Sedgwick Station Neighbors contacted Philadelphia’s Parks & Recreation Department (link) in early May to request help in adding trees to the Sedgwick Station Neighborhood.
City Parks & Recreation took our request seriously and, after discussions with SEPTA and site visits, developed a plan to plant 25 street trees along the streets around Sedgwick Station this fall. As the property owner, SEPTA has agreed to work cooperatively with Parks & Recreation to plant the trees in front of their property. This Sedgwick Station work will be a first of hopefully more City – SEPTA partnerships to add trees around other SEPTA property in the City.
The street trees will be planted between the sidewalk and the curb on 4 city blocks in front of SEPTA’s Station property:
- E Mt Pleasant near Inbound Stairs – 2
- 7100 block Devon Street from E Mt Pleasant Ave to Station driveway - 5
- Sprague Street from E Mt Pleasant Ave to Durham Street – 13
- Sprague Street from E Durham Street to E Mt Airy ave Bridge – 5
7000 Block Sprague St, looking toward E Durham Street outbound stairs. Notice white line in curb, this is marker for tree location. There will be 13 trees planted between E Mt Pleasant Ave & E Durham St
Parks & Recreation will plant a mix of 8 tree types:
- Autumn Flame Red Maple – 6
- Katsura – 4
- Lacebark Elm- 2
- Rea Oak – 2
- Green Mountain Sugar Maple – 4
- Zelkova – 2
- Yellowood – 3
- Thornless Honey Locust – 2
The actual selection may vary depending on availability at planting time.
The planting will be done by a City contractor who will be responsible for watering for 1 year. The contractor will need to replace any of the new trees that die within a 1 year warranty period.
This is in addition to SEPTA’s landscaping plan which will add 23 trees within the Station grounds (link).
SEPTA's Landscaping Plan for Sedgwick Station - May, 2011
The addition of 25 City street trees and 23 SEPTA Station grounds trees will add a total of 48 new trees in and around Sedgwick Station. This will certainly help to beautify the Sedgwick Station Neighborhood for residents, visitors and commuters.
Mill Run Creek is a small tributary of the Tookany Creek in the Melrose Park area of Cheltenham Township that is badly polluted with trash from upstream litter that washes into the Creek during rain storms.
