COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON RULES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, October 12, 1999 10:20 a.m. - - - BILL NO. 990600 - An ordinance to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by 58th Street, Kingsessing Avenue, 59th Street, Greenway Avenue, 60th Street, and Woodland Avenue. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA, Chair COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA CLARK COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 /99 COMMITTEE ON RULES I N D E X Richard Lombardo, Commissioner . . . . . . . . 3 Philadelphia City Planning Commission Chris Stouffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PresbyHomes and Services of Lafayette Hill, PA and Presbyterian Children's Village Services of Rosemont, PA Loren Preheim, Executive Director. . . . . . . 9 Presbyterian Children's Services 3 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 P R O C E E D I N G S
Good morning. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Rules. I've asked the clerk to please read the title of Bill No. 990600.
Bill No. 990600, an ordinance to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by 58th Street, Kingsessing Avenue, 59th Street, Greenway Avenue, 60th Street, and Woodland Avenue. (Richard Lombardo comes forward.)
Good morning, Council President and members of the committee. My name is Rich Lombardo, with the City Planning Commission, and I'm here today on behalf of Bill 20 No. 990600. The legal description of this particular property encompasses a fairly large area of southwest Philadelphia. In fact, what we are concerned here with is the redoing of ground on the south side of Kingsessing Avenue between 4 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 58th and 59th Street Streets and extending south from Kingsessing Avenue approximately 750 feet. This property is the property of PresbyHomes and the Services of Lafayette Hill and Presbyterian Children's Village, who currently operate several facilities at this location. The proposal is to rezone this property to allow for institutional development, which the committee is aware of. The master plan of the zoning district is part of the rezoning of the plan of what could be built. There is the only thing that could be built there without coming back before the Planning Commission and City Council to amend the master plan. In fact, this master plan really only involves construction of several smaller buildings and parking lots. The bulk of this property is already developed with relatively new buildings that have been built over the last five to ten years. The usage here meets institutional development district plan restrictions, and it's a combination of housing -- senior citizen housing, a nursing home, and some social services. The existing buildings that already exist on the premises are going to be relocated and additions 5 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 to be placed on the campus. The requirement for parking under the institutional development would be 74 parking spaces. The Planning Commission, at its meeting of August 12, 1999, approved the concept of rezoning. The idea is -- the first action is approving the concept that IDD is an appropriate classification which we do before we would send the District Councilperson -- in this case you -- a copy. So the Planning Commission has considered Bill 990600 and recommends it approval to the Council. Chris Stouffer, the attorney for the proponents, is here and is also available to offer additional testimony.
So what you were implicating to us is that what is presently located on the grounds will be permitted under this new designation?
And they would not have to come back to either City Council or the Zoning Board?
Exactly. For 6 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 institutions like this in the district, it's easier to reuse existing buildings because the buildings are set; you can't change the buildings and move them around but you can reuse the buildings.
Right. I think that is actually there by nature of the variance of the Zoning Board.
Okay. Are there any questions from members of the committee? (No questions.)
Mr. Stouffer, I believe you want to testify? Mr. Lombardo, would you please stand by.
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record and 7 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. I'm Christopher F. Stouffer, and I have the honor of representing both cosponsors, PresbyHomes and service and Presbyterian Children's Village Services. One hundred twenty-seven years ago, the church first committed itself to this sight, in 1872, using land donated by Ann Thomas, with some help from her niece Mary Feel. A group of local churches, Presbyterian churches, established its first home for widows and single women. A few years later, Presbyterian Children's Village went across the street to Kingsessing and established the village there, so they go back a ways. This project -- and this is a collection of projects -- is about 85 percent complete. And, right now, we calculate that there's about an $18 million reinvestment in this community. The campus is about 89 acres and started in 1989, 1990 with its first Section 202 mid-rise apartment building, having 75 apartments. In 1993, 1994, there was a second group of HUD-subsidized residences for older persons. And 8 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 just this month, they've completed their total rebuilding of the nursing center, 59 beds. There's one more piece to go, and that piece is the family center for the Presbyterian Family Children Services, which is a very exciting development, which, up until now, was only dealing with one segment of the population -- older folks.
