Kensington Hospital

8/13/2019 Kensington Hospital

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kensington-hospital 1/4

Philadelinquency.comThe underbelly of real estate

VIA FAXcontact: [email protected]

January 9, 2013

Zoning Board of Adjustment1401 John F. Kennedy BoulevardMunicipal Services Building, 11 th FloorPhiladelphia, PA 19102-1687F: (215) 686-2565

Philadelphia City Planning CommissionATTN: Alan Greenberger, Chairman

One Parkway, 13th

Floor1515 Arch StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19102F: (215) 683-4630

RE: Appeal #21324 Permit #492205 Calendar: Jan 22 2013 12:00 2100 N FRONT STREET

Applicant: KENSINGTON HOSPITAL

Type: SPECIAL EXEPTION ZONING VARIANCE

To The Zoning Board of Adjustment and PCPC:

In the near future you will be hearing case 21324, a request by Kensington Hospital torelocate an existing methadone clinic operation currently operating inside 136 WDIAMOND, approximately 0.1 miles.

Kensington Hospital wishes to relocate this clinic so it can conduct an expansion projectof its methadone dispensary operation. Given its presence space and capacity it ispresently has a negligible patient volume. Given that the clinic presently operates withinthe main building of Kensington Hospital on an upper floor, it is also not disruptive tothe community in which it serves.

All this is about to change.

Kensington Hospital has acquired a significantly sized corner property directlyunderneath the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line at 2100 North Front property to shunt its




methadone dispensing program out of the main hospital building. Likewise, it hasundertaken an expansion of the existing improvements, a three-story commercialproperty, which it will expand with an addition in order to fulfill state licensingrequirements to serve more patients and increase its capacity.

I already know ahead of the Zoning Board of Adjustment will grant this applicationwithout reservation, and the Philadelphia City Planning Commission will also give apositive recommendation for the same. The district Councilperson for this subject parcelhas already expressed her support for this project.

So instead of wasting my breath arguing against a foregone conclusion, I would like toenter several matters into the Record into this Applicant’s file and I will also share thisletter with the community, which Kensington Hospital serves.

Kensington Hospital is undertaking this daring expansion project at a time when its

financial health appears in jeopardy. Program Service Revenue according to theirFY2011 IRS Form 990 indicates a drop from $6.7MM to $6.4MM <-$329,605>. Liabilitiesincreased during a single year by half a million dollars at the same time. KensingtonHospital indicates $5.8MM of its revenue is from Medicaid receipts [Schedule H – Part 1,line (7)(b)(c)]. Short of donor financing, it’s not plausible that the Hospital has turnedits primary moneymaker around: namely its Medicaid billings.

During the public joint community meeting held between residents of Norris Square CivicAssociation and East Kensington Neighbors Association, counsel for Kensington Hospitalindicated that the expansion was needed for Kensington Hospital “to survive.”

I fully anticipate that once Kensington Hospital has successfully relocated its methadonedispensary program under the Market-Frankford Line, the Hospital will immediately rampup its dispensary program and increase its patient load. This is not dissimilar from anongoing expansion trend in Philadelphia of dispensary growth in for-profit and non-profitopioid maintenance programs, also known within the industry as medication-assistedtherapy (MAT).

The City Planning Commission has utterly failed to recommend the best wayforward for MAT clinic expansion to co-exist peacefully with dense, urbanresidential environments.

A nearby MAT clinic at 8 th and Girard Avenue serves a confirmed 800-patient-a-daycaseload. Given that patients do not all arrive at the same time for their appointments,clinics can and often do overschedule their appointment books far beyond the capacityof their patient waiting rooms. Opioid withdrawal symptoms comingled with the needsof regular life often mean patients tend to prefer early periods in the day to receivetheir on-site treatment; those who do hold jobs and/or have obligations or are sufferingpain are highly motivated to appear early.




