By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer
After months of rhetoric from all points of view, the latest incarnation of the Woodhaven Road Project debate has boiled down to old-fashioned coalition building.
In April, opponents of a Woodhaven Road Extension formed their Tri-County Coalition. Then Somerton Civic Association president Mary Jane Hazell formed her own coalition of Northeast Philadelphia civic groups to demonstrate — and block traffic — in favor of the extension.
As those demonstrations came to a close last week, several of the city’s elected officials laid the groundwork for a coalition of their own.
According to City Councilman Brian O’Neill, five key office-holders have agreed to co-sign a letter asking the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to adopt the two-phase proposal introduced recently by a Montgomery County Planning Commission member and endorsed by U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel.
Hoeffel (D-13th dist.), O’Neill (R-10th dist.), state Sen. Mike Stack (D-5th dist.), state Rep. George Kenney (R-170th dist.) and Democratic Mayor John F. Street will join in bipartisan support of the two-phase plan. They will co-author a brief letter that will be sent to PennDOT for inclusion in the department’s final Environmental Impact Statement.
The public comment deadline on the project is July 11. The EIS will reflect all oral testimony from two public hearings held last week, as well as written submissions received by the department before the deadline.
The Times was unable to confirm Street’s intention to co-sign the letter on Monday, although a Street spokeswoman said that the City Planning Commission and Streets Department had both endorsed the latest proposal.
“I’m ready to sign off,” O’Neill said. “I believe it’s just going to be a short paragraph that lays out the position of (the five officials).”
The proposal is based on the so-called Bustleton Avenue Alternative Modified outlined by PennDOT in a Draft Environmental Impact Study released last month.
The plan includes extending the existing Woodhaven Road westward from its Evans Street terminus to Philmont Avenue. The road would be a four-lane below-grade highway between Evans Street and Bustleton Avenue, then a two-lane city street from Bustleton Avenue to Philmont Avenue.
Also under PennDOT’s plan, several other streets and intersections would be widened or extended throughout the project area. The plan calls for two residential and 28 business “relocations.” Those are properties to be bought and demolished by the state to make room for the tributary road modifications.
Hoeffel, O’Neill and the others want a two-phase approach to the plan, deferring road widenings and property acquisitions until the second phase, if necessary — depending on the success of the initial Woodhaven Road Extension and intersection improvements.
The letter will essentially say, “We approve your Bustleton Avenue Modified plan with some modifications,” O’Neill said.
“I can’t speak for Montgomery County, but it makes sense for me not to (support) any widening until we see what’s going on with real traffic (after the first phase).”
Hoeffel, who publicly pledged his individual support for the two-phase plan on June 13, said that Montgomery County planner Leo Bagley first came up with the idea. Bagley is the commission’s “chief transportation official,” the congressman said.
Since then, the plan has received negative reactions from folks on both sides of the Woodhaven debate, particularly the Tri-County Coalition, which includes residents of Lower Moreland and Bryn Athyn in Montgomery County, Southampton in Bucks County, as well as the Westwood and Timberwalk sections of Somerton in the Northeast.
Hazell, president of the Somerton Civic Association, told the Times that she refuses to back any plan that could lead to more condemned properties in the neighborhood. In the mid-1970s, the state took 110 properties, including 35 homes, in Somerton to create the still unutilized right-of-way for the Woodhaven Road Extension.
The SCA spearheaded public demonstrations along Bustleton Avenue on June 16, 19 and 20 that caused headaches for area motorists.
O’Neill has no intention of allowing more properties to be taken in Somerton. The vast majority of businesses targeted under PennDOT’s Bustleton Modified plan are along Bustleton Avenue.
“I can only speak for Philadelphia. For Bustleton Avenue, there will never be a road widening,” O’Neill said. “With intersection improvements, Bustleton Avenue will be fine.”
The letter would explicitly oppose widening Byberry Road between Bustleton and Philmont, as well as extending Northeast Avenue from Rennard Street to Byberry Road.
Last Thursday, hundreds of Woodhaven Extension opponents grilled Hoeffel during a meeting of the Tri-County coalition at Lower Moreland High School. One suburban newspaper referred to the event as “a heckling session.”
Hoeffel represented portions of Montgomery County for four years before seeing his district expanded into Philadelphia this year as part of congressional reapportionment.
If he is to be re-elected in 2004, Hoeffel will likely need strong support from the large number of Democrats in the city — that is, if he opts not to run for U.S. Senate. Last week, he told the Associated Press that he was “seriously considering” a run for senior Sen. Arlen Specter’s seat. Specter is a Philadelphia Republican.
Meanwhile, PennDOT continues to collect oral public testimony at a two-part hearing. Part One was held in the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory on Tuesday. Part Two will be at Lower Moreland High School on Thursday, June 26, from 2 to 10 p.m.
O’Neill thinks the coalition building leading up to the hearing will weigh heavily on the process.
“I think what’s been going on for the last week or two … I think it moved a mountain,” the councilman said. “There’s always going to be protesters on this. But I think we have a winner.” ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com