Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's eba hearing
with me is our board member charlotte gaston president mr chairman or board member tinetta
graham president mr chairman or board member michael johns michael's there i know he's there
And our board member, Taya Nguyen. Thank you. And our board member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website. By participating, you consent to be recorded.
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please refrain from talking eating or drinking during hearings verbal and physical aggression
will not be tolerated restrooms are across from the elevators a water fountain is just down
outside the room to the right when speaking on the record you must speak directly into the
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please follow the directions given over the public address system or by the staff the main exit is
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remain here so we can account for you. Let's look at our schedule for today. Number one, MI 2023 -006 -201 -2940
East Tioga Street. Richard DeMarco is the attorney. Leonard Reuter is also part of this case, the
attorney for the city in Illinois. Mr. DeMarco.
I am present, Mr. Chair. Mr. DeMarco, could you please state your name and spell for this?
Oh, okay. All right.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Can you hear me? I can. Could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer? Richard DeMarco. Last name is spelled D -E -M -A -R -C -O. Do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. And Mr. Reuter,
could you please identify yourself? Thank you. May I please the board? Leonard F. Reuter, R -E -U -T -E -R,
Senior Attorney, City of Philadelphia. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. DeMarco, do you want to start?
Sure. I believe there's an agreement. I was asked to do a letter of withdrawal. I was just confirming at the very end of the day yesterday that, and I'll just ask Len to confirm on the record that the other, so there's two cases. We had filed an original appeal from a violation.
uh the city and the board asked me to file a second appeal on a second violation notice
i just want to be clear that we uh both notices will be complied uh one is already complied and
that this appeal is thus moot mr chairman uh we have permits now for the use so um the only thing
that would concern me the only reason i didn't file a withdrawal up until now is because there's
still an open case on Atlas, but Len has already assured me that that's going to be taken care of
as well, so we can mark this appeal moot and withdrawn. Yes, the city can confirm that the
violations in question, there were two separate appeals from two separate violations that were
basically the same thing. They're using multiple lots and didn't have the use permit. The lots
have been consolidated. The use permit was issued. One of the violations was marked, complied a while
ago uh the other violation which is essentially identical uh hadn't been marked complied that was
just an oversight so that's both both of those are marked complied will be marked complied and
the city agrees that the these this appeal is moot i don't think the other appeal had been scheduled
yet but we'll let the other appeal had already been withdrawn right exactly yeah oh okay yeah so
Based on that, Mr. Chairman, we can withdraw this appeal as moot.
Hillary, do you still need a letter for me to send a letter?
Nope, this is fine. You put it on the record. Thank you.
That's fine. I'll make sure that happens.
We don't have to vote on this.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody. Have a good day.
So number two, MI 2025, 001 -805 -7801 State Road.
The Holmesburg Civic Association has a letter of non -opposition.
Council Member Driscoll supports the letter of non -opposition by the Holmesburg Civic Association.
Council Member Driscoll supports the letter of non -opposition by the Holmesburg Civic Association.
Attorney is Mary Costello.
Hi. Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Right.
Microphone working? Oh.
Here it is.
Turned it on.
Mary Costello on behalf of the City of Philadelphia.
C -O -S -T -E -L -L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And you represent the city of Philadelphia, am I correct?
Please start your presentation.
So I'd like to share my screen.
Okay, great.
so good morning members of the board and chairman bergman um we're here today to ask for a variance
and special exception for the property located at 7801 state road this is part of the mayor's
riverview wellness village project and it's an expansion of that project and you can see in
city's exhibit c1 this is a picture a general overview of the site and the new building that
we would be planning to build is the portion of the picture that's in color so essentially we
already have a campus there for the Riverview Wellness Village and what we would like to do
is expand three of the non -conforming uses and those would be for single room residents personal
care home and the hospital use we would like to introduce a new use of multi -family and then we
We would also, in the course of this project, be removing five heritage trees, which requires
a special exception.
And I have a few people here with me today that would be able to testify to the project
and explain in a little more detail about what we're having to do, and I can introduce
them now, or would you rather I introduce them as we go?
Do you have any presentation you want to make before they come?
Okay, why don't we do your presentation, then we'll take each person as they're needed
in your presentation.
Thank you.
I'd like to turn your attention to page three,
which is a sort of a site plan for the Riverview Wellness Village.
And you can see from this site map the location of the Riverview Wellness Village.
You can see in white are the existing buildings.
And then this small area right here is where the new building would be.
and essentially what this is showing is where the parcel is the underlying zoning for this
is i3 which is heavy industrial and you can see that on the left portion of the site
and then there's the homesburg prison the correctional facility as well as penny pack park
over here so this is a unique parcel and that the history of the site for the last hundred years it
has not been used for heavy industrial use. It was originally used as an almshouse in the early
1900s, which is a charitable institution to address issues. People who have issues with
seniors, they're indigent, or might have some sort of infirmity. And from there, it really progressed
to several different uses over the years. At one point, it was for indigent elderly. At another
point it was for emergency housing, temporary housing, and now it's primarily what I have
Isabel McDevitt here will speak more about, the programming that's taking place today.
