Neighbors uneasy about Cresheim Trail plan
Michael Harkins stood on the small back porch of his Springfield Township home, which he and his wife have lived in for 30 years, and pointed to the future site of the Cresheim Trail, a proposed recreational path that would connect other Philadelphia and Montgomery County trails.
The tract he points to is a swale and steep hill next to the recently renovated Route 309. When completed, the trail will run across Willow Grove Avenue's Rt. 309 overpass, come down the hill and level off along a steeply angled grass-covered hill behind Harkins' house.
While Harkins is concerned about people running, biking and strolling on a path just a few feet from a highway, his major problem is with the trail's proximity to his house.
At its closest point, the trail is only about 10 feet from his backdoor. The only thing blocking the view of future users of the proposed trail from Harkins' kitchen window is a fence and an unkempt collection of bushes that Harkins said he wants to trim and cut, but will not do so if the trail is created.
Two weeks ago, responding to the completion of the final draft of a feasibility study of the trail, Harkins had his property surveyed. Comparing the proposed trail route and his property line, he said it appeared that the trail would overlap his property.
Pointing to pink-ribboned stakes in the swale beside Rt. 309, he said the stakes marked both the end of his property line and the mid-point of the trail.
Another concern of Harkins is the potential liability he will face with a pond in his yard. If the trail is created, he said he would have to fence his pond to avoid trail users from jumping into it. He said in addition to privacy and trespassing concerns, he is afraid of the liability that might stem from swimming trail users.
"I can't imagine people won't jump in," he said. "We would be forced to fence it. Ponds aren't usually a fenced affair."
Harkins and his wife, Mary, have attended and spoken in public meetings regarding the trail, not to fight the plans but to have their voices heard.
They both said they are actually in favor of the concept of the trail, and would be unlikely to oppose it even though it runs behind their house. Their concern stems from a lack of communication and an apparent unwillingness to involve them in the process.
"I have three daughters that will walk the trail," he said. "I'm not trying to stand in the way of it. I just want to make sure it's done right."
Harkins said he spoke with Robert Thomas, a partner of Campbell Thomas and Co. Architects, which developed the Cresheim Trail feasibility study. During the conversation, which took place in the beginning planning stages, Harkins just asked that Thomas keep in contact during the process.
But, according to Harkins, that did not happen.
"I'm not interested in being an obstruction to the process," he said. "I'd like to see it work. But I feel like it kind of went around me. I feel like they were just going to shove it down my throat, and I still don't know that they won't do that."
Thomas has answered concerns like these from other neighbors of the trail by pointing out that the public meetings are serving as an opportunity for their input and involvement in the process.
"The open meetings are so that people are not excluded," Thomas said at a meeting with Springfield Township residents on Sept. 26.
In an interview last week, Thomas pointed out that the feasibility study, when finished, is just that — a study and recommendation. The firm that will design the trail, which has not been chosen, will have to consult neighbors about the trail's path and he said, ideally, those designers would work with neighbors on the trail's positioning.
"This is not a trail design," Thomas said during that September meeting. "This is only a feasibility study."
Harkins said he hopes that communication occurs and that the designers, which could be Thomas' firm, reach out to him and the neighbors. But he's wary.
"Any time people are made part of the process, it is helpful," Harkins said. "But I think the harm has already been done in terms of trust."
If the Cresheim Trail is completed as proposed, the approximately six-mile path will connect the Green Ribbon Trail in Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Trail in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park system. It should ideally be accessible for biking, running and walking, and connect to key local sites, such as Arcadia University, Springfield High School, Wissahickon Park and Springfield Township's Mermaid Park.
The largest portion of the Cresheim Trail will run along a PECO right-of-way, a tract of land under the electric company's wires that is undeveloped. But this right-of-way also runs behind residential properties, and property owners other than Harkins are worried about the project.
Along the 20-mile Green Ribbon Trail, there were only four properties that had to provide land for the trail. These properties were along West Mill Road in Flourtown.
