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