Here’s a short video clip of a deer causually walking along Spargue St at 12:58 AM early on Dec.3rd.
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Category Archives: Mt Airy – Philadelphia
Philadelphia’s and German Township’s Boundaries in 1681
Two historic maps to take a look at today. Have you seen Thomas Holme’s 1681 map of modern day SE Pennnsylvania?
Thomas Holme (link) began his Map of the Improved Part of the Province of Pennsylvania in 1681. You can view and/or download this surprisingly detailed map from the Library of Congress at this link and at the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Nework (link).
For casual historical observers this 342-year-old map offers several surprises when you take a close look at it.
Philadelphia County included modern day Montogomery County as well as parts of Berkes County. Who knew? Montgomery County was created in 1784 out of land originally part of Philadelphia County (link).
Our area, outlined in blue, was called German Township in 1681. It was later called Germantown and even later it was subdivided into Germantown Borough and Germantown Township. Finally, in 1854 Germantown Borough and Germantown Township were consolidated into the City of Philadelphia as part of the City – County Consolidation.
While no roads are shown, a single land owner is identified and the Wissahickon and Wingohocking Creeks are clearly visible on this map.
This 2nd map may be informative for those not familiar with Philadelphia’s City – County Consoldiation in 1854 (Link). 
Using Philadelphia’s Detailed City Atlases to Research Development in the Upper Northwest
Would you like to see how the Upper Northwest or any other part of Philadelphia looked in the 1860s, 1890s, 1910s or some other pre-1930 time period? If yes, then you may be very interested in the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network’s interactive historic map site. (Link)
What can you do on the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory site? As an example, let’s look at Smedley’s 1862 Atlas for Philadelphia find out what Chestnut Hill’s map looked like in 1862? This screen shot shows the Index for Smedley’s Atlas.
Posted in General, Historic Germantown Township, Pa., Mt Airy - Philadelphia, Zoning
Tagged Chestnut Hill, Mt Airy
E Mt Pleasant Ave & Sprague St Flooding – July 24, 2020
For the 2nd Friday in July, there was flooding in the historic Wingohocking Creek Watershed, this time at E Mt Pleasant Ave and Sprague St. The previous July 2020 flood occured at Belfield and Church on July 10th (link).
Here is a short video that shows the flooding between the SEPTA bridge and Devon St.
This flooding was caused by the blocked stormwater inlet shown in this picture.
The July 11th Belfield and Church flooding (link), on the other hand, was caused by too much stormwater runoff overwhelming the sewers in that area.
The July 24 rainfall for Philadelphia is shown in this map which shows that our area got 1.5 – 2 inches and parts of Germantown got 2.5 – 3 inches.
As our global climate warms, we are seeing more intense rain storms. The July 10 and July 24 storms are an example of what we can expect. Please let me know if you see historic Wingohocking Watershed flooded intersections, railroad underpasses of other flooding so that we can log and document them to make sure that the City is aware and taking steps to both clear our inlets and increase our combined sewer capacity to reduce future flooding.
If you live near on of PWD’s 24 flood prone intersections (link) please be sure to get homeowners – renters insurance.
Posted in Climate Change, Flood Risk, General, Mt Airy - Philadelphia, TTF Watershed, Wingohocking
Tagged Wingohocking
Germantown – E Mt Airy Flood Prone Intersections
The Philadelphia Water Department has released an executive summary (link) of their multi-year study of stormwater flooding in Germantown – E Mt Airy. Their findings provide a wake-up call on flash flooding risks in this highly developed part of Northwest Philadelphia.
The combined sewers that the City built in the late 1800s and early 1900s to enclose the Historic Wingohocking Creek are simply too small for today’s stormwater runoff, causing sewer backups in nearly 2,800 homes and local flooding in the 24 intersections highlighted in this map.
PWD estimates flood annual flood damages of $7.1 millions to buildings and $1.6 million to vehicles.
PWD conducted detailed investigations into 2 storm relief options: 1) stormwater storage, and 2) tunnel relief. Both options are shown in the Executive Summary, however they are difficult to read. The map below reproduces the Water Department’s Storage Option.
Do you live in a flash flood prone area in Germantown – E Mt airy? If you do, your 1st priority should be to obtain flood insurance. Your 2nd step should be to ask your local elected officials, PWD, and your local community groups what steps they are taking to inform the public about our flash flooding problems and steps to reduce the risk.
E Mt Airy – Germantown Flash Flooding & Rezoning
Northwest Philadelphia’s Wingohocking Sewershed (maps below) is in a serious catch-22 situation because the historic Wingohocking Creek was enclosed into the City’s combined sewers many years ago. Key points:
- Numerous areas in the Wingohocking are prone to both surface flash flooding and sewer backups from stormwater.
- There are no designated 50-100 year flood plains because the historic Wingohocking Creek was enclosed in a sewer and FEMA does not consider sewer overflows in flood plain designations.
- Wingohocking Sewershed homeowners are not eligible for FEMA supported flood insurance even though they may live in flood prone areas.
- The City has allowed impervious cover in the Wingohocking Sewershed greater than the City’s combined sewers can handle during some flash flooding conditions.
- Downstream flooding in the City’s combined sewers is caused by upstream stormwater flows greater than the capacity of the downstream combined sewers.
- Upstream Wingohocking impervious cover contributes to downstream flooding.
