels and restaurants fit seamlessly into the city’s existing street grid allowing guests and passersby equal access to the private and public amenities offered. The costs of implementing similar systems in the States are often thought to be prohibitive, a visit to Baden-Baden however reveals the invaluable benefits of an effective comprehensive parking plan.

email: arrus.farmer@gmail.com

Arrus Farmer is a Robert Bosch Fellow based in Berlin, Germany working in the planning and administration of large scale public-private developments. He holds both a Masters of City Planning and a Masters of Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania which were completed earlier this year. Farmer has worked with Praxis on a number of civic engagement projects including the Civic Vision for the Central Delaware Riverfront.

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Third in an occasional series. How pedestrian-friendly casinos, parking facilities fit seamlessly into existing city street grids.

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August 13, 2008

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Breaking: How casinos fit vision

mgolas — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:48:37 -0400

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July 30

By Thomas J. Walsh
For PlanPhilly

Amid the discussions coming out of a three-day PennPraxis workshop addressing the designs of the two proposed Delaware Riverfront casinos, there were some veritable positive vibes about the gaming halls, especially from a California architect with casino experience in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

While pointing out what he considered “gigantic” parking garages, both the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos would be “actually an amenity to do what you want to do, which is to bring people to the riverfront,” said Tim Magill, a Hollywood architect who has worked with gaming magnates like Steve Wynn and on high-profile projects like the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

“Thinking about how development can happen north and south of both of these sites is an important aspect” of the casinos’ plans, Magill said. “On both sites ... there is potential for major public access. By minor modifications [from the casino developers], you could deliver on your goals.”

Those goals comprise the 10-step civic action plan laid out by PennPraxis for the central Delaware waterfront for the next decade. But Magill was laying out facts about the gaming industry around the country – that, if developed in a smart fashion, casinos can be leveraged to pull in the public and increase surrounding property values.

After the morning session, Magill pointed to an example on a large map, among many views of the river pinned to the walls. He told PlanPhilly that one site, now the home of Wal-Mart and Home Depot (and their accompanying mega-parking lots), would probably be redeveloped, since it sits directly south of the Foxwoods site. The big box stores represent “property values that have not been fully realized,” he said. “The developers know that. What they’ve done is sort of land-banked it” with the retail chains serving as an interim means of cash flow.

It’s about the vision
The workshop, with a couple of dozen city representatives and experts on traffic, transit, environmental and ecological matters, got started Tuesday night, with the group concluding that the two casinos are not currently compatible with the “civic values, principles and design guidelines” put forth in the Praxis vision of a redeveloped waterfront. (See previous story from earlier this morning here: http://www.planphilly.com/node/3607.)

The presidents of both casinos declined invitations to the workshop from Harris Steinberg, executive director of Praxis, in strongly worded replies (see Foxwoods' and SugarHouse's) that said their presence would be pointless, since Steinberg had stated publicly several times that he and Praxis were against the casinos ever breaking ground.

But Steinberg stressed that he’s not anti-casino, and that Tuesday evening’s conclusion that the casinos were incompatible meant “only as currently designed.” His goal, he said, is to tease out how these projects, on these sites, can contribute to the overall Praxis vision and action plan, endorsed last month by Mayor Nutter.

That’s what Steinberg charged a smaller afternoon group to come up with. Magill started that process by laying see-through drawing paper over the Foxwoods site and marking up areas where, for instance, retail could replace parking garage facades, or spots that seemed realistic as possibilities for more vertical development. With a few “minor modifications,” Magill said, the casinos could be “activity generators that will prime the pump for other properties” down the line.

“Casinos are highly public,” Magill assured the attendees. “The key is to optimize the public’s access to the river. I actually think you’re on your way.”

‘No man’s land’
But before that happy scenario can play out, there are infrastructure questions galore, not the least of them having to do with parking and the importance of incorporating the casinos’ plans for extending existing streets to the riverfront, along with the opportunity to stress impacts to the environment, from the new buildings themselves and from the traffic they bring to the problematic Columbus Boulevard (also known as Delaware Avenue), which Steinberg called a “no man’s land” for pedestrians.

“By what criteria do they contribute?” Steinberg said was the main question underlying the workshop. “Tim [Magill] is saying they could be, but not necessarily that they will be. The real concern is that there is clearly not a parking solution. And we’re going to push back hard to see where things fall in terms of the civic vision. We’re here in an advisory capacity.”

Steinberg said he’d like to deliver a report on the group’s findings by Friday, Aug. 8.