So essentially this site has never been used as an industrial use, so we're not trying
to change the character of what this site has always been used for.
The parcel is irregular in the sense that it is very close.
It's very close to the river.
It's right next to the park.
So we did have to factor in things like the floodplain in our design,
and that limited where exactly the building could be and what we could do,
while at the same time maximizing the size of the building
so that we could help as many people as possible
and expand the bets offered at the site.
In terms of the variants
and why this variant should be granted,
it's the irregularity of the parcel.
It's the fact that it's located
in such a very specific small area
that it's always had a use
that was different from heavy industrial.
That it doesn't alter the essential character
that it doesn't alter the essential character of the neighborhood
of the neighborhood
because it's sort of contained
because it's sort of continuing with the uses
that have always taken place in this parcel.
It doesn't impair in any way the uses of the adjacent parcels
with the industrial site here and the park here.
And it's not detrimental to public welfare.
It also could not be cured by a dimensional variance.
and at this time the city has no use in this area for it to be in any sort of industrial use but the
city does have a need for is for these uses at the Riverview Wellness Village to be expanded
and this has been a priority of Mayor Cheryl Parker and her administration as they work to
come up with solutions to serious issues that we have in our community. So what I would like to do
is turn to
Isabel McDevitt, who's the Director
of Community Wellness and Recovery Centers
so that she can talk a little bit about
what's going on at the Riverview
Wellness Village now
and how we would like to expand
that use.
I think what we could do is put all your witnesses
on and when you're done with all your witnesses
then we'll open it up to the board for questions.
I don't want to do it each time.
Why don't you bring your first witness on
we'll go through all your witnesses
then I'll open it up to the board.
Okay, great. Thank you. Please proceed.
Yeah. Sure.
Good morning. Good morning.
Hi. Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Okay. Isabel McDevitt, I -S -A -B -E -L -M -C -D -E -V -I -T -T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed, counsel.
so so isabel can you so can you explain to the board a little bit about what has been going on
at the riverview wellness village just specifically about the uses that we're seeking to expand so
that would be the single room residence personal care home and the hospital uses that are taking
place there today absolutely um well thank you for this opportunity um as mary stated this is a
major priority of Mayor Parker and the Parker administration to address the twin challenges of
the opioid crisis and homelessness in the city of Philadelphia. We opened Riverview
Wellness Village in January as a recovery -based housing for individuals in early recovery who
had already accepted help and had gone through inpatient residential substance use disorder
treatment. Everyone who now lives at Riverview is interested in longer term programming, which we
are offering on site to help them enter long term recovery. So we offer clinical services,
group services. We also are working to bring every resource we can related to the social
determinants of health on the campus. So we have primary care, we have access to education and
workforce development, we have fitness, we have social supports. And really, the goal is for
people to live at Riverview for up to a year, and then re enter the community in permanent housing
with stability in their recovery and access to income in order to thrive. As of today, we have
234 beds licensed at Riverview, as you can see in the presentation, we have six cottages,
And ultimately, we will have capacity for 336 beds.
The way it works right now is we have two recovery house providers, Marikey and Gadenzia, providing the 24 -7 care.
Recovery house means that people have already, as I said, gone through inpatient treatment or the equivalent and remain connected to outpatient services.
Um, we, um, have over a hundred people living there today, um, and anticipate being full by
the end of the summer. Um, in terms of our relationship right now with the community is
we have a very solid, um, uh, community advisory council that has been working with us since
December around programming and around how we are, um, providing our services in a way that really,
has the least amount of impact on the neighborhood and in fact positive impact because we're working
with a lot of local businesses and really creating a very positive dynamic. Would you like me to talk
about the future uses? Absolutely. So the reason we are looking to expand is there are certain
populations that we are not yet able to serve with our existing footprint. As Mary said, we've
We've renovated a campus that has been in place for a long time. So while the renovation has been tremendous through the capital team, it's still the architecture doesn't allow for us to serve some folks that have higher needs as far as accessibility, couples and special populations with regard to needs around privacy.
renovated a, you know, a campus that, you know, has been
We also are looking to create more of a continuum on the campus to allow for more private spaces and then ultimately access to permanent housing, because our goal with the wellness ecosystem is to build out capacity for folks who are experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder to not only get into early recovery and long -term recovery, but to really fully reenter the community in permanent housing.
So we are looking to do that with this new building, bring in more beds that can serve populations we're not able to serve now as far as accessibility, but then also have the flexibility to be able to provide some permanent housing.
Um, the current primary care we have on site is, um, basically located in one of our cottages.
We were able to convert that space into a clinic.
It is not ideal for the level of medical care we, we want to have access to.
Again, this is not, this is not, um, any kind of, you know, true, um, it's a hospital use,
but it's more of a medical clinic, primary care clinic.
