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Newsletter

Newsletter Winter / Spring 2022 April 10, 2022 Robert J. Shusterman, Esq. President
 

RPI has been busy in the last four months dealing with critical environmental issues created by Chestnut Hill College’s actions at the Sugarloaf property that affect the entire Chestnut Hill community.

 

In November 2021, RPI engaged Councilwoman Bass on the problem that the college has refused to communicate in a timely manner with the community about building projects on the site that affect the entire community. This began when the college sent a letter to immediate neighbors that arrived on 5 November 2021 with work to begin three days later on 8 November. Because the college had actually applied for their building permit in early November 2020, any opportunity to comment or, if necessary, to appeal had long since elapsed. The proposed work included actions that the college had agreed not to undertake in the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s last round of negotiations with the college in 2011.

 

As part of the current project, the college announced that it would clear a 30’ wide swath along Germantown Avenue where they would build a path. The Chestnut Hill Community Association had specifically asked the college not to build it because of the impact on the environment, because of the loss of privacy to houses across the street and because of the danger that it presented to students late at night. The college had agreed to not build the path in 2011 – but in 2022, they are building it now, anyway.

 

The College, in an onsite meeting led by Councilwoman Bass’s staff member Charles Richardson, announced that it would move the path back a few feet further from the Germantown Avenue edge – but did this without consulting with the community. The additional clearance removed additional trees and resolved none of the problems of the path.

 

When asked to carefully remove a number of dead trees immediately along Germantown Avenue that threatened power lines, the college agreed to have an arborist representing the community meet with their arborist to determine the best course of action. The community arborist pointed out that the proposal to open large areas in the forest canopy ran the risk of allowing seeds of various vines to run wild, and eventually kill the remaining trees. Instead of following the recommendations of their arborist and our arborist, the college caused to be cut many of the trees that should not have been removed and left a brutal mess of downed trees and sawed-off trunks as the new gateway upon entering Chestnut Hill.

 

The college has continued to operate in a similar manner with their approach to clearing the hillside for their proposed new entrance at Hillcrest Avenue. Again, the residential community was not notified either of their intent to use blasting to clear the route or the specific locations of such work. Fortunately, the community found out by chance when a homeowner received a notice from an outside contractor asking for permission to video the interior of their home to document conditions prior to the blasting – presumably to protect the college from any claims rather than to protect the community.

 

RPI members with experience in dealing with historic structures realized that many of the buildings and structures in the immediate vicinity were not built with modern hard Portland cement- based mortars and thus were at greater risk in the event of vibration caused by blasting. RPI members engaged the Chestnut Hill Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission who requested a conference call on the community’s behalf. Notably, again the college refused to reach out to the community and went so far as to claim that there was nothing historic in the area. In fact the entire Wissahickon Valley is a National Natural Landmark for its scenic and cultural importance while the portion of Sugarloaf along the downstream left side of the creek to the Germantown Avenue Bridge is part of the Fairmount Park National Register Historic District and all of Chestnut Hill with the exception of Chestnut Hill Village is listed as a National Register Historic District with Sugarloaf singled out as a “significant” property for its architecture, its landscape, and its history.

 

RPI and community organizations finally caused the college to agree to a community zoom meeting that was held on 1 February. The meeting was noteworthy due to the anxiety of the community and the failure of the college to accurately address many of the issues of concern.

 

To facilitate the discussion about the blasting, RPI engaged Doug Blazey, an attorney with Elliot Greenleaf who in the past headed the litigation arm of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. His negotiations together with documentation provided by community architectural and cultural historians, architects and other professionals caused the Pa. DEP to modify their permit for the blasting to require much lower levels of blasting that materially protected gas lines and gas vaults along Germantown Avenue and houses opposite the college property on Bells Mill Road and in the area along Germantown Avenue from Bells Mill to Marstan Lane.

 

RPI and the college have been in negotiations to reduce the force of blasts and the duration of the process. At present, there are several permits being circulated by the college, making it difficult to assess which permit is proposed. Until this is cleared up, RPI cannot sign off on the college permit proposal.

 

On March 24, 2022, in response to communications from the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, the Chestnut Hill Local published an important article “State Commission seeks answers on Sugarloaf campus construction.” A letter by an RPI member for the March 31, 2022 issue of the Chestnut Hill Local noted the ongoing damage to the site caused by the largely publicly-funded work on the new Sugarloaf roadway. It raised the extent of archaeological damage that has occurred to date and the danger to major historic sites including a possible Civil War fort that was to be built atop Sugarloaf to protect both the Germantown Avenue and Bells Mill Road bridges during General Lee’s invasion into Pennsylvania in late June, early July of 1863.


The college has recently retained an archaeological firm to do an analysis of the site. A review finds that it is significantly lacking in research that raises questions about the depth and soundness of the research and the validity of its conclusions. The archaeologist concludes that whatever archaeological sites may have existed, they were obliterated by the site demolition. Again, this is unacceptable given the extent of public funding that has paid for this project.

Responsible Preservation, Inc. -

135 South 19th Street, Suite 200 Philadelphia, PA 19103

215.988.9522

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