Crowdog
02-28-2002, 08:35 PM
Posted on Thu, Feb. 28, 2002
Parents, environmentalists clash over tract
A Haddon Twp. group stood by a plan to build athletic fields. Critics urged total preservation.
By Kristen A. Graham
Inquirer Suburban Staff
HADDON TOWNSHIP - Soccer moms and dads value trees as much as anybody else.
But the parents of the township athletic association took their gloves off last night and shot back at environmentalists attempting to block a plan to raze a third of the controversial MacArthur tract to make way for four fields.
Haddon Township recently purchased the 25 wooded acres using county and state money, and officials have presented a preliminary plan to level about a third of the tract and build four athletic fields on the parcel between Cuthbert Boulevard and Crystal Lake Avenue.
Last night, Haddon Township Athletic Association president Chuck Albino presented the report of a township open-space task force to more than 100 residents who sat, stood and spilled into the hallways of Stoy Elementary School.
Participation in athletics is way up, field space is grossly inadequate, and about six acres of the MacArthur tract is necessary to address athletes' needs, the report concluded.
The number of athletes playing sports in Haddon Township has quadrupled since the early 1980s, the task force found, jumping from about 500 to nearly 2,100.
But the number of fields has stayed roughly the same in that period - two playing surfaces were added, and one was lost to the construction of a middle school. Fields are in poor condition from overuse, and some teams have no place to play.
While identifying the need was crucial, said Albino - who is chairman of the task force - equally important was dispelling the "fantasies" spread by the Citizens for Responsible Open Space Planning, an umbrella group of environmental advocates.
That group brought in a Rhode Island arborist who called the MacArthur tract "one of the major old-growth forests on the East Coast" and urged its total preservation at all costs.
Albino does not agree.
"This is not Sherwood Forest," he told the group, who applauded him. "And we're not cutting down all the trees."
Environmentalists acknowledge the need for fields but contend that alternate sites are viable. The open-space committee, however, concluded that most have problems that render them unusable.
Proposed for the MacArthur tract last night were two soccer fields, one football field and one field hockey field, on-site parking, a bathroom, and a concession stand facility.
Also in the task force's report was a recommendation to build a softball field complex either in West Collingswood Heights or on Lees Lane in Westmont.
Albino dismissed the environmentalists as a fringe group.
"A number of our parents consider themselves people who care about the environment, and they don't share these people's views," he said.
Keeping all 25 acres of the MacArthur tract intact was simply not practical, the task force concluded.
"It's a big enough piece of land that you can satisfy all the interests of the town," Albino said. "And we never even once considered clear-cutting the whole parcel as an option."
Kevin Griese, whose children play sports in Haddon Township leagues, agrees with the committee's report. He said that space is now so tight that younger players cannot practice at all if it rains.
"Some teams can only practice once a week, and we're playing teams that practice three or four nights a week," Griese said. "We need these fields."
Albino urged people to actively take up the fight against environmentalists. Parents and athletes juggled clipboards on their laps, writing letters to township, county and state officials as he spoke.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/2762337.htm
Parents, environmentalists clash over tract
A Haddon Twp. group stood by a plan to build athletic fields. Critics urged total preservation.
By Kristen A. Graham
Inquirer Suburban Staff
HADDON TOWNSHIP - Soccer moms and dads value trees as much as anybody else.
But the parents of the township athletic association took their gloves off last night and shot back at environmentalists attempting to block a plan to raze a third of the controversial MacArthur tract to make way for four fields.
Haddon Township recently purchased the 25 wooded acres using county and state money, and officials have presented a preliminary plan to level about a third of the tract and build four athletic fields on the parcel between Cuthbert Boulevard and Crystal Lake Avenue.
Last night, Haddon Township Athletic Association president Chuck Albino presented the report of a township open-space task force to more than 100 residents who sat, stood and spilled into the hallways of Stoy Elementary School.
Participation in athletics is way up, field space is grossly inadequate, and about six acres of the MacArthur tract is necessary to address athletes' needs, the report concluded.
The number of athletes playing sports in Haddon Township has quadrupled since the early 1980s, the task force found, jumping from about 500 to nearly 2,100.
But the number of fields has stayed roughly the same in that period - two playing surfaces were added, and one was lost to the construction of a middle school. Fields are in poor condition from overuse, and some teams have no place to play.
While identifying the need was crucial, said Albino - who is chairman of the task force - equally important was dispelling the "fantasies" spread by the Citizens for Responsible Open Space Planning, an umbrella group of environmental advocates.
That group brought in a Rhode Island arborist who called the MacArthur tract "one of the major old-growth forests on the East Coast" and urged its total preservation at all costs.
Albino does not agree.
"This is not Sherwood Forest," he told the group, who applauded him. "And we're not cutting down all the trees."
Environmentalists acknowledge the need for fields but contend that alternate sites are viable. The open-space committee, however, concluded that most have problems that render them unusable.
Proposed for the MacArthur tract last night were two soccer fields, one football field and one field hockey field, on-site parking, a bathroom, and a concession stand facility.
Also in the task force's report was a recommendation to build a softball field complex either in West Collingswood Heights or on Lees Lane in Westmont.
Albino dismissed the environmentalists as a fringe group.
"A number of our parents consider themselves people who care about the environment, and they don't share these people's views," he said.
Keeping all 25 acres of the MacArthur tract intact was simply not practical, the task force concluded.
"It's a big enough piece of land that you can satisfy all the interests of the town," Albino said. "And we never even once considered clear-cutting the whole parcel as an option."
Kevin Griese, whose children play sports in Haddon Township leagues, agrees with the committee's report. He said that space is now so tight that younger players cannot practice at all if it rains.
"Some teams can only practice once a week, and we're playing teams that practice three or four nights a week," Griese said. "We need these fields."
Albino urged people to actively take up the fight against environmentalists. Parents and athletes juggled clipboards on their laps, writing letters to township, county and state officials as he spoke.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/2762337.htm