NOT A WIDELY ATTENDED MEETING, THERE WERE ONLY A HANDFUL OF FOLKS ON THE CALL, BUT WE
DID NOTIFY. WERE THERE RESIDENTS? I BELIEVE THEY WERE RESIDENTS OR MEMBERS
OF THE RCO. OKAY, WELL, THE RCO THAT YOU'RE SPEAKING
OF IS ON OAKHAS AVENUE. IT'S NOWHERE IN OUR VICINITY. AND THE MINIMUM IS EIGHT BLOCKS
away so none of the residents in the vicinity were notified we found out thursday when someone saw the
big zoning notice on the front door no one was notified okay and i did and i did contact council
the legislative person there is out and no one said they would be they said no one was available
from councilman phillips office to attend
yeah i believe that's correct that nobody from the council office attended
um i apologize that you didn't receive a direct notice um we we use the the city's notification
website to identify the properties that get direct mailings and uh we coordinate with the rcos that
are well i'm on council's direct mailing and i'm less than a thousand feet from this property
okay um we're going to move on we're going to move on thank you miss williams thank you very
much and thank you um anyone else in the virtual audience there are no more hands planning
commission thank you chairman and good afternoon david vecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx 2.5 commercial
mixed-use zoning at this location. The appellant has shown that a group practitioner will have no
detrimental impacts on the neighborhood beyond what might be expected. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the board grant a proposed special exception for a group practitioner.
Thank you. MI 2024-006-839-6101 North Broad Street. I vote yes with proviso, interior storage
of medical waste, commercial trash pickup.
My vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
My vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Council, stay there.
We're going to do the second.
Thank you.
Right.
So number 10, MI 2024-006-848-6201 Germantown Avenue.
Council, you've already been sworn.
Just for the record, could you state your name?
Yes, my name is Meredith Trego with Ballard Sparr.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, we are here representing Archwell Health LLC, who's the lessee of the property at 6201 Germantown Avenue.
The property is owned by Derrick's Enterprises.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to either read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
We do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
we have. Thank you, counsel. Please proceed. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, we are here
today with a request for a special exception for the use of a property at 6201 Germantown Avenue
as a group medical health practitioner use within an existing building in a CMX2 commercial mixed
use zoning district. I'm joined today by Seth Dickey, who is the Associate VP of Development
for Archwell Health, as well as Dr. Sherlene Moten, who's joining us by Zoom, who's the Senior
market medical director for R2L. Our exhibits filed with the board include everything that's
Our exhibits filed with the board include everything that's required, including our tax clearance certificates in Exhibit 2, our proof of mailing for neighbor notices in Exhibit 8, as well as our proof of zoning notice postings at Exhibit 9.
required, including our tax clearance.
We're also aware that a letter of support was recently provided by the 59th Democratic Ward to the board.
Turning to Exhibit 3, this is our referral, which is for a group medical practitioner use that is within the office use category.
Again, we emphasize that this is for a use change only. No zoning plans were required for this use application.
We do want to note up front, we did meet with the community on February 10th. That was our second meeting.
We had an earlier meeting in January that had almost no attendance due to weather, a snowstorm that day.
And so we rescheduled it for February 10th via Zoom.
And we will note that the community did provide a letter of support with provisos.
We just want to go through those provisos up front.
First, the community requested that we consider installing additional trees and landscaping at the site.
Excuse me, Ms. Trago, do you mind, do you have a copy of the letter you can pull up onto the screen?
Oh, sure.
Because I'm not sure that we received that.
We don't have it.
Oh, okay.
That was not.
So this was submitted.
I thought it was submitted to the board as well.
But this letter was a letter of support with three provisors.
So the first is that the, I'll actually, I'll discuss the second one first.
So a request that we improve the landscaping at the site.
