PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — FDR Park stakeholders will meet Thursday night in South Philadelphia to discuss disagreements over how to balance a major redesign project with the preservation of existing natural areas.
FDR Park’s “Master Plan” hopes to restore the 350-acre space in South Philadelphia and add more athletic fields, new wetlands and picnic areas, and a new welcome center.
The park’s golf course shut down in 2019, as the first stages of the renovation were set to begin. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Unattended for months, the golf course turned into a wilderness. People from all over the city fell in love with this new natural refuge. It became known as “the Meadows.”
“It was really an explosion of wildlife, and the area became much, much more valuable environmentally as a habitat, as well as so much more attractive to us humans as well,” said Avigail Milder, with the coalition Save the Meadows.
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In 2022, the Fairmount Park Conservancy announced that work on the master plan would resume. In response, a group of 30 volunteers, including Milder, created the coalition.
“So much has changed since COVID, and we feel strongly that the plan does not serve the community and certainly needs to be reevaluated,” Milder said.
The FDR Park plan was revised last year, expanding the area devoted to natural areas, including 33 acres of new wetlands — parts of the park that have been off limits to the public for about 50 years — and picnic areas. It also targets the area’s constant flooding issues.
But it keeps in place plans to put youth athletic fields on the site occupied by the Meadows, to serve teams from communities where there are few, if any, such facilities.
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Planners have included basketball courts, tennis courts, softball fields and soccer fields. This could include a natural-grass field to be used as a practice facility for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — which will include matches at Lincoln Financial Field. The practice field would have to meet specific FIFA standards if chosen for the tournament.
Amos Huron, executive director of the Anderson Monarchs youth sports league, believes new fields can provide a refuge for young athletes.
“Sports in the city of Philadelphia are a uniter,” said Huron.
“If you look at our professional sports teams, you look at our college sports teams, those are things that bring people together. Youth sports have the opportunity to do that as well. But we need a place for that to happen.”
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Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell says the plan tries to strike a balance.
“FDR Park is 350 acres,” she said. “There's enough room for everything, but we have to share. We all have to share. Adults have to share space.”
Thursday’s community meeting to discuss the plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Grand Yesha Ballroom (2308 Snyder Avenue) in South Philadelphia.