PUBLICATIONS
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May 2011 GreenSpace Connect Digest
The GreenSpace
Connect Digest is a publication of the GreenSpace
Alliance that highlights success stories about preserving and connecting
open space throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Many of the projects the Digest reviews have been funded by Growing Greener
grants, which have protected working farms, cleaned up rivers and streams,
created and improved parks and trails, and conserved special places.
Funding for Growing Greener II will be exhausted this year. To
contribute or suggest future stories for GreenSpace
Connect, contact
us.
List of Stories
Pennsylvania Leads Nation in Rescuing Farmland
Cynwyd Heritage Trail Design
to Receive Award
Ground Broken for Model Sustainable Park in
Philadelphia
Bucks Considers Change in Open space Program
46-Acre Delaware County “Gem” Preserved
Pennsylvania Leads Nation in Rescuing
Farmland
 In mid-May any self-respecting chef and locavore’s mind turns to the coming of beautiful,
plump, sweet and delicious fresh red strawberries! The quality of these
berries depends on a number of variables, demanding just the right
combination of temperature, sun, and rain. To many the best rite of spring is going
to a “Pick Your Own” strawberry farm, like Sugartown
Strawberry in Malvern, Chester
County.
Born in 1901, Mrs. Fletcher saw the value of the family farm keep rising.
In 1993, she and her family realized they had estate problems. Unless
they did something, the farm would be lost when she died. A combination of
inheritance taxes and developing the liquidity to give shares to heirs
would require the family to sell the farm that had done so well since 1896.
“We knew we wanted to protect the farm,” said Bob Lange,
who’s known today as “Farmer Bob” at Sugartown
Strawberries. In 1993, they sold the development rights on 58 acres
through a farmland preservation program administered by the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture. “We took $10,000 an acre – the most
ever paid at the time but that was only a quarter of what the land was
worth for development,” he said. Mrs. Fletcher died in 1997 at
age 96, and by then she had gifted away most of the money to the children
and grandchildren who were her heirs. It allowed her grandson, Bob, to keep
the farm.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture statistics show that to date more
than 442,000 acres of farmland have been protected through the easement
purchase program, which makes Pennsylvania
the leader in the nation in farmland preservation.
Mrs. Fletcher of Sugartown Strawberries also
donated development rights on 46 acres of land in 1963 to a conservation
organization called Natural Lands Trust, which Lange said has flourished in
southeast Pennsylvania ever since. At the time, it was the
organization’s first property gift ever. That kept property taxes
down on land that was relentlessly rising in value. The family thus clearly said it was a
farm family that wanted to stay that way. They were not in business as land
speculators waiting for a good time to sell and develop. Lange said the
farm still has plenty of value for farm use, located where it is and doing
what it does.
Bob grows strawberries, asparagus, sweet corn, sunflowers, pumpkins and
several other vegetables. A combination of u-pick and a farm market, plus
school tours each Fall makes it a good business. “I sell what I
grow,” he said. “We’re well located and have an unlimited
supply of customers. The farm generates 75 percent of their income in
October.” Lange’s farm contains 218 acres in all, some of
it woodland and some pasture for about 20 horses he boards. It makes a
scenic place for visitors.
For more information
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Cynwyd
Heritage Trail Design Receives Award
 The
Cynwyd Heritage received a Merit Award from the Pennsylvania and
Delaware Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).
The trail design will be entered in the ASLA national competition, which
recognizes the best in landscape architecture from around the globe.
“This award is a credit to our outstanding consultants from SALT
Design as well as the inspiring leadership of Christopher Leswing, our Assistant Director of Building and
Planning,” noted Board President Elizabeth Rogan. “Our Board of
Commissioners is to be commended for supporting this award-winning design
and most of all; this recognition is a credit to the many citizens who have
invested their time, creativity, money and much more to cultivate an
award-winning design for the Trail.”
ASLA was founded in 1899, as the national
professional association for landscape architects, representing more than
17,000 members in 48 professional chapters and 68 student chapters.
Landscape architecture is a comprehensive discipline of land analysis,
planning, design, management, preservation, and rehabilitation. ASLA
promotes the landscape architecture profession and advances the practice
through advocacy, education, communication, and fellowship. Members of the
Society use their “ASLA” suffix after their names to denote
membership and their commitment to the highest ethical standards of the
profession. The award was presented to Christopher Leswing
at the ASLA regional conference in April.
The trail is closed during construction. Beginning on March 1, 2011,
work began on the two-mile separated trail that will feature both a 12-foot
wide paved trail and a 10-foot wide soft surface trail. Construction is
being done by Mid Atlantic Site Contractors, and is expected to be
completed in mid-to-late September. The contractors expect to begin construction
at the ends of the trail (Cynwyd Station to Belmont Avenue
and Rock Hill Road
to the Bridge) and then to work towards the middle of the trail.
More information is available by visiting www.asla.org.
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Ground Broken for Model
Sustainable Park in Philadelphia
 Philadelphia
officials held the groundbreaking for Philadelphia’s
newest open space in early April - Hawthorne Park.