But still, we want to be able to design that in the most state -of -the -art way with the new building and be able to provide a larger space as well.
Our primary care provider is Black Doctors Consortium as of, you know, with the current space.
And just to clarify, you said that you would want to be expanding the uses.
one of the new uses, the new use that we're asking for is multifamily, but that would simply be for
individuals looking for more long -term housing needs. That would include a kitchenette. It would
not be for families or children. Correct. Yes. So again, the intention of the entire campus is to
work with unaccompanied adults who have experienced homelessness and substance use disorder who are
asking for help and a pathway back into the community. Obviously, we know that there's an
affordable housing crisis. So in order to create that bridge, we think this building provides a
really important piece of the puzzle to that. And the benefit of providing that on the campus
is that we have economies of scale. We're building a community of positivity and recovery.
the, you know, proximity to the park and the river is truly provides that wellness feel that
we think is so important and really can't be understated, just that environment really plays
a role in helping people who are seeking recovery. And, you know, essentially, this is a way to,
again, be as efficient as possible with our resources. I should also mention that, you know,
all of the services on site are complemented by an incredible facilities plan, security. You'll
hear more about that, but also cafeteria and a meeting house space that has classrooms and
common areas. And we're bringing in all sorts of programming very much like you would on a college
campus so that the nucleus of the site for both the existing programs as well as the new will
really be an enhancement to the overall, you know, campus, but also really involving the community
and some of our really great city and nonprofit services around, again, access to employment,
workforce development, education, and so forth. And Isabel, can you just talk a little bit about
how someone winds up at the Wellness Village? Yeah. So as of today, and we do not anticipate
this changing. If someone in any part of the city is experiencing homelessness and substance use
disorder, as works with either an outreach team that might come up on them on the street, or
they're already connected to a case manager through a clinic or a nonprofit partner, walks into a CRC,
it really can happen in a number of ways and says, I need help. And I want to take that first step
to recovery. We work with the, you know, addiction, substance use disorder treatment
network. There's about 1700 beds across the city of Philadelphia. The way someone would get in is
they'd go through an assessment process. It's called the ASAM, where they'd be assessed as
you need this level of care, and then would be able to access a bed in a 30, 60 or 90 day program.
um in a 30 60 or 90 day program um from there after someone has stabilized um and gotten the
care that they need um to to enter sort of early recovery we know in the city of philadelphia up
until we um opened riverview there's been a deficit around what this next step recovery housing for
people to actually have a longer period of time where they can be supported while they
stabilize and integrate back into the community.
The recovery house level of care is a DDAP.
So that's the state licensing agency.
It's a licensed level of care.
And, you know, essentially the way you get into recovery housing is when you're ending
your stay in inpatient treatment, you would be assessed that that's the right place for
you. And then there's a referral process that is overseen by the Department of Behavioral Health
and Intellectual Disabilities to identify that person. There's an interview process with the
onsite provider. And then it is a completely voluntary program. So the resident themselves
makes the ultimate decision about whether they want to be at Riverview. And then when they're
there, they work with the case managers and staff to get all of the access to the benefits of the
primary care and all the services. Um, but you know, they're, they're constantly working with
the team to make sure it's the right fit. Um, and you know, again, this is not a walk -up facility
and, you know, it's very much part of the continuum, um, and bringing, you know, much
needed beds to, um, to really help folks, um, you know, stabilize in their recovery.
Thank you, Isabel. And just to reiterate what Isabel was talking about, she was talking about
the expansion of the single room residence, personal care, home, and hospital uses that
are all taking place at the site today, and then the new use of multifamily that would
allow for people to have more long -term, stable
living arrangements while they're at the site. And then I would like to
call my next witness. Thank you. So like we said, we'll go through all your witnesses
then we'll have a better picture of the whole project and then we'll ask the questions, okay?
Absolutely. So the next witness would be the architect, Stephen Bartlett.
you can talk about the physical site itself.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Stephen Bartlett.
That's B -A -R -T -L -E -T -T.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Stephen, can you please go through the slide deck and identify for the board members
the project and the physical space and how it complements the uses at this site.
I'd be delighted. Thank you. So we'll talk about just a couple of issues that directly
relate to zoning. We start with an image of the project. The part on the left -hand side,
the lower one -story part, is part of the existing complex. The new building is three or five
stories, as shown. It'll be brick. It'll correspond to the architecture on the campus
that has a mid -century style, and it'll be set in a park -like setting, very continuing with the
spirit of what was initially built on the site in the 50s and 60s, which established a really nice
quality of space. So let's go forward. Yeah. We talked about the location. We can go forward.
So this just shows the new part of the site that is part of the zoning application,
labeled phase three as it relates to the existing and specifies that there are 336 beds existing.
We're proposing to add 304 additional, you know, and it's an expansion of greater than 10%.
