PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It’s now the law in Philadelphia – a set of guidelines on transferring any city park land into private hands.

The now-defunct Fairmount Park Commission back in 2005 agreed to hand over some parkland to the Fox Chase Cancer Center for its expansion plans.

That prompted lawsuits from park advocates. Now that the park system has been folded into the Recreation Department, park supporters feared the same sort of thing could happen. So regulations have been created to spell out precisely how any park land could be sold or donated.

“The fear of losing our parkland, selling off our parkland: we have to continue to be very careful in how we put protections in place to ensure that does not happen,” said Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown.

Under the plan, the new Commission of Parks and Recreation would need City Council approval for any divestiture of land in Fairmount Park.

Reported by Mike Dunn, KYW Newsradio