Have you ever looked down into the depths of the Delaware River and thought, “It could be deeper”? The likely answer is no. Just last fall, however, The Port of Philadelphia released part of a 15-year plan to expand the port that includes dredging and deepening the Delaware River an additional five feet to a
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The Cobbs Creek Foundation’s creek restoration plans received a $3.5 million boost in state funds from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Project (RACP) grant program in November. The RACP program funds “the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects,” according to its website. In a minor win for neighborhood advocates
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Students are organizing to oppose the Lower Merion School District’s plans to raze a wooded area — home to towering tulip poplars and red and white oaks — to build practice athletic fields for the nearby Black Rock Middle School. As Grid has reported, the school district acquired the land this year for about $13
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For the first time in its six decades operating Philadelphia’s public transit system, SEPTA is planning to overhaul its bus routes. After more than 30 in-person and online public meetings across the city’s neighborhoods this fall to detail and discuss the proposed changes, the message from residents and riders has been loud and clear: Go
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On December 6 the City Council Committee on Rules discussed a bill to exempt the Cobbs Creek golf course development from zoning restrictions preventing clearing trees on steep slopes and limiting the height of fences and buildings. Ordinarily developers seeking exemptions from such zoning requirements have to seek approval from the City’s Zoning Board of
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The sycamore leaves rustle as a tiger swallowtail flutters overhead and a Cooper’s hawk screeches from above. A ruby-throated hummingbird couple is nectaring at our feeder, a woodpecker tries (in vain) to peck holes in our stucco wall, a red fox chases a baby rabbit that was just feeding on clover in our grass and
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The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education announced on December 7 that it has secured $3 million in funding from anonymous donors to preserve the Boy Scout Tract, the 24-acre parcel of land whose potential sale to developers over the summer caused a firestorm of community opposition. The center began exploring a sale after they received
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Members of the public will have two chances to weigh in on legislation proposed by council member Curtis Jones to exempt the Cobbs Creek golf course from restrictions on cutting trees on steep slopes, rules meant to protect water quality and prevent erosion. On December 6th at 10am, the City Council Rules Committee will meet.
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Homeowners whose properties back up to the Cobbs Creek golf courses could lose their decks or backyard sheds according to a letter sent from Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s Kathryn Ott Lovell to Cobbs Creek Foundation founding CEO Christopher Lange. In the June 20, 2019 letter, obtained in response to a right-to-know request by Lawrence Szmulowicz,
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Pennsylvania’s One Health Task Force has issued recommendations intended to reduce the risks to public health and to wildlife health posed by house cats. As the recommendations notes, “Pennsylvania has the highest number of rabid domestic cats among all states, and domestic cats disproportionately expose more people to rabies than other sources.” House cats also
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On Wednesday, November 16, the Cobbs Creek Foundation held a town hall meeting at the Overbrook Educational Center, the first time that foundation representatives and elected officials faced the public in person to answer questions about the controversial golf course renovation, in which over 100 acres of trees have been cleared by the West Conshohocken-based
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