Temple seeks new boathouse on Schuylkill

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 Mayor Nutter signed in April 2011. The law requires that an institution provide an equivalent amount of alternative green space if they are 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 repair other park facilities, said Andrew McGinley, of Temple's office of government affairs. The new boathouse could cost $8 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. While not opposed to a Temple boathouse, Bornfriend said there should be "no net loss of park land."

Currently, Temple's 100 rowers are using tents, said Ray Betzner, a Temple spokesman. "When the weather's bad and the wind picks up, sometimes those tents get blown into the water," Betzner said Tuesday. "That's not great for the students or for the city."

Public comments may also be emailed to parksandreccommiss@phila.gov.