Friends of Mellon Park Educational Meeting
The Friends of Mellon Park hosted an educational meeting at The Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media on October 29th, focussing on issues related to the renovation and expansion of the Phipps Garden Center. Specific topics included the potential impact of green building infrastructure on a small historic public space filled with old trees.
Notes from the meeting
FRIENDS OF MELLON PARK EDUCATIONAL MEETING
October 29, 2019
7 pm - 8 30 pm
Pittsburgh Center for Arts + Media
Welcome from the Friends of Mellon Park: Elizabeth Seamans
Remarks as prepared and delivered by Elizabeth Seamans
Good Evening and welcome.
On behalf of the Friends of Mellon Park, I am delighted to welcome you to what promises to be a lively evening for us all to think and learn about many subjects that impact our park and our understanding of it.
Your presence here is a testimony to Mellon Park and its importance to all of us.
I am Elizabeth Seamans.
My husband, Joe and I have been deeply attached to Mellon Park since we moved to Pittsburgh almost 50 years ago, all the more so since we helped to restore the Walled Garden here in memory of our daughter, Annie.
Many, if not most, of you have your own stories of why Mellon Park is meaningful to you.
We have been delighted – though, frankly, not surprised -- at the breadth and depth of commitment to Mellon Park this community has demonstrated in recent months.
One expression of that commitment is Your enthusiasm for a “Friends of Mellon Park” organization. It is long over due. Mellon Park spans both sides of Fifth Avenue. And though it is in need of many kinds of maintenance and repair, it is indisputably the green and cultural heart of this community. We need this park. And it needs us.
On this side of Fifth Avenue, I should add, the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media which has occupied this building in one form or another since 1945 is in the midst of challenging lease negotiations with the City that are, apparently, extremely delicate and extremely complicated. The future of the Marshall building in which we meet is uncertain. This is a subject far beyond the purview of this meeting but it is information that we believe you would want to know.
There is a lot in play here in Mellon Park.
The Friends of Mellon Park is just getting started. But our purpose is to support and advocate for all of Mellon Park on behalf of the community that cherishes it.
We are not the only ones who care about Mellon Park by any means. Not by along shot.
Serious shout outs are due to Mayor Peduto and his staff, Mike Gable and his team at the DPW, Erika Strassberger and her staff, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Point Breeze Organization, the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, the Shadyside Action Coalition. The Herb Society, the Garden Clubs who have reached out to us. Not to mention our four presenters tonight.
And I’m surely leaving lots of people out.
Also to The Point Breeze North Development Corporation and the Larimer Concensus Group with whom we are beginning relationships.
We salute Phipps Conservatory and Richard Piacentini for planning to make a major investment in this community and in Mellon Park. We are well aware that you are reaching across the community at this time.
The presentations tonight are part of that ongoing conversation.
Bear with us, please, as we grow. The Friends of Mellon Park is just getting off the ground.
But we already have the names and email addresses of almost 200 people who have either attended meetings, written letters to the City and /or asked to be included. We’d love to include your name as well.
Our wonderful steering committee includes Larry Gerson, representing the merchants in the Reynolds Street area, Rhodora Noethling and Cathy Droz representing residents who live near the Park, Regina Kakadelis and Swain Uber, both on the board of the Point Breeze Organization, Abby Wilson representing many of friends of our daughter Annie; Basil Cox and Rachel Walton from Squirrel Hill, and Cindy Berger, who raised her children in Mellon Park and who is a tremendous supporter of the Walled Garden.
As for the Phipps Garden Center: we believe that Phipps, listening to feedback of all kinds as it is, will offer this community a beautiful renovated building of appropriate scale and design, with a positive impact on the environment and the historic landscape and full protections of public use and green space. And that our community will embrace it. We understand that Phipps has just posted a new sketch for their building on their website and that the footprint shown is, once again, reduced.
And to follow events throughout the East End –including Mellon Park – by subscribing to PRINT – the best $25 you will spend this year.
I’m going to turn this meeting over to our moderator, Cindy Berger, who will introduce our speakers, but who first, as a lawyer, wants you to understand a little bit about the legal arrangements that govern private buildings and new construction on public park lands in our City.
It’s all about the details.
Introduction to the Educational Meeting: Cindy Berger
Remarks as prepared and delivered by Cindy Berger
Thanks for coming out tonight.
The goal of this meeting is to provide information from professionals so that all of us will be better informed about the complex subject of building in an historic public park. We are not here to criticize any of the Phipps Conservatory plans. I will note that Phipps posted a sketch on its website last week that shows that the footprint for the Garden Center has been reduced from the size that it was at the meeting at Mellon Park in August but it appears to be larger than the buildings that are there today.
It is just a sketch and it’s hard to evaluate but we look forward to seeing more detailed plans.
Green buildings involve lots of construction in park areas besides the footprint of the building and there is a great deal of historic landscape designed by the best landscape architects of the era and historic structures that need to be considered.