Laurie Jenkins, along with her partner Lisa McCurdy, purchased a home on West Mill Road, knowing that an access path from a parking lot in Fort Washington State Park to the Green Ribbon Trail would be cutting through their backyard.
The home's previous owners had signed an easement making the land accessible to the trail's development and received a financial compensation for doing so. Jenkins and McCurdy did not get any of that money, but they were comfortable with the trail running through their yard, as long as they were consulted during the construction.
Two of Jenkins neighbors were less inclined to give up their land for the trail, and the land was taken by eminent domain, an action confirmed by John Wood, Montgomery County's chief of open space planning.
But, as plans for the construction of the trail moved forward, Jenkins said she and McCurdy were barely consulted and had a difficult time getting a return phone call from the Montgomery County Department of Parks and Heritage Services, which could take over the Cresheim Trail's management and maintenance.
"I had to be a complete bitch," Jenkins said bluntly.
(Wood, one of the contacts for the trail, said he was surprised by Jenkins' accusation that calls were not returned immediately. "We've always been responsive to landowners," he said, referring to himself and trails manager Rich Wood.)
During the construction — delayed numerous times despite letters giving notice that the project was starting — Jenkins said she saw the land surrounding what she thought would be a nature trail stripped by construction vehicles and a gravel path that was much wider than she anticipated.
She said she was told the trail would be from 8- to 10-feet wide, but learned later that the width she was given was a projection based on a few years of vegetation growth. After the gravel was placed, Jenkins measured a 15-foot-wide-path — the extra footage was to allow room for the vegetation that would creep into the edges of the gravel over the years.
She says she remembers having thought after measuring the trail's width, "This is not at all what they said it would be."
Admittedly, the trail designers did consult Jenkins and McCurdy about the trail's location. At their request, the trail was moved away from the house to allow more space between the backdoor and the trail. But after that, it seemed to Jenkins, communication has been problematic.
And other problems arose.
When the trail was first built, before the fence was installed, people were actually walking around in her backyard.
"It was to the point that I was screaming into the yard to respect our property," she said of the people visiting her garden and backyard chicken coop.
When unleashed dogs were straying from their trail-using owners and bothering the chicken coop, the county had to install a wire fence in addition to the wooden rail fence.
Vegetation around the trail is a problem too, she said. It took a few calls to get the county to come out and plant trees before the cold weather arrived last November, and when she complained that there was not enough vegetation blocking the main trail from the property, she said she was given plants that she had to plant herself.
Her most recent concern is with the park rangers that patrol the trail. Instead of walking or biking, the rangers drive cars on the trail, using the access path that runs through Jenkins' yard.
"I find it totally offensive," she said, referring to the rangers, whom she has stopped along the path to share her thoughts. "Basically we let a road go through our backyard."
Again, Jenkins reiterated that she initially liked the idea of the trail in her yard, but after the communication problems, the unanticipated size of the trail and its popularity (she admits that she did not expect so many people to be using the trail), she said if she and McCurdy ever decided to move, it would be because of the trail.
Regarding the proposed Cresheim Trail, Jenkins said she is excited to have more trail area but is sympathetic to the neighbors.
"Selfishly, I still want plenty of trails in the area," she said. "But my concern is that once they get you to sign the paper, you lose all your rights."
That is also Harkins' concern.
The Cresheim Trail still has a way to go before it is implemented. The feasibility study still needs to be completed and, after that, a designer and managing firm contracted, a design made and then approved by the appropriate county and municipalities, before construction can start.
But Harkins wants to be sure that he is heard now.
Already, he feels that, although he has been able to speak in public meetings, the lack of personal communication is representative of what is to come with the design.
Again, he reiterated that he is not against the trail, but he wants to be part of a process that is putting a publicly accessible trail 10 feet away from his backdoor.
"There is no end to the accommodations we are willing to make," he said, "but I don't know. I'm reluctant. Sometimes you say yes to A, B and C and you end up with D through J."