Lawsuit opposing FDR Park renovation will get another day in court

A group of South Philly residents who want to stop work related to FDR Park’s $250 million overhaul is getting another day in court.

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on Wednesday sent a lawsuit filed by the group of residents back to Orphans Court, where a judge found the venue had no jurisdiction and dismissed the complaint in May 2024. The Commonwealth Court disagreed, setting the scene for a future showdown between the city and critics of the plan in court, while renovations continue at the park.

“We have a number of experts who will show that severe damage has been done to the park so far by the city,” said Samuel Stretton, the attorney representing the residents.

It’s the latest development in a legal back-and-forth between the city, which argues the park will become unusable because of continued flooding if it doesn’t intervene, and local conservationists, who say the city is needlessly cutting heritage trees to make room for artificial athletic fields.

The city and the Fairmount Park Conservancy, which is managing the project and fundraising for it, said they would not appeal.

“While this is a procedural setback, we remain confident that the Orphans Court will ultimately uphold the legality of the work underway,” said the pair in a joint statement, adding that they remained committed to the “community-informed historic investment.”

The complaint brought to Orphans Court last year argued that digging up the former golf course and installing athletic fields and two parking lots would completely change the purpose of the parkland, violating several Pennsylvania statutes and regulations. The overhaul of the park, plaintiffs claimed, would “degrade public historic and natural resources,” violating what’s called the Environmental Rights Amendment in the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The plan should also have gotten City Council and Orphans Court approval for the proposed changes, the group argued.

The city responded by saying some of the regulations allegedly being violated weren’t in play because FDR Park remained a public park and the city wasn’t attempting to lease or sell a portion of the public space. The city also argued that the group waited too long to lodge their complaints and some portions of the project had been completed by the time they filed their suit.

In the year since the group of South Philly residents took their case to Orphans Court, work on the park has progressed, and new concerns have emerged.

The city had hoped FIFA would help it upgrade two of the slated athletic fields to grass and build a locker room in exchange for access during the 2026 Men’s World Cup practices. FIFA ultimately went with other options. Critics of the plan see the failure of the FIFA plan, which they opposed, as a sign that the city was too ambitious. They worry that the city is not fundraising fast enough and fear it is taking a cut-first, raise-money-later approach.

“It seems like they figure that if parts of the park are cleared, people will just demand that something be put there,” said Richard Garella, one of the residents suing, concerned the project has only raised $7.6 million since it reached a $100 million milestone in 2023.

For its part, the conservancy has said its “current progress tracks with realistic expectations in philanthropy and government funding.” It touted a reimagined park entrance in June.

It has maintained that some of residents’ biggest fears are unfounded, arguing many of the trees cut were in decline and that the fields they’re considering will be free of PFAS, or so-called forever chemicals that have been linked to cancer. Some experts say these guarantees are misleading and it’s likely the fields will contain the chemicals.

Stretton hopes to bring all of these concerns to Orphans Court and hasn’t ruled out deposing Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, he said.

“We finally get what the law requires and what the city and Fairmount Park and services should have done,” he said.

No date has been set for the hearing.