Temple looks to build new boathouse on Schuylkill

BY VALERIE RUSS, Daily News Staff Writer russv@phillynews.com, 215-854-5987

Posted: January 17, 2013

SHOULD TEMPLE University be allowed to build a boathouse on the Schuylkill without providing substitute land under the city's Open Lands Protection law?

The city Parks and Recreation Commission wants to hear from residents about the issue at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lloyd Hall, 1 Boathouse Row, off Kelly Drive.

Temple plans a 23,000-square-foot boathouse on Fairmount Park land under the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Temple's rowing crew had used the East Park Canoe House until 2008, when it was condemned as unsafe.

The proposal is the first test of the Open Lands Protection law that Mayor Nutter signed in April 2011. The law requires an institution to provide an equivalent amount of alternative green space if it is granted the use of publicly owned land.

Instead, Temple offered the city $1.5 million to help restore Canoe House - which may cost $5 million - and to repair other park facilities, said Andrew McGinley, of Temple's office of government affairs. The new boathouse could cost $8 million to $12 million, he said.

Open-space advocates have called the plan "unacceptable."

"The unambiguous language in the park-land ordinance should be followed," said Lauren Bornfriend, executive director of the Philadelphia Parks Alliance. She said that there should be "no net loss of park land."

Currently, Temple's rowers are using tents as a makeshift facility, according to Ray Betzner, Temple spokesman.

On Twitter: @ValerieRussDN