Presentation by Donald Lewis

Provided on this website by request of and kind permission of Donald Lewis

Before the Board of Commissioners of Springfield Township

August 11, 2011

Introduction and Zoning

My name is Donald Lewis. My wife Kathy and I have lived at 630 East Gravers Lane for over 20 years. To save some time, I will try to say some things preliminarily for some of the more than 100 Wyndmoor neighbors who fervently oppose the ill-considered creation of an active recreational facility at Wyndhill Park.

I have detailed many personal objections in a 6-page letter to the Board dated August 2, 2011, which I hope you’ve all had an opportunity to read. A lot of good neighbors came here to speak and deserve their turn. I’ll try to be succinct and not repetitious.

Before any discussion should proceed, the Township should make a determination that creating a community recreation facility for organized private soccer and lacrosse clubs, would violate the Township Zoning Code. If that determination is made, we can all save each other a lot of time and energy, and if a determination is not made, no further proceedings should be rescheduled until it is.

A simple look at the Zoning Map shows that Wyndhill Park is sited in a Class A residential Zoning District and zoned Class A. Under the Springfield Township Zoning Code , permitted uses in Zone A include playgrounds. They do not include community recreational facilities. No one can reasonably conclude that a full-size soccer and lacrosse field to be used by travel teams is a “playground.” The Township’s own Comprehensive Plan lists the recreation facilities at parks throughout the Township, and separately lists “playgrounds” and “soccer fields.”

Nothing else is relevant to the determination. Whether or not the field has ever been casually used for community recreation is irrelevant.

The large proposed field is a new community facility, which would encroach on green space never used for soccer or lacrosse or any other organized activity. It immediately or later will bring with it portapots, storage sheds and possibly other permanent facilities.

Requests have been made for a determination that community recreational facilities are not permissible at Wyndhill, but thus far the Zoning Officer has not provided one. Any suggestion that the determination is unnecessary because the Township is not required to follow its own zoning law, would be challenged in Court. I do not pretend to be an expert in land use law, but other such counsel, who could not be present tonight because of vacation, will handle that task if you force us to litigate. In the end, that will benefit none of us, most especially the Township.

If we are forced to litigate, we may also have to explore the question, wholly apart from zoning law, of whether the creation of active athletic fields on this site will constitute both a public nuisance or a private nuisance. It is my understanding that as regards management of Township property, the Township is not immune from suit.

Process

I have objected at great length to the process that brings us here. Very few Wyndmoor neighbors were notified of any plan to convert the park into active athletic fields, and those who were got insufficient information and no deadline for commenting. Tonight is the very first time we will hear from the proponents exactly what their plans are, so we have been unable to reach fully informed conclusions before commenting. Many neighbors are away on vacation and unable to attend. However, unless we will not be heard on the merits, both now and after full disclosures are made by the sports clubs and after we have had a full chance to respond, I’ll move on. But as a meeting of this type should illustrate, any further process should be deliberate and fully informed, and there are so many critical details to consider and facts to examine that I urge that process should take place over a period of time in conference rooms, not in this forum. There is no urgency to move forward now.

Wyndhill Park

Wyndhill Park occupies a very special place in the hearts of residents of Old Wyndmoor. It is a vital place in our neighborhood used by dog owners, walkers and for a host of casual neighbor recreational activities. It was saved from development in the early 1980's by enlightened planning, with the oversight of a neighborhood association that included Dr. William Mebane. Public-spirited neighbors like Ina Lipman, Leslie Purple and Maryl Hitchings later raised funds to create the wonderful and beloved Tot Lot. Donald Downs of the Planning Commission was instrumental in drafting and securing land use plans at Wyndhill, working closely with neighbors like Dr. Mebane. The Tot Lot plans made the area more passive and greener, by eliminating some of the old small soccer play area, and the resulting Tot Lot was created with express School Board permission. The open space of the Park is policed, preserved and protected with the assistance of neighbors. While the Township may hold title, the Park is what is because of responsible and caring neighbors, and it should not be taken from them by force.

The Park is small, ringed by large, beautiful and quiet homes for which their owners pay very high taxes, and is the worst place possible to cram organized team and travel sports. It is an oasis of green and tranquility on the basis of which many have chosen to make their homes nearby, and its existence is important to our enjoyment of our lives. The idea that the field has, since the school conversion, been regularly used for active team sports is simply a myth. Use in the Park has been largely consistent for nearly three decades. In any case, the Park is in the midst of a Class A Zoning District, which legally does not permit the creation of active community recreation facilities.

The sports’ clubs plans would destroy the spirit of our passive Park and the surrounding neighborhood. The Township’s own Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the Commissioners long ago, determined that the proper use of the core of the Park as a multi-use lawn area, not as an athletic field. That should be enough to ban organized sports from converting the Park at this time.