Hence, we need to come to this hearing for the non -conforming use and then the new use of
multifamily as Mary and Isabel spoke earlier. We can go to the next slide, which just
further illustrates that the existing complex is what we're referring to as step one. It's more of
an assisted living type arrangement where we have four people in rooms and there are shared
bathrooms. We've renovated the existing complex. That's how it was set up to work. But as it was
spoken about earlier, that doesn't necessarily meet the needs of couples or people with greater
needs for privacy or people that don't fit in a binary man woman sort of uh situation with shared
bathrooms right so uh our step two is that we would provide what we would we're referring to
as semi -assisted living there'd be two -person rooms they would have individual bathrooms they
would be shared but they would but you would it'd be one person using at a time so it'd be
more private than the than the large uh joint bathrooms in the existing and then step three is
than the large joint bathrooms in the existing. And then step three is what triggers the sort of
multifamily portion, which is, again, a single room with two beds in it, but it would have a
private bathroom with that room and also the private kitchenette that'd be part of that complex.
And we just, I would reiterate that it's really the same population that is being served. There's
no differentiation in population, but we're offering them different levels of privacy
in hopes of transitioning them back to living independently outside of the complex,
which is the goal of the project. So go forward. Here we can see the portion of the site that is
the subject of this application. We have a new building. It has self -contained loading and
servicing that we've oriented so that it faces back towards the prison complex, which is sort of
the less desirable view on the site. We have the parking necessary for this parcel associated on
this parcel. We have some outdoor recreation area. We also have all the stormwater management
necessary for the building on the parcel. There won't be any sort of draining or shedding of
stormwater onto the adjacent park. And the part of the building where the part of the parcel where
we've located the building is both the part that is not developed today, thus we don't have to
tear down existing buildings in order to build this larger building, but it's also the part of
the parcel that's at a higher elevation. As we come down towards the river, the elevation drops
a little bit, and we do get into the floodplain on the site, but not on the portion of the site
where we've located the building. We wanted to keep the building out of the floodplain.
so um we can go forward um you know we've been very attentive to safety and security you know
we have a robust uh night lighting plan for i'm showing just the new portion of the site but that
continues across the rest of the site because clearly the success of this endeavor
is based on creating a safe environment where where people can recover and heal
So we're thinking about, you know, lighting such that we've both lit the perimeter, and it is a fenced perimeter, and there is one single point of entry to the site that is a guardhouse.
Let's not say that it's a secured site.
The residents have the ability to come and go, but we do want to contain the site and not have it be open to random visitors at any hour.
um uh and you know there'll be lighting for outdoor recreational activities and and if we
go forward one more we just have a couple of views we've taken a lot of care to sort of try
to simulate what are we trying to create in terms of um an environment that's that's pleasantly lit
as a safe parkland around these buildings uh in the evening and there is a lot of attention
attention spent on the landscape because access to nature is such a vital part of healing and
and it's one of the potentials of this site with a great 19 acre site that looks out over the river
we have a chance to to really make it a place of recovery and respite so i i think that you
want to take that sure um and just one further question in addition to the lighting did you
also factor in security cameras to your design or yes there will be a program of security cameras
that will cover the the full extents of the exterior of the buildings and there'll be some
in the in the interior as well okay thank you um and then our next slide discusses the tree
assessment and heritage tree removal i have an additional witness it's karen scaft and she's
our landscape architect and she'll just be adopting my testimony today so you can see from
this slide that this is this is a view of the entire site itself it has 35 heritage trees on
the site overall but in the one parcel where we would be building the new building there's 11
heritage trees and of those 11 heritage trees five would need to be removed because of the location
of the building and that we did take a lot of care in considering where the location of the
building could be with the floodplain while also integrating it into the buildings that already
exist because they are connected so you're able to get from one cottage to the new to the new
building and this did require the removal of five heritage trees as part of that removal we've
created a sort of a robust tree replacement proposal. There was 158 trees that were required
to be replaced and we will be moving forward with 167. We've listed all of the trees here that we
will be planting at the site and a lot of care was taken to consider the location of the site
by the river and what trees would fit with that area.
by the river and what trees would fit with
that area of landscape as well as the overall mission
of healing at the site itself.
Karen, have you heard the testimony that I've given
here today? Will we swear her in? Oh, yes, Karen, we have to swear you in.
Come on up.
Good morning.
Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer. Yes, my name is Karen Skafti, spelled K -A -R -E -N -S -K -A -F -T -E. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Counsel? Karen, have you heard the testimony
that I've given here today about the landscape and tree plan for the site? Yes. Yes. And do you
adopt that testimony as your own? Yes. And is there anything additional you'd like to add about
the landscape plans that were presented today? I think a lot's been
said, so no. Okay, thank you. Any other witnesses?
No, I have no further witnesses at this time.
I do have additional witnesses available to answer any questions that the board may have.
So, I guess the first question is, does the use of
the cottages change once this new building is built? It does not.
Okay. Questions from the board?