The Family Center is a children youth and family center. It's got mental health services and it has a variety of services for children and family in their own homes. They call that phenomenon -- social workers call it "wraparound services," and it will be essentially offices and classrooms for family counseling. There will be small recreational areas for people to bring their kids in. It's not a residential program.
Do I understand correctly that the services that you're presently providing at Rosemont will be moved into the facilities that you're talking about Presby?
Not really, no. The 9 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 Rosemont campus already provides service to a limited degree to southwest Philadelphia. We're actually bringing the services into this region. So -- well, in other words, I guess you could say that's true, I mean, in the sense that we are bringing people who would have been out in Rosemont into this area. But the people that we're serving are still the people we have been serving.
The people being served at Rosemont are they from the southwest Philadelphia area?
To a large extent, yes. Could I ask my director to give you more detail about that? Do you want to come forward? (Mr. Preheim comes forward.)
This is Mr. Preheim, the Director of Presbyterian Children's Services. He can answer that question better than I can, exactly what the numbers are.
Please 10 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 identify yourself for the record.
Good morning, Council President Verna. My name is Loren Preheim, and I'm the Executive Director of Presbyterian Children's Services. I'd like to amplify a little bit on what Mr. Stouffer has said. Presbyterian Children's Village provides a range of service to abused and troubled children and offers a residential treatment center for adolescents with serious emotional issues. In Rosemont, there is also an array of community services -- a foster care program, kinship care services, in-home services. We have a services to children program, which is provided in their own homes. We operate a psychiatric clinic providing mental health services, including wraparound services, as Mr. Stouffer mentioned. We also have intervention services and are a partner agency with the Office of Family Centers and have a family center located in Mitchell Elementary School at 56th and Kingsessing. We provide consultation social services in Bartram cluster, in six elementary schools, providing an array of child welfare and mental health and educational 11 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 services. Our residential program is located in Rosemont, and it will continue to be located in Rosemont. Our community services have a primary geographic focus in southwest Philadelphia, and that's because about half of the foster families and children we work with in foster family care are living in homes in southwest Philly. All of the children we work with in our kinship care program are located in southwest Philadelphia. I mentioned a few minutes ago that our involvement in the Family Center is in southwest Philadelphia, and our consultation and education services are directed at elementary school students in the Bartram cluster. So there's a strong focus geographically on the southwest Philadelphia area. Because of this geographic focus, our board felt that it was important for us to develop a physical presence in the community and to relocate many of our community services into southwest Philadelphia so that they would be more accessible to the children and families with whom we work, and the staff who provide those 12 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 services would be able to go into the homes of the children and families on a more frequent basis. That's really the reason why we want to bring the services that we've already been providing into the southwest Philadelphia community.
Thank you, you've answered my question. And may I say, I think that Presbyterian does a fabulous job.
Thank you so much. Why have you asked for a zoning change to R9 for a small portion of the area on the map?
The president has asked a question, which you may be better qualified to answer than I am. (Mr. Lombardo returns to witness table.)
Why have you asked for zoning change from G2 to R9 for a small 13 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 portion of the area on the map that we have in our bill?
Madam President, apparently the change was in G2 to R5, am I correct in that? The R9 hasn't been changed in our copy.
Let me explain, try to explain this. When we do these types of maps, it tends to confuse people. All that's being changed by this map is the property of Presbyterian.
The remainder of blocks aren't being changed that are shown here. The only thing being changed is, the R5 is being changed, which is controlled by Presbyterian Homes. That's being changed from R5 to R9. When that's done, you still hold over a piece of R5 that's not being changed. The only thing being 14 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 changed by the zoning is their property. Everything else will be left the way it is. This map does confuse the issue.
We've changed over to a computer mapping system, but we've we got to get somebody who doesn't worship the computer and will make things understandable.
Yeah, it would be a revolutionary idea to make things understandable.
Well, I didn't realize there was this problem until we got here this morning. I was just telling Tom we got to change the way we do it because this is just too confusing. I apologize.
Mr. Stouffer, are your clients amenable to setting up a neighborhood advisory board that would get input from community residents?
Yes, most enthusiastically. We've already had one meeting with Glenda Christopher, who's has been steadfastly vigilant throughout this decade. It's 15 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 a shame more homeowners aren't here.
They are not here because, I understand, there was not a community meeting.
