Walt Kalenski stares across the brush and creek at the fence lined with black plastic. Only the creek, the fence and a few hundred feet separate his home from Philadelphia International Airport.“All this will be under water if I get three days of rain,” Kalenksi says as he stands outside his house. He still remembers, when water came up to his house’s rafters and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Josh Lippert is Philadelphia’s former floodplains manager. For nearly five years, he was responsible for regulating the city’s flood-prone areas. Patrick McCarthy, president of the Tinicum Township Board of Commissioners, explained that even though the airport is owned and operated by the City of Philadelphia, it has tried to expand further into Tinicum in the past – but the township has held its ground.On the one hand, the airport expansion could mean big benefits – especially in the form of tax revenue for schools – for the town of fewer than 4,000 people. But on the other hand, noise and traffic and flood risks remain major concerns.
The airport declined NBC10’s request for an interview. So did the city’s Office of Sustainability, which works to address climate change.