We are happy to do that.
provided our lease allows us to, and there's no conflicts there. Again, we're a lessee at this
property. We do not own it. But as we mentioned in the prior case, we want to make this an
attractive site. Archwell wants its patients to come to a very attractive and welcoming place and
wants to have a good look within the community. A second request, which is the first one listed
here is that we remove a structural awning from the building. This was an awning that was
part of the Rite Aid drive-through when it was a former Rite Aid pharmacy. And so they've requested
that we remove this just, I guess, for aesthetic purposes. However, this awning is actually,
it's not, you know, a fabric awning. It's a structural component to the building. So even
aside from issues related to the budget for altering the structure like this. We do not have
the authority under our lease agreement with the owner to do anything to the exterior of the
building. We're only allowed to make changes to the interior. So this was a request that we
unfortunately are not able to comply with or say that we can fulfill. So we do have to object to
that request. And then lastly, they had a third request that Archwell Health allow nearby residents
use their parking lot at night and on the weekends when the facility is closed. We note off the bat
that non-accessory parking is not actually a by-right use in the CMX2 zoning district, so
you know, just right away we'd have to come back to the board for that anyway, but even more
importantly again we are subject to a lease with the owner of this property um we have the right
to use the parking lot for this site for our patient use and for our activities but we do
not have the authority to grant use to nearby residents or other nearby property owners so
again that is a request that um we would like to object to and uh are not able to you know comply
with. So from that, we would like to just move on to the zoning map in Exhibit 10. Again, noting that
this is a CMX2 property. This property is on the Germantown Avenue commercial corridor and in line
with other commercial properties in this part of the neighborhood. This is a request for a special
exception. The group medical practitioner use is a special exception in the zoning district.
And again, note that solo practitioner uses are permitted by right.
And as we will show today, this particular application does satisfy the standards for a special exception because we will not create a detrimental impact on the health, safety, or welfare of the neighborhood exceeding that which might normally be expected from the proposed use.
In fact, we would argue we would improve the health and well-being of the neighbors by providing important and necessary medical care to seniors in the community.
Again, just going through Archwell Health business model.
So Archwell Health provides primary care services to adults ages 60 and older.
They have an average patient population, patient age of 72.
They provide services such as primary care provider visits, lab work, preventive health screenings, social work, nutrition education, care management, and cardiology telehealth visits.
They provide services such as primary care provider visits, lab work.
There is a growing need for doctors and medical professionals across the country, including in Philadelphia, specifically for the senior population as approximately 10,000 to 11,000 people age into Medicare each day.
Archwell was founded in 2020 and has 52 locations nationwide currently with plans to expand to
nearly 100 by the end of 2025.
At full capacity, this office anticipates having roughly 35 full-time staff, which includes
physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses, medical assistants and support staff.
And again, Archwell looks to fill these positions from within the community as much as possible.
Facilities, including this one at 6201 Germantown, are purposely located close to transit and
are designed with a focus on accessibility for seniors.
The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
And in addition to their primary care services, Archwell provides some ancillary services
such as nutrition education and then has a modest activities room to host things such
as health fairs and exercise classes, nutrition classes, and the like.
It's anticipated that this location will schedule 8 to 10 patients per hour, with the average appointment length lasting roughly 40 to 50 minutes.
Archwell can provide some triage and urgent care services to existing patients, but we note that it does not provide any type of drug rehabilitation or treatment services at this or any other location.
I'm looking to Exhibit 13, which is a site aerial with Germantown Avenue and East Topplehocken
Street. This is located at the corner. The layout of the existing parking and drive aisles will
remain almost unchanged from the existing condition, which includes two drive aisles
from East Topplehocken and one drive aisle off of Germantown at the western edge of the parcel
right here the proposed site includes 50 locate 50 parking spaces including two ada spaces and
the only changes being made to the parking lot are just a shuffling of the ada spaces to better
align them with the curb cut into the sidewalk to get up to the building the existing dumpsters
are located in the back of the property and will remain there for use by archwell health
for general office waste and will be locked between weekly pickups with a private commercial
trash pickup provider. Medical waste will be disposed of in a secure location within the
building, and Archwell Health will again contract with a private service for medical waste pickup.