The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources provided some
assistance for Hawthorne Park to be selected as one of 150 national pilot
projects to test out a new program for greening landscapes—the
Sustainable SITES Initiative. SITES is a national
collaboration that has produced the first voluntary set of performance
benchmarks to encourage the sustainable design, construction and
maintenance of landscapes. "The construction of Hawthorne
Park highlights Philadelphia Parks
& Recreation’s commitment to add 500 acres of publicly accessible
open space to Philadelphia
by 2015 as part of the Green Works plan," said Mayor Nutter.
The $2.2 million project is being made possible in part through the
funding of $1.1 million from DCNR, as well as other government and
foundation partners. Hawthorne’s
design was chosen for the SITES initiative because it “gives
back” to nature through native plantings and shade trees, reduced use
of water, open pavers and low-energy lights. “Just because a park is green does
not mean that it is sustainable—Philadelphia
parks need to improve environmental quality,” said Brenda Barrett,
director of DCNR’s Bureau of Recreation and
Conservation. “And, Hawthorne
demonstrates that an affordable, sustainably designed public park can exist
in a dense urban neighborhood.” The park, designed by a consultant
team led by Lager Raabe Skafte
Landscape Architects, will provide a gathering and
communal spot including shade trees, paths and benches, a lawn area
that will serve as an amphitheater and innovative storm water management
practices. The park is located at 12th and Catherine Streets. Construction
is anticipated to be completed by spring 2012.
For more information; download the Hawthorne Park
fact sheet from the DCNR website.
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Bucks Considers Change in
Open Space Program
 Bucks County may change a rule governing
its $26 million municipal open space program which will allow townships and
boroughs to apply for additional funding for pedestrian trail
improvements. Kristine Kern, the Open Space Coordinator for Bucks County
explains that she is still in the process of reviewing the trail options
with the County
Commissioners.
Currently, towns may apply for grants to fund improvement projects like
native tree plantings, sports fields and pedestrian trails. There is one
restriction, however. The project must be on land a municipality has
acquired outright.
Kern said that several towns, including Chalfont and Doylestown Township,
have asked for money to build recreational trails on easements established
on private property. "You have an easement for a trail and
you've got to find funding to do the trail," Kern said. So far
Chalfont Borough has been approved for a $97,687 Municipal Open Space Program
Improvement Grant to assist in the construction of a pedestrian trail that
would link two municipal parks: Blue Jay (active recreation) and Twin
Streams (passive recreation). The parks are separated by the north
branch of the Neshaminy Creek. Chalfont
Borough is proposing to build an ADA
accessible trail and pedestrian bridge to link the two sites.
Kern told the county's open space review board she checked with the state's
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and learned that it is
willing to fund such projects as long as the easement is held by a
municipality or nonprofit organization. She added establishing
walking trails that link parks together is a good use for open space money
and added that sometimes the county provides grants to help the towns
obtain those easements in the first place.
"I'm very much in favor of this," said review board member
Marilyn Jacobson, also a Chalfont Borough councilwoman. "They're
taking the time to get the easements. Once they have the easements, it
would be nice if we can fund trails on them."
If the review board likes the idea, it can recommend the change to the
county commissioners, who would get the final say. "I don't know if
it's appropriate to change the policy or if it should be considered on a
case-by-case basis," she said.
Board members asked Kern to put something in writing for them to look at in
the near future. The improvement project funding is a component of
the municipal open space program that the county added in 2007 to
supplement more traditional uses for open space money - like buying land
and conservation easements - and give townships and boroughs more
opportunities to obtain grants.
For
More Information
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46-Acre Delaware County “Gem”
Preserved
 Mineral
Hill is a succession of wooded valleys perched above Ridley Creek just west
of Media, PA. This past autumn, the 46-acre
property became Delaware County’s newest park, thanks to
collaboration among the County, Middletown
Township, and Natural
Lands Trust.
The land is famous among rock collectors for its wealth of stone
specimens and crystals, including sunstone, beryl, and amethyst. In
addition to its geological significance, Mineral Hill is part of a 100-acre
open space buffer that protects Ridley Creek and the drinking water intake
just west of Media.
Natural Lands Trust helped to raise state and private funding that,
along with Middletown
Township’s
contribution, made the County’s purchase possible. “In
challenging economic times, it’s not easy to address conservation and
preservation issues,” said Christine Fizzano
Cannon, Delaware County Council vice chair. “But through our
partnership with Natural Lands Trust and other organizations, we are
preserving this landmark without expending county tax dollars.”
“Mineral Hill is literally and figuratively a gem,” offers
Peter Williamson, vice president of conservation services for Natural Lands
Trust. “Because of its cultural, environmental, and recreational
value, we felt very strongly that this land needed to be protected forever.
Thanks to the leadership of our many partners—especially Delaware County—the land will be a
wonderful resource to the county’s residents for generations to
come.”
Key partners: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources, Delaware County, Middletown Township, Elwyn,
Inc., and Virginia Cretella Mars Foundation.
Mineral
Hill Press Release
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