I have a question. A couple questions.
So is there any fencing around any of the parameters, or is this open?
So there is fencing around that higher perimeter.
And you can see, because it does abut Pennypack Park.
How high is the fence?
Yeah, the fence is six feet high.
And I think we can see it.
so you can sort of you can sort of see it back here behind the tree planting but there is a
fence that goes around the entire perimeter and the only point of access is a guard station
that's right out here right here at the main entrance and then you would drive through here
you could park here but that is how you would have to get into the site itself okay and what
type of fence is it it's chain it's chain link okay all right and the other question is um you
said that um uh i guess the question would be about family so would would families be allowed
to visit you know on the site so isabel do you do you mind coming
isabel mcdebbett yes thank you okay all right um so one of the most important things about helping
people reintegrate in the community is reuniting with family as appropriate. So we, we fully intend
and already with the current programming, um, intend to have not only, you know, visitors of
many kinds for all the programming I mentioned, but truly intentional family reunification as
appropriate. So one of the things about the site is there are a number of opportunities in public
spaces or not public but public to the facility um you know outdoor indoor where we can have um
any visitor that's approved to come on site and either have supervised or non -supervised visits
all within the safe confines of the property which would include children um as appropriate
and my last question is um is there uh i guess for the impact of the surrounding area is there
potential job numbers that are anticipated from this new regrowth um we have i can't give you
specific numbers but um you know part of the goal for everyone on campus is to have access to income
when you know when they're getting ready to exit into permanent housing um as part of that we are
leveraging resources from philadelphia works um and other you know providers of workforce development
to come on site um we are also working with our community advisory council around you know what
local businesses might have hiring needs and then with the different city departments whether that's
through the taking care of business program or um the same day work and pay program to um help folks
you know get into the community um and then the last thing i'll say is you know we are right now
we have an open RFP for food services, where we are intentionally looking to bring in a food
service vendor that not only will provide food, but also job training and connections to employers
in the surrounding community. Thank you. I have a number of questions. This is
almost doubling the number of people you can accommodate on the site. What data did you use
to support this need case?
I'm so glad you asked that
I'm so glad you asked that because I realized I wasn't as explicit as possible in my previous
because I realized I wasn't as explicit as possible.
testimony.
So when I mentioned the continuum of people going into inpatient treatment, what tends
to happen is there's 1 ,700 beds of inpatient treatment and only up until we opened Riverview,
only 500 beds of recovery house.
So what that means is for anyone who's experiencing homelessness at the point of entry into recovery or doesn't have a safe place to go home to that's conducive to their recovery, like they might be going back to a family that still has use in the household, et cetera, those folks would basically end up back on the street or in a non -safe place, which will lead to recidivism back into substance use disorder.
We have expanded the recovery house capacity by 66 % with our existing footprint. That's not nearly enough to meet the needs of the population. We also, you know, are working collaboratively with the Office of Homeless Services and the Department of Behavioral Health to identify the needs for beds, you know, and different types of beds in this space of recovery -based housing to properly meet the demand.
And then what's the average tenure that you're expecting of the patients that would be in
the recovery housing?
Up to a year.
Up to a year.
And again, it's all very case by case.
The providers that we're working with have a lot of experience in this space around gauging
when someone might be ready to exit.
But again, you know, we want people to really take advantage of the time to heal and have
access to all of the resources on site so that, you know, it doesn't lead to any kind of relapse
when they leave. And then I guess, having worked with homeless populations before, oftentimes with
rapid rehousing, a year tends to not be enough time for people to get situated. What's the plan
for individuals that might need more than a year? And how does that affect sort of the
beds on site? Well, the year is a guideline and you're absolutely right. And a lot of rapid
rehousing vouchers don't come with the kinds of services that we're providing, right? So we've got
every social determinant of health covered on campus, but with the lens of it's, you know,
we want to help people, you know, gain the skills that they need and the resources that they need
so they can move on. The new building actually addresses that same question. Like there will be
people who probably will need to stay there longer and having the ability to have that next phase
of more private spaces, even, you know, essentially studio units on the campus will allow for maybe
folks who need a longer stay to be able to still be part of the supported environment that we're
creating. And then I want to shift a little bit to parking. So there's a lot of people that will
be on this site. And I guess currently the land that the new building will be on, what is it
currently being used for it's vacant vacant okay yes and and i will say you know with the population
we have now um the majority of our residents do not have vehicles and are not but it's really
staff and and other folks but other people i was just i mean it seems like for the number of staff
you would need to operate a facility of this size that while you've met parking minimums that the
parking seems small for the size of the site i mean looking at aerials with the prison next door
it seems like there's like way less maybe almost a third is less parking on this site than some of
the surrounding uses um and so just wanting to better understand how are most patients
getting to the site um and visitors and are visitors going to have a separate parking lot
i'll defer on the the parking to the architects and and and to mary but what i will say is that
we through our recovery house providers are providing you know transportation to and from
you know hubs of public transportation and to appointments in the community um
you know we we're meeting the needs of the residents through you know transportation
resources um but you know as far as the the spaces i'll turn that to sure can i steven do you mind
coming back up discuss parking just state your name again please stephen bartlett please proceed
counsel um stephen can you clarify the parking on the site i think this slide probably depicts it
fast yeah we we located two parking lots associated with this site and there and there are other
parking areas on the other portion of portions of the site that will serve those areas as well
and we locate we created two primary parking lot one is one is to the top of this image that is
One is to the top of this image that is towards a service building that the city uses on the backside of the site.
towards a service building that the city
That is about 20 spaces that would largely be staff parking.