Even with the parking question, which dominated the afternoon session, Magill posited some California optimism, suggesting that encouraging bus transportation and off-site “employee parking pods” would actually enhance sustainability and a transit-oriented boulevard.

Ecological and environmental concerns were aired before lunch, with the theme of “honoring the river.” Using the water in the best way and protecting the estuary were main points. Mark Alan Hughes, the city’s first Deputy Mayor of Sustainability, admitted that any recommendations on these fronts would be “aspirational” at this point.

“We just want to know where they are,” Hughes said. “There can be no deal-breakers. There are tools [related to energy and emissions] that are just not there yet. We have a set of mechanisms that we are working toward.”

Waiting and seeing
Terry Gillen, senior adviser to Mayor Nutter for economic development and the interim executive director of the city’s Redevelopment Authority, said the most significant issues have to do with air quality, within the context of traffic and parking. “It’s a very car-centric industry, at least in the U.S.” she said of the casino business. “In Europe, they have a different model.”

Magill also said that modern casinos have been increasingly moving toward maximizing spaces for non-gaming activities, such as nightclubs and spas. Indeed, the state of Nevada reached a point several years ago when non-gambling revenues surpassed the total “take” from slots and table games, a trend that has only increased.

The proposed Philadelphia casinos are said to be “mixed-use” from the start, and attendees at the afternoon workshop wanted to make sure of that. But subsequent phases of development, contingent upon the success of the initial building phases (with 2,500 slots for each casino) have been a consistent concern among city officials since Nutter took office earlier this year.

Foxwoods and SugarHouse have had an entirely different relationship with City Hall since the change in administrations, and contend that permits have been intentionally stalled by order of Nutter. They cite nothing but favorable decisions from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and the state Supreme Court.

“There have been at least five different traffic studies, including ones by the Mayor’s Gaming Advisory Task Force, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, SugarHouse, Foxwoods, and the City Council,” according to information on the SugarHouse web site.

“I can only hope that we can come up with some decisions that they’ll look at,” said Gillen. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

On the Foxwoods web site, the owners say the casino “supports the city’s long-term goal of economically reinvigorating the remainder of the riverfront, and will provide public access to the river.” For its first-phase development, it lists restaurant and lounge venues open to the public, fine dining, sports bars, a 2,000-seat showroom, retail shops, a 4,200-space parking garage and a riverside walkway, in addition to the 3,000 slot machines.

The Philadelphia problem
Regarding the possibility of later phases of development, with a large hotel and more casino space, Gillen said that’s historically been “the Philadelphia problem. Developers come in and tend not to put all their cards on the table, and don’t tell us about future plans. We want to make sure there are no surprises down the road. The problem is that no one talked about that issue until January.”

Gillen said nailing down long-term plans is especially important from the city’s point of view because only when the later developments – the hotels, restaurants, nightclubs – become reality will the city see tax revenues. For the first phase, which will mostly be income from slot machines, the state will be the beneficiary.

Paul Levy, the popular president of the Center City District and the Central Philadelphia Development Corp., said developing master plans is vital for setting guidelines for major developments, but he may have surprised some attendees by suggesting that with regard to the casinos, “the horse” is “out of the barn, or partially out of the barn.”

“These casinos started the design process, and we as a city are trying to change the rules,” Levy said. “The development of a master plan is absolutely essential. ... We’ve all got to realize that we’re playing catch-up.”

In less direct terms, others agreed, saying recommendations on street landscaping, balance of retail with gaming, the creation or reduction of traffic lanes, pedestrian metrics, access to the river, ecological concessions, safety and any other concerns – broad in scope or narrow – should be offered as an opportunity to implement smarter growth along the waterfront.

“This is a neutral analysis,” Steinberg said, as the afternoon session started. “The report that’s issued will be used as a political tool by various constituencies, so it’s important to be sure about ‘What would it look like for a casino on that site to comply?’” with the Praxis vision and Action Plan.

In the meantime, Magill said that in his experience, casino developers usually listen to well thought-out alternatives, if only to see if they would make financial sense. Also, trends in the gaming industry have been drifting toward smaller “neighborhood casinos,” even in the Las Vegas and Reno metropolitan areas, Magill said (relatively speaking, SugarHouse and Foxwoods are not considered especially large gaming destinations). These venues have generally placed interactivity with their neighbors as a high priority, even when initially opposed.

After the workshop’s findings are written up and presented to Nutter, what then? Looking at large-scale, detailed maps taking up the better part of two large walls, peppered with post-it notes and varying computer-generated images, Steinberg was asked if he thought one or both or neither of the proposed and state-approved casinos will have broken ground a year from now.