Many questions remain. There are three main questions – What is the appropriate type of Green building for Mellon Park? What is an appropriate size and height for the building? And, what are the appropriate uses for the building?
Informed answers to these questions need to provide for protection of the designed landscape, horticulture and structures in the Park.
First, some facts. The buildings in the Park are currently leased by Phipps and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Media from the City of Pittsburgh for $1.00 per year.
Neither Phipps nor the PCA maintain any part of the Park grounds. The City of Pittsburgh bears responsibility for Park maintenance though the Walled Garden receives additional support from the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, foundations and donor contributions. As the law stands, because the City of Pittsburgh owns Mellon Park, construction in the Park does not pass through Zoning or the Planning Commission.
The arrangement will be governed by a new lease to be entered into by the City and Phipps that must be approved by the Director of Public Works who is represented by a City Solicitor and will negotiate the lease. The only commission to make a ruling on new construction in the Park is the Arts Commission.
Therefore, public input and meetings are crucial and the better informed we are, the better we will be at participating in the public process.
Our four wonderful speakers will give brief presentations on subjects that are important right now in relation to Mellon Park: landscape architecture, architecture, historic preservation, and horticulture. Each of them will speak for 10 minutes or less.
We will ask the speakers to answer your questions after all the presentations are done. Our goal is to get as many questions answered as possible. We cannot answer questions that you may have for Phipps or the City of Pittsburgh… [named presenters] Please email any questions to friends of Mellon Park: friendsofmellonpark@gmail.com. The address is on your agenda.
In conclusion, at the end of the meeting:
Thanks for coming and good night.
Presentations
Fred Bonci: -- Landscape architect and principal at LaQuatra/Bonci Associates http://www.laquatrabonci.com/
Topics included: historic context for Mellon Park as landscape architecture and reflection on his work to restore the Park’s Walled Garden, including the extent to which he and others hoped it would spur appropriate development elsewhere in the park. He shared images of the original park design taken from a proposed 2000 master plan for the park, referring to Mellon Park as an interconnected “series of rooms,” a design framework that is relevant to any major development there. *(not a direct transcription)
Matt Plecity, Architect, Landscape Architect and Adjunct Faculty, CMU School of Architecture https://soa.cmu.edu/matthew-plecity
Topics included: an overview of various LEED standards including but not limited to the “Living Building Challenge” (including "zero net energy" and "zero net water”) designation and what they might mean in the context of Mellon Park given its size, topography, and history. He congratulated Phipps for building its Center for Sustainable Landscapes (on its main Oakland campus) as a Living Building. This designation is extremely rare because it’s an extremely rigorous standard that requires significant resources, planning, and physical infrastructure. He indicated concern for some large, old trees near proposed water retention tanks for the Garden Center project, however he also acknowledged that his presentation was prepared using renderings presented at the August 28th Phipps Garden Center community meeting. Current sketches are available here: https://www.phipps.conservatory.org/garden-center-renovation
He also reflected more generally on the potential impact of structures of various vertical and horizonal footprints on other areas of the park, both built structures and trees. *(not a direct transcription)
Matthew Falcone, President, Preservation Pittsburgh http://www.preservationpgh.org/boardofdirectors
Topics included a general overview of the processes to establish and various protections afforded by historic designation at local and national levels, as well as a summary of Preservation Pittsburgh’s work to designate parks (as opposed to buildings, for example)
as historically significant elements of Pittsburgh’s cultural landscape. He believes that Mellon Park would be a good candidate to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the City's historic register. *(not a direct transcription)
Lindsay Totten, Horticulturalist, landscape designer, and one of the founders of the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden https://tclf.org/stewards/lindsay-bond-totten
Topics included the many risks facing mature trees, including changing weather patterns associated with climate change, disease, pressure from surface impact above root systems, and the impact of contaminants often found near construction sites. She also reviewed the reach of their root systems, which is often underestimated and depends on the slope/grade of a site and other factors, such as proximity to walls, structures or pavement. For example, the traditional notion that they only need to be protected up to the "drip line" i.e. where the farthest leaf appears on the longest branch, is not necessarily adequate.
She indicated that protecting mature trees requires extra protections rather than just basic, minimum precautions. *(not a direct transcription)
Questions and Answers
Moderated by Cindy Berger, the panelists then received questions and comments from audience members on topics including the impetus for the Garden Center Renovation, the status of PCA and Phipps’ leases with the City of Pittsburgh, and potential uses for the proposed new facility. Moderator directed questions about the Phipps project to Phipps leadership, who was in attendance, where relevant. She clarified that organizers of the meeting became aware of new renderings for the proposed project which significantly reduced the footprint of the building, and urged everyone to attend Phipps’ next community meeting at the end of November, date and time TBD by Phipps.
Close
Attendees were asked to send any additional questions or comments to friendsofmellonpark@gmail.com.
Website for Phipps Conservatory Garden Center Renovations:
https://www.phipps.conservatory.org/garden-center-renovation