Looking at our site photos, we have some photos here of just from Germantown and Topolhocken.
Again, another view from Topolhocken. This is an existing Rite Aid which we mentioned.
a view from germantown avenue the west elevation south elevation east elevation
and the north elevation and then some interior photos as well
this former right it has also been vacant for roughly one year
turning to exhibit 15 with our site plan the again the layout of the parking lot will remain
roughly unchanged and then a sort of a floor plan which will include a small activities room
and then doctor's offices and patient rooms and other supporting spaces
in exhibit 16 we include some images of our proposed signage which is not part of this
application but just to give you a sense of what we anticipate the building to look like when
it's completed. We will also be swapping out the existing windows and doors with new windows and
doors to spruce up the exterior of it. And then again, replacement signage for the pylon sign
that exists there today. And then lastly, we've included some sample photos of the interior
of archwell spaces. The grant of the requested special exception for the group medical health
practitioner will not create a detrimental impact on the health safety and welfare of the neighborhood
exceeding that which might normally be expected from the proposed use and in fact we believe it
will help improve the health and well-being of the neighborhood by bringing important health
care services to the senior population um thank you members of the board uh we'd like to just
call up our witnesses to adopt our testimony just state your name because you've already been sworn
Seth Dickey, please proceed counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Dickey, can you please, have you just heard what I said?
Can you affirm that what I've said is true and accurate and adopt it as your own testimony?
is there anything else you'd like to add at this point um would in regards to the three provisios
Is there anything else you'd like to add at this point?
Would, in regards to the-
um i would just like to say the community was very engaged and we appreciated their feedback
um and certainly appreciate their support moving forward um would like to say that we will guarantee
that the landscape will be beautified and we will make sure it's attractive place for the neighbors
and our patients um and unfortunately right now we will not be removing that drive-through awning
and cannot share a parking.
And lastly, Dr. Moten,
if you'd like to adopt my testimony as well.
Dr. Moten?
She's still on.
She come back?
Do we see her hand?
She's still on.
I think we're okay.
Okay, great.
Can you hear me?
Oh, yes.
Just state your name.
You've already been sworn in.
Yes, I am adopting your testimony as my own, and I do agree with both you and Seth.
We would love to be able to honor those provisals, but we are a lessee and unable to honor those.
So we would like those excluded. Yes.
Just for the record, state your name.
This is Dr. Charlene Talbert-Moughton, Senior Market Medical Director for R2L Health.
Thank you very much. Questions from the board.
Yes, I just wanted to touch back since the community seems to be really concerned about curb appeal.
Have there been any thoughts, even preliminary thoughts about how you might be able to address some of their concerns without putting in things that are permanent?
We do think that the landscaping is a great way to address this.
i can go back to the site aerial at this particular location there is a good bit of
space between germantown avenue and the existing parking lot and building that has existing planting
beds in it that are you know quite robust in terms of size and so we think you know really
the ability to improve the landscaping there will do a lot in terms of curb appeal anything else
Yes, a question. Doctors, nurses, you're affiliated with what hospitals, and do you have doctors, nurse practitioners? Who do you have providing the medical care for the proposed patient?
Sure, we have both, so medical doctors as well as nurse practitioners, and we are not affiliated with the hospital system.
Okay. Thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney? Hillary Emerson.
I just would concur that unfortunately I don't believe any of the provisos that have been
suggested are enforceable, maybe for the reasons that Ms. Trago already explained. Thank you.
Thank you. Questions from the audience? We have a question for Charles Richardson.
Charles Richardson has been promoted. Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson.
i'm here hi hi mr richardson just for the record state your name it is spelled for the stenographer
certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of councilwoman cindy bans room 508 city
hall do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please
question uh for you mr chair or to hillary what were the improvisos that were granted for