The City has a dual role in the E Mt Airy – Germantown flooding situation:
- Manage impervious cover to limit stormwater flows to available downstream capacity
- Provide adequate combined sewer capacity to protect life and property.
In the Wissahickon Watershed, the City has a Watershed Overlay District that restricts impervious cover to 10 – 45% based on land category. There is no comparable Wingohocking Sewershed Overlay district. Properties along Germantown Ave between Cresheim Road and Allen Lane have an impervious cover limit while properties from Allen Lane to Washington Lane in the Wingohocking Sewershed have no impervious cover limit.
Wingohocking flooding in September, 2011 caused the drowning death of a young woman who was trapped in her car in 6-feet of flood water near Belfield and Haines( video here). After initial modeling efforts by Water Department and US Army Corp of Engineers, the Water Department issued a Request for Proposals in the fall in 2015, hired a highly regarded engineering firm and received their draft report in the fall of 2018. We are awaiting the release of this critical report.
The City Planning Commission reports that Germantown Avenue is experiencing “rapid redevelopment today”. This argues for immediate zoning controls of impervious cover in the Wingohocking Sewershed, including properties along Germantown Ave.
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission will be holding a Germantown Avenue Rezoning meeting on March 27th. Please contact EMAN, Mt Airy USA, Mt Airy BID and the Planning Commission to ask that the Philadelphia Water Department attend the March 27th meeting and provide information on the Germantown Storm Flood Relief Capital Improvement Plan and address the potential impacts of rezoning Germantown Ave., a new Wingohocking Sewershed Overlay District or other steps they recommend to reduce today’s Wingohocking flooding situation.
We must begin taking steps to protect life and property in the Wingohocking Sewershed.
Posted in General, Mt Airy - Philadelphia, TTF Watershed, Wingohocking, Zoning
Tagged flooding, stormwater, Wingohocking
318 E Durham Street Zoning Variance Request – Trying to Shoe-Horn 8 Apartments Into Small 50 by 80 foot Single Family House Lot
E Durham Street is a quiet residential street in East Mt Airy that includes single family houses and apartments next to SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill East Rail Lines’ Sedgwick Station.
The 93 unit Sedgwick Station Apartments complex has been in the neighborhood since the 1950s and occupies most of the block bounded by E Mt Pleasant Ave, Ardleigh, Sprague and E Durham Streets, except for 2 residential properties: 318 E Durham and 7131 Sprague Streets.
318 E Durham Street Vicinity
Here’s a blow up of the 318 E Durham Street single family house that the owners of Sedgwick Station Apartments, Galman Group, purchased in 2010 and started renting it out in 2013.
318 E Durham Street House – Purchased by Galman Group in 2010, started renting in 2013.
The 318 E Durham Street Lot is just 55 feet by 80 feet. Galman Group, in their 8/7/18 L&I Zoning/Use Registration Application (link) requested to:
- Demolish the existing single family house
- Construct an 8 unit apartment building with sales and management office space of for Galman Group’s 6 Mt Airy apartment complexes.
- Install a stationary sign above on the North wall of the proposed building.
318 E Durham Street lot is zoned RSA-3, so L&I refused Galman Group’s request on 8/20/18 (link). L&I found 5 refusal items not in compliance with the Philadelphia zoning code:
L&I Refusal Notice for 318 E Durham Street – 8/20/18
Galman Group promptly submitted an appeal to the ZBA refusal (link) on 8/23/18. Near neighbors were notified of Galman’s ZBA appeal by letter addressed to Current Resident on 9/20/18 (link)
Fitting 8 Apartments and Office in 50 ft by 80 ft Lot
Galman Group is requesting to construct 8 apartment units in a 50 ft by 80 ft lot. They hope to apply RM-2 zoning to their RSA-3 zoned lot.
Zoning in 318 E Durham Street Vicinity
Galman Group wants to demolish the existing single family and construct a new building that extends to the property lines on 3 sides. Here’s a comparison of the existing house and Galman Group’s planned new building:
Galman Groups wants to squeeze 8 apartments into a small 50-by 80 foot lot, ignoring the RSA3 zoning and the residential nature of E Durham Street.
E Durham Street Neighbors are concerned, upset and mobilized. We have:
- Organized into a multi-block neighborhood group ready to take action
- Gathered over 70 signatures to our petition
- Attended EMAN’s RCO meeting on October 2nd in force. Since Galman Group could not answer neighbors zoning variance questions because they did not have an attorney attend the meeting, EMAN requested a continuance of the RCO meeting until November 20th when Galman is expected to discuss the zoning issues with neighbors.
- We will continue our fight to Say No To 318 E Durham Street Demolition
Posted in Mt Airy - Philadelphia, Zoning
Tagged Galman Group, Phila Zoning, Sedgwick Station Apartments, ZBA
Video of Mt Airy Cat and Fox Meeting
What happens when a cat meets a fox?
Here is a video of a recent night time meeting between a Mt Airy cat and fox.
Posted in Mt Airy - Philadelphia
Devon Village Wall Graffiti and Hole: Feb 12, 2012
A new batch of graffiti tags have appeared on the Devon Village Wall in the past few days, adding to previous Sedgwick Station area tags awaiting SEPTA removal and the 8 foot hole in the Devon Village Wall awaiting SEPTA and Philadelphia L&I safety inspection survey results.
Here is a photo of 2 tags that showed up on Sunday morning, February 12, 2012.
Posted in Mt Airy - Philadelphia