Philly will study its aging libraries and rec centers following HVAC-related closures

For the first time in two decades, Philadelphia will embark on a citywide assessment of dozens of facilities, including its many aging libraries and recreation centers, to identify needed repairs and develop a plan to address them.

Officials from Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration outlined the plan to members of City Council during a budget hearing Wednesday, saying the facilities assessment would help agencies prioritize infrastructure needs.

“It’s something that was last done in 2005, so we’re at 20 years, we’re at the end of life cycle of pretty much everything in a building at this point,” said Aparna Palantino, who oversees the city’s capital program office. “That is something we have decided to do across all city facilities to be able to better program … for the projects that need to be done.”

The officials did not offer a timeline for when a report will be completed.

The plan is especially critical for the city’s library system, which over the last year temporarily closed about of its 54 branches due to problems related to aging HVAC systems, some of which are more than 50 years old. Last summer, 20 branches closed due to air-conditioning issues, and seven more shut down for part of the winter because of heating problems.

The Free Library system asked City Council this year to budget about $3.9 million in capital funding to address needed repairs. Some Council members questioned if that was enough money to address aging infrastructure across the system.

“One of the things we should be advocating for is a robust capital campaign to fix up our actual library system,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson, a Democrat who represents parts of South and Southwest Philadelphia, said. “The infrastructure is pretty old.”

The money requested this year is largely for emergency repairs and interim costs until the facilities assessment is conducted, said Kelly Richards, president and director of the library system.

Richards said the impending study will allow for the Free Library to budget for and prioritize “all of the issues we are confronted with that we’re seeing with our buildings.”

“The assessment is going to give us the true data that we need to be able to present to you what our overall needs are for the whole system,” Richards said, “and it’s something we [haven’t] had before.”

The idea is that the facilities assessment will guide the city’s strategy for maintaining its public spaces. It comes amid a yearslong effort known as Rebuild, which was started under former Mayor Jim Kenney to make upgrades to the city’s parks, libraries, and recreation centers.

The program was pitched as a $400 million effort, partly funded by a tax on sweetened beverages, to upgrade dozens of sites across the city. But since its inception, the program has been mired in delays, including due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

» READ MORE: Mayor Kenney’s plan to rebuild rec centers and libraries was a legacy-making project beset by delays

All told, improvements have been made at 36 sites and 10 more are slated for construction, according to the city’s most recent progress report on Rebuild, which was published in January.

City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, a Democrat who represents parts of West Philadelphia, told agency leaders that Rebuild “has been amazing,” but that it was addressing what she considered to be deferred maintenance that came from decades of neglect.

She said she was concerned the administration’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year did not include enough money to cover “everyday” expenses for repairs and upgrades.

“I’m really worried about our future beyond Rebuild,” Gauthier said. “What are we doing to ensure that we don’t get back to the place we were where there was a need for a $400 million capital program because, essentially, we just did not take care of maintenance?”

Commissioner Susan Slawson, of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, said the department is working toward more regular “asset management” by implementing routine deep cleaning. The agency is also hiring more inspectors to conduct facility checks.

But she acknowledged there has been “a neglect in the system for decades.”

“This isn’t a couple years of not managing our facilities,” Slawson said. “There’s been years of not addressing regular, everyday challenges.”