This is why many of the undermanaged MAT clinics in Philadelphia have long waitinglines outside their buildings early in the morning. For some clinics, such as ParksideRecovery [5000 Parkside Avenue, Philadelphia, 19131], the overbooking presents aproblem throughout the entire period when the clinic is open for business. Therefore

the outdoor areas surrounding the clinic serve as the patient waiting room. It is thissituation along with a lack of security that led to incidents of confirmed drug dealingoccurring no less than 3 feet from the front door of the clinic.

Neighborhood residents surrounding 2100 North Front Street do not believe thatKensington Hospital will gracefully manage their expansion plans, given the instant needto grow revenue.

To that end, the following ills are likely to pose problems:

• Lack of security expansion at the new facility will make the new MAT clinic

attractive to more drug activity along the Front/Kensington Avenue cooridor• The building and property will not be appropriately supervised and maintained toprotect patient safety

• Kensington Hospital will not create enough indoor patient waiting space for theirexpansion, which will lead to at-risk patients habits loitering outside. This willleave these patients with targets on their backs for area drug sealers looking toclose sales. Previous MAT clinic operators did not care about this until stateregulators in Harrisburg were appalled at videos capturing these transactionsoccurring outside MAT clinics in Pennsylvania.

Residents of Hope Street Neighbors For Better Living, NSCA and East KensingtonNeighbors Association exist for one reason: to further the betterment of theirneighborhoods. They were asked to participate in the zoning process and they will bepresent on January 22 nd to render their concerns to you, which will be in the negative.

That is of course, presuming Applicant does not postpone this zoning case yet again, asnettlesome zoning applicants often do to frustrate those seeking to enter testimony intothe record should parties which to appeal your decision to the Court of Common Pleas.

I have already witnessed prior zoning controversies concerning MAT clinics before theZoning Board of Adjustment; and I’ve also witnessed the last 5 years of the PlanningCommission purposely staying silent about this issue.

That is why it comes as no surprise to me that Councilman Bobby Henon andCouncilman Brian O’Neil passed Bill No. 12-077000 which removes medical offices fromall but the most remote zoning parcel classifications. Given prior litigation from profit-fueled MAT clinic operators using the Americans with Disabilities Act as a defenseagainst zoning control, District 6 and District 10 had to reach for this non-discriminatorymeasure to ensure that all MAT clinic operators at least meet with the community(something that did NOT occur with the Healing Way case, as L&I had granted permitsassuming by-right status applied).




I am sure PCPC’s opinion over 12-077000 was negative insofar that the new ZoningCode has been poisoned by one-off zoning regulations that are not streamlined into theZoning Code. That is because PCPC has not come up with any recommendations for

severing the issues MAT clinics cause with nearby residential neighbors. Since I don’tanticipate PCPC to ever address this issue, and everyone at City Hall also seems quitescared to approach this issue, I welcome further bills by members of City Council toreplicate 12-077000 into their own districts. I live in District 1 and Councilman Squillahas indicated that he will expand medical office controls into his own district.

I will grant Kensington Hospital the benefit of meeting with the neighboring communityto disclose their plans. That’s rarely happened in Philadelphia with this type ofcommercial business. That did not occur prior to the beginning of site preparationactivity at the start, but at least it did happen.

I would love for Kensington Hospital to prove me wrong and a fool. Their currentclinic has a negligible patient load, it sits in the same building as the Hospitaladministration, it’s continuously under observation and waiting capacity is available forits current operation.

Every single one of those variables will be changing in this project up for yourconsideration. Given the financial pressure for Kensington Hospital to increase itsMedicaid billings to steer its balance sheet back into the black, I foresee that financialpressure overriding the need to provide reasonable patient services in an environmentthat can cohabitate peacefully with its neighbors.

And when those problems arise in the future, I will point all Philadelphia residents backto this letter that you are reading today.

Sincerely Yours,

Christopher SawyerOwner, Philadelinquency.com

Documents

Kensington Hospital