And then we have on the right hand side, we have two parking areas and also a bus drop off or a van drop off area for residents there.
There's about 30 spaces over in that area.
That would be for staff, but also for visitors, because there will be a new entry directly into the new building.
That's the parking that's been provided.
No, that I just said, I was just more so wondering, do we think that's sufficient to the need?
How many staff on site at one time?
So, Isabel, could you answer that about how many staff members of staff would be on site?
Why don't you come up?
So, keeping in mind that we have multiple uses, I can't really give you an exact number,
especially as we keep adding different uses, but it is a 24 -7 campus.
The general ratio between resident to staff member is 1 to 11 at this time, but that does not include the security staff or the facilities maintenance staff and groundskeeping.
um as far as programming during the sort of the the day um we will have additional additional
folks coming on campus um so i can't really give you a perfect number but again um you know with
the resident population um where we're trying to you know provide classroom training and things
like that i would say during the the day hours we might have an influx of you know maybe 20 more
staff for for some of that programming so it sounds like you could have anywhere from 60 to
80 staff people on on site at any given time not including visitors or vendors we could and we're
talking about so when we're talking about the site we're talking about just the riverview wellness
village but actually the address there's a couple of addresses for the site but 7999 covers the
correctional facility as well and when you look at the larger site you can kind of see it faded here
there's there's tons of parking there's like five seat tons yeah about 30 parking spaces which is
why i brought it up so there's parking and and i can i can provide more materials that illustrate
this but there's something like 400 parking spaces between the entire prison site and it's
all connected so you could get the prison site is not separated by fence because it did look like
there is a there is a fence but there's still there's still the ability to to have parking if
if we needed to um and we're also going to be providing uh and i think isabel talked about this
there's that we're providing people with the ability to use uh city transportation and
encouraging that um with stepta as well but i mean we're upstate road we've had the same issue
with multiple housing complexes that were proposed at this in this vicinity and near this prison is
that there's not a lot of septa transportation up there it's created issues in the past in fact
the mayor herself stopped a housing project that was going up there for this like one of these
reasons so I think my question is this is a big campus it's a big site I don't know if I was
coming to visit a family member that was in a recovery center I would want to walk what's
equivalent to probably a quarter of a mile from the prison and park my car at the prison and walk
over um and i think it also seems to kind of go against this idea of wellness because i think
when i think of a prison i think of a recovery center i think of two very different types of
environments and even visually they feel from the plan like two visually different environments so
um i think my my question around parking on the site and near the use that we're talking about
um it would be nice to better understand what the actual need is instead of just
meeting minimums absolutely and i also have pedro pinto here um he's from the department of
he's the project manager from uh capital programs office and he can talk more about the parking
at the site could you state your name please and spell for the start thank you uh pinto p -i -n -t -o
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please
proceed counsel. Pedro, can you please articulate for the board the additional parking options that
are available at the site? Sure. So, if you see at the top right of the picture,
if you see at the top right of the picture,
if you see at the top right of the picture, there's about 30 or 40 parking spaces around that.
there's about 30 or 40 parking spaces
around that maintenance building.
There's spaces right in front of the meeting house.
There's about 25 there.
There are spaces between above College B,
which is somewhere around 18, I think.
And then there's spaces to the left of College B,
which is about 30.
And of course, the 50 or 60 that we've testified.
So I think we're about 160 would be my guess,
total parking spaces.
And of course, you know,
Part of the reason we didn't want to just continue to increase parking is because we wanted to take advantage of what this central lawn and this exterior space also provides as part of the healing.
Other questions from the board?
Thanks, Pedro.
Okay. I guess I'm getting into the weeds a little bit, but I'm having trouble with the idea of the expansion of non -conforming use.
Okay. First, I'm not sure how the uses that you're talking about, the single room residence, the personal care home and hospital are non -conforming in an area that is zoned industrial in the first place.
so i'm not sure how we got to this being these being non -conforming uses
um but now you're talking about expanding so yeah yeah i'm sorry i'll let you finish i'm sorry
expansion the expansion piece goes into um expansion within the same facility so
as a zoning concept and this is all i'm going into um when you talk about expansion of a
non -conforming use it can't be a new or different use um it can't be an excessive expansion
and it can't be an expansion that's against the public interest right and if you're talking about
the 10 percent the 10 is not about use 10 is about um uh 10 within say the same facility and
here you're talking about an expansion into an entirely different building so i'm i i understand
what you're asking for i'm not sure if that's that that this is something where you can apply
the whole concept of expansion of the non -conforming use,
and it's really something that needs to be approved by variants.