Some Objections to Sports Usage

Framing comments on or objections to the plans of soccer and lacrosse clubs is difficult, because the ever-changing facts surrounding this project have been as squishy as jello. This project began when the Soccer Club wrote in a letter in late April (one never sent to any of us) that it would like to leave Bysher field because usage had been hard on the field, and because it would like to have its own storage facility away from Bysher. It made no claim that the club, which already uses numerous fields, had any actual need for this Park. No letter setting forth any different claims has been shared with us. As of Sunday, none of the fields at Bysher were in disrepair, and there are other fields in the Township that we believe have not adequately been properly considered or fully utilized.

Not only have the needs for our Parkland not been scrutinized, but there has been no meaningful consideration of the negative impact on Wyndmoor. There has been no serious consideration by the clubs or the Township of any of the important factors that the Zoning Code made relevant to a school conversion, including parking, traffic and runoff considerations. Runoff problems can ensue both when the field is regraded — flattened — and then degraded — muddied — by sports usage. While neighbors might enjoy minor repairs to the landscape, regrading the field to level it for active sports fields would mean major transformations that would adversely transfigure the charm of the Park. Regrading is not something to be pursued casually; the plans need to be closely examined because the Park lies at one of the highest points in Old Wyndmoor and water already sheets from the field down toward Gravers Lane and beyond. The field needs more trees, it does not need an impervious sports surface.

There also has been no fair consideration of the impact on the neighborhood aesthetics and the enjoyment of the Tot Lot. There seems to have been no willingness to consider the issue of noise, which under the provisions of the Zoning Code relating the school conversions is referred to as a “noxious element” and which may seriously impact the enjoyment of some neighbors’ homes. No one has yet studied the impact on property values and the Township’s tax base which would come from replacing a beautiful passive park with an active sports facility.

Conversion proponents simply ignore very real traffic, parking and safety issues. Much traffic will stream in rapidly, in clusters, either through Willow Grove Avenue or the narrow section of Gravers, down Flourtown Avenue, on toward the field. I have learned that the proposed siting is partially on land that has always been open space, and almost on top of the tennis court, so that it will naturally attract both legal and illegal parking congesting Flourtown and nearby side streets. Commissioner Heller’s website shows that the clubs say that about 25 parking spaces have been negotiated at Wyndhill Center, which some feel eliminates the problem, though it will not be enough for parking for games. How this permission was obtained, without disclosure during the recent Wyndhill parking expansion controversy, is very troubling. I challenge whether the conditions of approval of the Center and the Zoning Code, the owner can give away spaces intended and approved for the Center’s tenants and visitors. No agreement has ever been produced, and even an informal agreement with the Township may be legally invalid. Even if it survived legal challenge, what the gift of 25 spaces to the clubs would do to the tenants and users of that already cramped, congested and active lot, which services older persons attending medical offices, is scary. I gather that some of the usage will begin by 4:30 on weekdays — before the lot has begun to empty. And if 25 cars are permitted to and do use the spaces, there’s no way to prevent more from doing so.

For most of us most scary are the very drastic changes that active community soccer and lacrosse fields and the noise and commotion that comes with them will abruptly bring to the character of our neighborhood, to the enjoyment of our lives, and to our property values. And make no mistake, once these changes begin, they will only become exponential.

The Township asked for the neighbors’ input, particularly those of adjoining neighbors, and now the message is loud and clear. I have with me a chart of the adjoining homes. The green squares indicate neighbors who by letter, signing a petition or appearing here oppose the conversion. The brown squares indicate those who to my knowledge have written to support it or who to our knowledge might support some aspect of it, even if they haven’t bothered to write. Yellow spaces were left where we were unable to contact the family, usually because of vacations. This is a packed room, but many other neighbors have made clear they would have been here tonight had not the meeting coincided with a vacation, and had the Board agreed to reschedule to a time when they could be present. Also we could generate a larger area map which would also show a sea of green.

I also have with me petitions signed by over 130 taxpayers of Wyndmoor, as well as by some tenants and their employees at the Wyndhill Center, all opposing the regrading and conversion. We could easily get more.

Tonight the most directly affected neighbors have joined with other residents of Wyndmoor to speak with almost a single voice. That voice asks you to stop the conversion now, and ban organized sports in the Park. Alternatively, it asks you at the very least to derail this speeding train until much more information can be amassed. The information should be collected in a deliberate way, not at hearings such as this, but by committee, so that the neighbors can have a fair opportunity to study and comment on conversion plans, and so that the neighbors can develop alternate passive Park plans that would benefit all the community. Having asked for the neighbors’ views, and indicated that they were important, how can their strong views be disregarded? Even if there is a need for more sports facilities, a better place must and can be found for them.

Finally, the Township as part of its Comprehensive Plan has an essentially passive design for Wyndhill Park that the new fields would violate. The Township is also working on a long-range plan that will address the best uses of parkland and the enhancement of quality of life in the Township, for its aging population as well as its youth. This is no time for deciding on an ad hoc basis, with insufficient process, to transform green space into brown space, storage sheds and portapots.

Donald B. Lewis