In a long battle over watershed rules, old maps compete against new ones

by Tommy Tucker

A group of neighbors who successfully fought against development plans for Hillcrest Avenue ten years ago now find themselves fighting again – and this time they may have to prevail against City Hall.

The issue stems from environmental concerns because the homes at 116 and 118 E. Hillcrest Avenue are so close to a tributary of the Wissahickon that flows through the Morris Arboretum property across the street and empties into the larger Wissahickon Creek. That tributary, neighbors argue, is close enough to the properties in question to trigger a city zoning clause that prohibits construction within 200 feet of the waterway and its tributaries.

“The Wissahickon Watershed Overlay District prevents diffuse pollutants – runoff from our streets and lawns – from entering rivers directly,” said Ruffian Tittmann, executive director of Friends of the Wissahickon. “There are a number of reasons why these controls are in place, but the most important is to protect Philadelphia's drinking water supply.”

It is a series of facts that helped neighbors, over a decade ago, to mount an organized resistance against a developer who wanted to build single-family homes on the property.

But now the issue is back on the table. This time, the city claims it cannot deny building permits because the Philadelphia City Planning Commission has not updated its old maps, which do not show the inflow in question.

According to Bruce Bohri, a spokesman for the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA), neither his agency nor the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) have the authority to update the 1973 Philadelphia City Planning Commission map that the L&I is required to use. Any change to that map would require a legislative process.

In other words, they say, their hands are tied.

“The building permit for 118 Hillcrest was issued by L&I 'as a matter of law' after review by the Planning Commission,” Bohri said. “The Planning Commission uses a physical map to make its decisions when reviewing permit applications in the Wissahickon Watershed Overlay. The map is based on a study conducted in 1973; however, it still provides the legal basis to meet the requirements of this section of the law. Any change to this map or its use would require a legislative process.”

A hair-raising story of bureaucracy

The story began in 2013 when Christopher Blatney sold the land to Amit Azoulay, who wanted to build single-family homes on it.

What began as a discussion about how to match the style of the building to the surrounding homes turned into a dispute over environmental protection. One of the neighbors, attorney Stacy Mogul, hired a surveying firm to identify the inflow and map out the 200-foot-wide buffer zone deep inside the properties in question.

Mogul and a group of neighbors participated in that investigation and appealed to the ZBA, leading to a lengthy legal battle that dragged on into 2018. Ultimately, the ZBA sided with the neighbors on one of the two properties, but said the neighbors had missed a deadline to appeal on the other property.

So the city used the old map to determine permit status for one property and the newer survey for the other. This, of course, meant that one property was deemed “developable” and the other was not.

At the time, it didn't matter because nothing was being built. When the litigation ended, Mogul approached Azoulay and suggested he sue Blatney because Mogul believed Blatney may have failed to disclose the property's proximity to the tributary. While Azoulay's subsequent actions are unclear, Blatney bought the property back from Azoulay in 2019.

Three years later, in 2022, L&I issued Blatney a building permit for a single-family home at 118 E. Hillcrest. The proposed site would be a single-family home with a three-car garage directly behind the watershed development section designated on the 1973 map.

Mogul, a lawyer, had already moved out of the neighborhood by then. But a new group of neighbors led by Laura Dingfield tried to fight back against the development – and organized an appeal to the ZBA.

Here too, the ZBA stated that a deadline for its objection had passed.

“I feel like the planning department hasn't done its job at all,” said Yaron Simler, another neighbor. “Did anyone in the planning department bother to look at the map and say, 'Oh, right?' I don't think so.”

Now the problem appears to have returned. Dingfield first noticed it last year when she saw for sale signs on both properties. Alarmed, she and a group of neighbors checked – and found that 118 E. Hillcrest was again listed on the MLS as a buildable property – for $545,900.

Eleven years later, L&I used the same outdated map to determine the construction status of 118 Hillcrest—and once again, neighbors are opposed. They've organized a petition that has so far garnered 138 signatures.

“To protect Wissahickon, the community would very much like to see a legislative solution to this bizarre ordinance based on an outdated and inaccurate map,” Dingfield said.

“We're not against development (in general), I have three young children who would love to have neighbors,” she continued. “We also like living in this area because of the natural beauty of Wissahickon, and I think we're more interested in how we can keep it that way.”

Although the Chestnut Hill Conservancy was not previously informed of the petition, a spokesperson said in a statement that they “recognized the critical importance of this site in the Wissahickon River basin, directly across from the Morris Arboretum and impacting Swan Pond.”