{"id":571842,"date":"2026-02-07T02:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/571842\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T02:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:02:09","slug":"fdr-park-lawsuit-judge-allows-case-to-move-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/571842\/","title":{"rendered":"FDR Park lawsuit: Judge allows case to move forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lawsuit filed by 11 South Philadelphia residents aiming to stop renovation work at FDR Park <\/a>will move forward, after a judge on Friday overruled the city\u2019s argument that the plaintiffs waited too long to take legal action.\n<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper will next consider the residents\u2019 request for an order to halt renovation work at the park, as the first basketball courts and artificial turf athletic field get under construction.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe judge saw through all the city\u2019s efforts to block a serious look at this case,\u201d said Rich Garella, who lives about a mile away from the park and is the lead petitioner in the lawsuit. Garella provided WHYY with a copy of the judge\u2019s ruling. \u201cHopefully now the people get a chance to see what they\u2019re doing down there in the park.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The popular park is undergoing a $250 million transformation<\/a> led by the nonprofit Fairmount Park Conservancy<\/a>, with plans for a dozen new artificial turf athletic fields, six new baseball fields, tennis and basketball courts, a new welcome center, new nature trails and wetlands.\n <\/p>\n

The Conservancy and Philadelphia Department of Parks & Recreation say the changes are necessary to provide sorely needed high-quality athletic fields, solve chronic flooding problems and prepare the park for a wetter future.\u00a0<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Construction is underway on the basketball courts, a fitness area, a bike and walking path, and a multipurpose sports field with stormwater infrastructure, Cari Feiler Bender, a spokesperson for the Conservancy, said.\n<\/p>\n

She said the Conservancy is seeking state permits to build a new wetland, plant trees and create a pollinator meadow.\n<\/p>\n

The Anna C. Verna playground<\/a>, gateway plaza<\/a> and a 33-acre tidal wetland are already complete. Renovations to the Welcome Center<\/a> are finished, but the building is not yet open to the public.\n<\/p>\n

The South Philly residents who filed the suit take issue with the turf fields<\/a>, which they argue will be toxic<\/a>, and the removal of trees to make way for the fields and other features. The Conservancy has promised to buy PFAS-free turf, which it argues will reduce maintenance needs and increase playing time on fields, and to replace the clear-cut trees with new trees and vegetation.\n<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia International Airport cut down roughly 58 acres of trees and vegetation in the Southwest corner of the park<\/a> in 2022 to make way for the tidal wetland. Then in 2024, the Conservancy cut down 48 large \u201cheritage\u201d trees in a former golf course area on the park\u2019s west side<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The complaint filed by the residents\u2019 lawyer, Sam Stretton<\/a>, argues that the plan will \u201cradically change and undermine the purpose of FDR Park\u201d by replacing natural vegetation with artificial turf fields and, in some cases, requiring paid permits to play on the new fields. Stretton argues the city should have sought approval for these changes from Orphans\u2019 Court and City Council.\n<\/p>\n

The city counters that, after the renovations are done, FDR Park will remain a public park, with the same mix of active and passive recreation characteristic of the park\u2019s original, early 20th- century design. City lawyers say use of the playing fields will be governed by the same permitting rules as in other city parks.\n<\/p>\n

In her order Friday, which came after three days of hearings earlier in the week, Woods-Skipper granted the Conservancy\u2019s request to be dropped as defendants from the lawsuit. The Conservancy argued it should not be subject to the residents\u2019 claims because it does not have the power to sell or lease the park.\n<\/p>\n

Parks & Recreation spokesperson Ra\u2019Chelle Rogers, on behalf of the city and Conservancy,\u00a0 declined to comment on the judge\u2019s order, citing the ongoing litigation.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lawsuit filed by 11 South Philadelphia residents aiming to stop renovation work at FDR Park will move…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":571843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,42754,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-571842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-fdr-park","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116026890271033715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}