It might have been a question he’s heard before. “I’m not a betting man,” he said, without batting an eye.

Contact the reporter at thomaswalsh1@gmail.com

SugarHouse web site: http://www.sugarhousecasino.com/home/index.php

Foxwoods web site: http://www.foxwoods.com/AboutFoxwoods/FDC_foxwoodsphiladelphia.aspx

Home Page Summary

July 30, By Thomas J. Walsh Experts in transportation, sustainability, infrastructure, ecology grapple with merging near-term realities and long-term goals.

Source

Written By

Thomas J.W

Publish Date

July 30, 2008

Abstract

Casino analysis underway

mgolas — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:09:26 -0400

Bio

Body

July 30

By Thomas J. Walsh
For PlanPhilly

The second day of a “casino workshop” featuring senior city officials, traffic consultants, planning experts and architects began early Wednesday morning under the direction of PennPraxis, the clinical arm of the UPenn School of Design.

The discussions were part of what Praxis calls an “independent, third-party analysis of the current casino site plans” relative to its recent 10-year action plan for the Central Delaware Riverfront, which was endorsed by Mayor Michael Nutter.

Per Nutter’s request, Praxis plans to issue results from the casino report within 30 days. Present for the discussion were deputy mayors Rina Cutler (transportation and infrastructure) and Mark Alan Hughes (sustainability), Nutter’s economic development czar Terry Gillen, Center City District President Paul Levy and about 20 other professionals, some of them local specialists and some from other cities around the country.

Noticeably absent were representatives of the planned Foxwoods and SugarHouse casinos. “You are not an ‘independent’ voice in the casino debate,” wrote Robert Sheldon, president of SugarHouse, in response to an invitation to the workshop by Praxis Executive Director Harris Steinberg. “Even before being tasked by the Mayor to conduct an analysis, you concluded that casinos do not fit into your vision of the waterfront.”

Likewise, James Dougherty, president of Foxwoods, wrote to Steinberg that he had spoken out several times against the casinos within the Praxis vision, but that in any case, the point was moot, since the first phase (of three) of the casino development has been greenlighted by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (during the Street administration) and the state Supreme Court.

While Steinberg, in his opening remarks Wednesday, said that the casinos as currently designed do not meet planning and transportation needs for the long-term, he stressed that the workshop was not about re-location of the casinos, or about gambling.

“It’s not about use,” Steinberg said. “It’s about form” and how we as a city talk about investment in infrastructure and sustainability. “We’re not going to be taking sides whether these are good or bad developments.”

The morning sessions were broken down into four breakout groups to discuss transportation, urban design, ecology and sustainability.

Participants were issued a “civic vision matrix,” meant to facilitate discussion of specifics, with 10 goals broken down into detailed questions about the design and infrastructure of both casinos. If the questions were deemed in the negative, the chart further answers if the problem “can be fixed” or “can’t be fixed.”

“You’ll note that there’s a lot of ‘can be fixed’ in this,” Steinberg said.

Among the transportation subgroup, the discussion moved into not only the capacity and width of Columbus Boulevard (the location of Foxwoods), parking, parking garages and the possibilities of enhanced public transit, but also the future relationship between the casino and the big box retailers to the south, such as Ikea and Home Depot.

“We have the only waterfront Wal-Mart in America,” noted Cutler. “The whole thing was developed in a truly suburban fashion. For me, part of what needs to happen is that a.) we don’t make those same mistakes over and over again and b.) to see if there’s a way to mitigate it.”

Cutler and others in the group generally agreed that Foxwoods’ plans for re-working Columbus Boulevard would work in the near-term, but there was much concern expressed about ultimate goals for the area.

“They are prepared to make big investments, but they might not be the investments we want to see, long-term,” said Jeremy Alvarez, a traffic engineer with Center City-based Stantec Consulting, which has worked with the city on a variety of traffic and transportation issues. “How much are we tying our hands if we allow these investments to go forward?”

Cutler also reminded the group that Columbus Boulevard is the official, federally mandated “escape route” for Interstate 95.

The concept of a new light rail system, which would alleviate many of the congestion concerns, was talked about, but such a system is “10 years away and a lot of money” at best, Cutler said.

PlanPhilly will continue to update this developing story as well as bring you video out-takes of the conference.

Contact the reporter at thomaswalsh1@gmail.com

Home Page Summary

July 30 / By Thomas J. Walsh Experts in transportation, sustainability, infrastructure, ecology grapple with merging near-term realities with long-term goals.