So we are seeking variants today.
Yes, we are seeking a variance today.
So the basis for the variants that we're seeking
is the expansion of the three non -conforming uses
that we spoke about,
and then is the new use, the multifamily use.
So you're right, the underlying zoning is I -3,
but these uses existed prior to us having any zoning code
in the city of Philadelphia.
So that's what we're talking about
when we're talking about personal care home.
We're talking about single use.
Am I answering your question?
It's single room residence.
Single room residence, personal care home, hospital.
and hospital. Yes. So those uses existed since the early 1900s at that site. They were not
continually used that way, correct? It was continually used that way in one iteration
or another, all three of those uses. Yes. Even, you said that, when did this,
when did you start using it this way?
part of this property that you're using now when did you start doing that it started in the 1900s
and we started using the use that you are using now when did that start
the so the riverview wellness village is that your question when did that start
that started in january and prior to that was this property occupied and used in the ways
that we're talking about here.
Yes, it was occupied and it was used.
It was occupied by the Office of Homeless Services.
They were using and operating the property,
and that covers the single -room residence.
It was occupied by...
What time period?
For what time period?
I'm not sure.
That was before the Parker administration.
that was
I mean I'm sure
I'm not sure about that. I don't think that anyone that was running it during that time period still works for the city. So I couldn't tell you specifically how long we were using it for that. But we were also using it as, at one point, it was used as a home for the elderly and infirm, and that's the personal care home piece. And it was also being used, it had hospital uses in addition to that because of the level of care that was required.
I'm not sure about that
I don't think that anyone that was
running it during that time period
So when we submitted our application to L &I and they reviewed the application, that's what they came back with, that we were expanding these uses, and that would require the variance with the new building.
Yes, because you're expanding them into a totally different building.
Well, we're just expanding them beyond the 10%.
that 10 % applies within a building.
But you're talking about expanding a nonconforming use
into a totally different building.
Well, zoning doesn't just cover specific buildings.
It covers the parcel itself.
So that's what we're talking about.
We're talking about expanding the uses in the parcel itself.
you put what you're doing you can't you can't do it that way either um but what you're doing is
you are basically doing a new and different use in a different building
we are also doing that yes we are also doing that with the multi -family as well which is why we need
a variance for that the multi -family to need it for these other two because that building okay
is a different building and the use that you can have in that building is has to be approved as
well right so i think we are saying the same thing we are here seeking a variance today i think we
are yeah i'm just making sure that we when uh if if we were to approve this it's clear that the uses
that you're talking about as non -conforming,
which I don't think of as non -conforming in that sense,
you're asking for permission to do that
in this building as well.
Yes, exactly.
Yes, so we got there.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry if I made it overly confusing.
I didn't end the weeds a little bit,
but I just want to make sure that we are making sure
that we are approving what needs to be approved in here.
i guess my other comment is and i'm sure that somebody's thought about this but um
i i guess this is a pretty large site um i i don't understand why somebody didn't think about
making this a spins district the special purpose like district so that you wouldn't have to
do all of this you could the zoning could be yeah could be so that you could you could have
the different uses that you're talking about and when you start to expand anything else
it will be all part of the zoning for that facility and and if nobody thought about it
maybe somebody should and maybe there's a way that we can do that because that way you can
I'm sure that as this program goes on the needs are going to be better defined or
there may be other things that are going to be required for the residents and it would be a way
to make sure that you wouldn't have to keep coming here
and asking for permissions for things
which could be subsumed in a zoning district
that covers the uses that you really need and want.
That is true. Thank you.
I do think the community, though,
wants us to continue to involve them and come back.
So we have...
Yeah, I mean, that doesn't mean
that you can't have community involvement.
It just means that it could be done that way
it could be done say yes you know you need like a special exception which would be you just have to
it's permitted as long as the uh zoning board and uh approves then the community would have input
it would make this a lot easier but yeah just a comment any other questions from the board
i just i just have one question uh it was mentioned earlier and this is just for my own
So, say a community service or...
so say a community service or talk someone into going into the wellness
center, right? Just for lack of better,
do they go straight to the wellness center or is there another,
it's just the second step in the facility. Is there, is there like to go to
initial, I'm going to do for lack of better to, to detox right off the bat.