There was not a meeting of the entire community, that's true. There were, however, a lot of meetings with people who had shown interest in the past. And what I wanted to say is thanks to the homeowners and their having hung in with the neighborhood for so long. And this neighborhood has gone through some very tough times. It's nice that this campus exists today and the investment coming in is a $21 million investment. And a lot of the credit goes to the homeowners. That's the point I want to make.
We understand the benefit of you're not having to go to the community for approval of your projects, but you to understand that this is a very vital residential community that deserves to have something to say as to what happens in their 16 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 neighborhood. How does PresbyHomes intend to partner with the community in this area?
Well, our first thought -- I've been talking to Mr. Paone (ph.), who's our consultant and he --
Our first goal is to try to either set up or bring into this immediate neighborhood a community development corporation to address itself. I'll ask Mr. Preheim to continue with this to address itself to some of the weaker areas of the neighborhood such as along 60th Street. So I'd like to turn the mike over to Mr. Preheim.
Council President Verna, I'd like to tell you a little bit about our involvement in the community right now. The family center project, we've been involved in that project for the past 18 months as the partnering agency with the Office of Family Centers. Each family center is unique in that it develops an array of services that are identified by members 17 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 of the community as being essential and necessary for that particular community. Each family center also has an advisory board. The advisory board must be comprised of -- at least 51 percent of the members must be community residents. So we've developed relationships with members of the community through our participation in advisory support. In addition to that, over the years, because we've been working with many families in southwest Philly, we have developed relationships with other community members and other community organizations and institutions. So we look forward to continuing the development of those relationships as we develop a physical presence in the community, and we'd welcome the opportunities, both in informal and in formal ways, to ensure that there is adequate representation from the immediate neighborhood when it comes to decisions about the kinds of services that we will be providing in the future.
Can you tell us what the long-range plans are for development?
Our immediate plans are 18 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 to create office space, meeting rooms, and play areas to support the programs that have already been described for you. Because of our involvement in the family center project, we've learned a good bit about the community, and one of the things we're committed to is not duplicating services that are already there. There are really some fine organizations that are providing very good supportive services for children and families, and we see no reason to duplicate services that are already in place in the community. We will explore the possibility of filling in the gaps where there are services needed that have been identified by community members as services that would be welcomed and would be beneficial for children and families. We will be exploring the possibility of providing such services. An example -- I think I talked with you previously about an example of such service, which might be day care. There is a growing need for day care in the city, as you know, and that might be one possible service that we would consider again, taking into consideration the views of 19 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 community members.
Has the construction of the nursing home been completed?
I believe it has, Madam President. If my information's correct, they are in the process of moving or have moved people from the old home to the new wing.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the committee? The Chair recognizes Councilman Cohen.
More it's a comment than a question. I think the issue raised by Council President Verna about community partnerships is very important, and it goes beyond the question of furnishing services. It means involving the active community organizations, whatever they are, the active community people in full discussions with you with respect to your plans, and making sure that there's general agreement. That's what we hope will occur so that both the outside community and the Presbyterian organization will be seen as a closely knit, closely working together community group. The 20 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES, BILL 990600 more you speak, the more the community should be involved, and I think the more successful the community will be. We wish you well and all share in the Council President's feeling about the great work that your church organization does in the field of human services as well as in the field of religion. So we wish you very well but we think the long-term success means getting in touch with each other and getting closer to hear the community's needs for the community to regard you as a friend and as a kind of a partner in any concept of community development. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Is there anyone else here to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Mr. Stouffer, just one comment. I will ask my colleagues to report this out favorably. However, you're going 21 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES - PUB. MEETING to have to have a community meeting first. So this will be held on the calendar until such time as we are notified by the community that they have no objections to it.
And I think that should have been done before coming here in morning. Thank you.
Mm-hmm. Since we have no one else to testify, this will conclude public hearing. - - -
We will now go into our public meeting. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill 990600 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded that Bill 990600 be 22 10/12/99 COMM. ON RULES - PUB. MEETING moved out of committee with a favorable recommendation. All in favor will signify by saying aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it and the motion is carried. Thank you very much for your patience. (Adjourned at 10:46 a.m.) - - - 23 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, October 12, 1999, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON RULES BILL NO. 990600 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter