PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council on Thursday gave final approval to a zoning exception for the Cobbs Creek Golf Course renovation, after some creative protest.
“They cut down our trees and put up a golfing course,” Jonathan Leibovic sang.
The community organizer and musician parodied the Joni Mitchell song “Big Yellow Taxi” to express his opposition to the Cobbs Creek zoning bill.
The bill allows the Cobbs Creek Foundation, which is overseeing the golf course renovation, to remove trees from slopes on the course for work on the creek bed to prevent the flooding that destroyed the course years ago.
Half a dozen other opponents also testified, mostly on environmental grounds, as did several supporters of the project including businessman Blane Stoddart. He explained that the group will replace thousands of plants.
“Nice neighborhoods get golf courses, like Bryn Mawr and Ardmore, and so to have a public golf course in our neighborhood is a good thing and adds value to our neighbors, and takes kids off the street and helps us against gun violence,” said Stoddart.
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“They will be replanting 1,500 trees and 15,000 native plants back on this property.”
An opponent of the renovation, Lawrence Szmulowicz, objected to what he said was a lack of transparency by the foundation.
“We still do not know basic details about the developers’ plans. How many trees do they intend to cut down? Do they include any heritage trees?”
The bill’s sponsor, Curtis Jones, emphasized the jobs, the youth programs, the flood control and other improvements the renovation will bring.
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“It is not a perfect thing, but it is overall a good thing for the benefit of the community,” Jones said.
The bill — which was amended twice to narrow the zoning exception — passed unanimously.
But Council President Darrell Clarke suggested Leibovic’s effort was not in vain.
“In the event you want to use it as an audition tape, Channel 64 runs this over and over.”
Cobbs Creek was built in 1916 and was one of the few golf courses, at the time, that was open to Black players.