INFORMATION SHEET
Why "The Schuylkill Marshes: A Natural Urban Gateway"
Is a Nationally Recognized Last Chance Landscape
What are the Schuylkill Marshes?
The Schuylkill Marshes are publicly owned lands adjacent
to the Philadelphia International Airport. This surprising
landscape includes environmentally sensitive water-treatment
facilities that carefully coexist with a functional wetland
system: the Mingo Creek, aeration lagoons, and lush plant
life.
What is the threat?
The threat is the invasive erection of eight double-sided
billboard structures, nine stories high. With a total of 16
signs, each the size of a tennis court, this intrusion will
permanently and negatively interfere with
- the scenic vistas of downtown Philadelphia, so
important for tourism
- the diverse animal and plant life found in the
marshes
- the potential for educational and recreational
facilities at the site
Who is making the threat?
The proposed signs violate more than 38 provisions of the
city's 1991 billboard-control ordinance. Philadelphia's
Zoning Board of Adjustment has granted a variance to
Keystone Outdoor Advertising that overides these provisions.
But the threat can be eliminated if Mayor John Street and
other city leaders refuse to lease this public land.
What would erection of the billboard structures
do?
- Uglify the last visually unpolluted stretch of
Interstate 95 between the Philadelphia International Airport
and Center City
- Ruin the panoramic vistas from the battlements of
Historic Fort Mifflin, a 49-acre National Historic Landmark,
scheduled to be linked by shuttle boat to other attractions
on the Schuylkill River
- Obstruct scenic views of the Philadelphia skyline from
five tourist and residence hotels, whose guests will see an
unwelcoming array of billboards outside their windows
- Necessitate the construction of hard-surfaced, service
roads through the marshes, disturbing the habitats of ducks,
swans, turtles, ospreys, and red foxes
- Defeat ongoing efforts of government agencies such as
the Philadelphia Water Department, the Environmental
Protection Agency, and the United States Fish and Wildlife
Services to maintain ecological balance at this 340-acre
site
- Intrude on the Schuylkill River Heritage Trail and the
East Coast Greenway Trail that will provide bicycling and
walking opportunities for generations of Americans
- Break the City's commitment to residents of the nearby Eastwick neighborhood, who were promised that construction
of the water-treatment facilities would be tied to upgraded
commercial investment, recreational development, and
aesthetic enhancement
- Send a message that zoning laws about the visual
environment in Philadelphia are not enforced and that public
and private investments in Philadelphia are not protected