They go somewhere,
they go somewhere first and then come to the wellness center after just say
30 days. Yes. And so I think Isabel had touched on this and can come up and speak to it more if
needed. But yes, they would not go here initially. And I'm glad you asked that question because it
sort of goes into another point that I need to make. It would be 30 or 60 days. They would be
attending some sort of medical detox program and then they could come here. This is sort of a step
down so nobody would be going to this site immediately um because it's more of an independent
program and i don't know isabel if there's anything else you you would add that was really
my question was it going to be a detox or was it going to detox then move right into a so
so so council just while we're on that step sure um the community has requested that there be a
proviso no psychiatric hospital or medical detoxification facility yes are you comfortable
with that we are all right yes we're in agreement with that other questions from the board
questions from our attorney hillary emerson um just wanted to know that there are revised plans
mr chair six pages in this case if the board approves yes thank you sure thank you um
questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience?
Hi, Chair. We have two attendees with their hands raised.
The first attendee is David. He's been unmuted and
allowed to talk. Good morning, David.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Can you hear me? I guess so. I can. Okay. My name is David
DeLugos, D -L -U -G -O -S -Z.
right i'm uh firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes please proceed um so again i'm with the homesburg civic association we wrote the letter
of non -opposition um first i do want to say i want to thank the board for the the good questions
that they asked um you know a lot of this stuff you know comes up in our community advisory council
um you know obviously it sounds like you know you guys have a lot of experience and different
things and you know whatever could be provided to help us out in this council like we're certainly
more than willing to have it because you know the questions were certainly appreciated um i want to
start out by saying that i agree with mary that we would not be in support of a spins district
um the proviso that that you mentioned i actually reworded it slightly in our non -opposition letter
to be uh medical rehab to prohibit medical rehabilitation or any place where there could
be involuntary commitments, which is, you know, more or less the same thing as what was stated
otherwise, you know, and that, you know, a SPIN's district could, you know, is has more ability to
expand the use. So we as a community are in support of the use as stated in this presentation.
And, you know, and for like, you know, a lot of these things where it's the second step,
it's being used for reintegration and different things that are being put into this, we are in
support of you know the the proposal as as stated here however obviously the um the variance being
asked for is you know a little more expansive with medical use and residential use so you know we
wanted to make sure that it was um that what was approved in the variance was going to be specific
for the use that they were asking for here um like uh was like is on the screen here um they
came to present at I think three times overall to our civic association in addition to these CAC
meetings where we voted unanimously to not oppose with the proviso as mentioned. Also you know as
part of our non -opposition letter we attached the various agreements that were made between the
community and the council member and the city with regard to some of these things were pointed out
like the security issues like the fence that was brought up before and lighting and different
things like that that were talked about and and specifically the need to continue this this
council because uh you know if there's anything that goes on we there you know we want the state
to be responsive to you know to the different things that we're all concerned about you know
including you guys on the board it seems too which is appreciated um one thing that was mentioned
was about the parking I think you know that is a good point of conversation to have at this
I think, you know, that is a good point of conversation to have at this board, you know, obviously that these things are in flux.
this board you know obviously that
You know, I think it sounded like there's still, you know, some amount of unknown with regard to the staffing, which, you know, I think we will bring up at these community council boards, you know, like someone mentioned, and I'm not sure if Pedro mentioned it particularly about, you know, if there is parking at the prison, how would that work?
do they need clearance so that is a you know a question which we would want to follow up with as
well um and and i guess that that's it you know we want to um we definitely want to say thank you
to the city for being responsive to us given that this was kind of dropped on us at a press
conference but since that time um the city and isabel and the various people have been very
responsive to both
Combsburg and to the community
at large and to the city council
with regards to transparency
to what the proposal is here.
So that
in part
led to our non -opposition
with regards to
the trust that was built in the last
six or seven months between the city and
the community. So that concludes
what I have to say. So thank you.
David, thank you very much for your
comments and we appreciate all
work you've done. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Sure, we have Stan
Siewinski with their hand raised. They've been a lot of disabled. Good morning.
Stan? Stan, last name ending with C. Please unmute.
mute share stand no longer has their hand raised okay i think i think that's councilman
driscoll's person it's okay anyone else in the audience
do we see anyone else no further hands at this time planning commission
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, A -M -Y -B -O -Y -D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the current I -3 heavy industrial zoning at this location.
The rehabilitation and expansion of the Riverview home site represents a top administration priority
and will have a broadly positive net impact on both the immediate neighboring community
as well as the city as a whole.
There is a documented history of similar uses at the site dating back before the adoption of the city's first zoning code in 1933.
The appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not have detrimental impacts beyond what might normally be expected on this location.
This project was reviewed by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, and they voted to recommend approval at this time.
Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed variances for expansion of nonconforming use and multifamily household living and grant the proposed special exception for heritage tree removal.
MI 2025 -001 -805 -7801 State Road. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, six pages,
stamped by CBA on June 24th, 25. Also, no psychiatric hospital or medical detoxification
facility. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with
proviso. Tanetta Graham, my vote
is yes with proviso. Tywin, my vote is
yes with provisos. Ryan
McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. We
appreciate it. Thank you.
Is there
anyone else in the 930
audience whose case has not been called?
Thank you.