Neighbors of the former Philadelphia State Hospital have seen renewed demolition work during the last few weeks on the closed psychiatric institution at Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road.
It has been the first such work on the 153-acre site, commonly known as Byberry, since early last year, when state contractors tore down a warehouse and two garages.
The current project involves the demolition of two former hospital residential halls, along with an old power plant/heating facility. According to state Rep. George Kenney, neighbors could be seeing many more changes at Byberry in the coming months.
Selling the state-owned land before the end of the year ranks as a high priority for Gov. Mark Schweiker, said Kenney (R-170th dist.). Meanwhile, the Schweiker administration has been negotiating a sale of most of the ground to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, a quasi-city agency, for its eventual commercial or residential use.
"I spoke to PIDC and the administration," Kenney told the Northeast Times last week. "Every indication was that PIDC had an interest in taking the property. They just didn't work out any financial details yet."
THE PRICE IS RIGHT, OR IS IT?
According to the lawmaker, any prospective buyer of the property would have to consider the cost of demolishing more than two-dozen dilapidated and asbestos-contaminated buildings that remain there, while also accounting for any price it might have to pay for the ground, and the potential value of that ground on the open market once it is cleared of the old buildings and environmental issues.
"Say the state stepped in today and cleared out all of the (remaining) buildings," Kenney said. "Then you would have land that is much more marketable, that has much more value."
Including the current $950,000 demolition project, the state has spent at least $4 million of a $20 million capital budget fund allocated for Byberry by then-Gov. Robert P. Casey in 1993, Kenney said. The current administration has made no commitment to additional spending at the site.
Said Kenney, "I think (PIDC officials) are looking at that right now: 'Is it worth stepping in with the state putting in minimal dollars (for the cleanup)?'"
PIDC senior vice president Paul Deegan told the Times last week that his agency has been marketing undeveloped ground at the nearby Byberry East industrial park for $72,000 an acre in recent years. The ground will be reappraised this year, probably at a slightly higher value, he said.
PIDC hopes to reach an agreement of sale for the remaining former hospital ground by the end of June, and to develop a plan for demolition of the remaining buildings by the end of the year.
"I think everybody would like to see something happen," Deegan said. "We're interested in getting at least the front of (the property along) the Boulevard for a suburban office-type development."
The agreement of sale is key before PIDC begins to look at the site in earnest, however.
"We need to know we have some standing," Deegan said.
THE END IS NEAR
The current state-funded work will be complete by April 1, Kenney said. It began with the demolition of two residential buildings, known as "C" buildings, at the rear of the property along Carter Road, north of Southampton Road. They had become piles of rubble as of last week.
Residents of the nearby homes have been concerned about environmental hazards posed by the former hospital buildings since the facility was closed in June 1990. The state, responding to years of allegations of mistreatment of patients, and eager to move them into community settings, phased out the operation and closed the hospital when the last patients were moved.
In 1994, private inspectors hired by PIDC documented asbestos contamination and other hazardous materials in at least 21 of the buildings.
Three years later, the federal Environmental Protection Agency inspected the site and found airborne asbestos in the buildings, much of which had been disturbed by trespassing vandals.
The EPA ordered the state to contain the asbestos and secure the buildings from trespassers.
Since then, neighbors have pointed out in public forums -- including monthly meetings of the Somerton Civic Association -- that roofs on some of the buildings have collapsed. Neighbors fear that hazardous materials have circulated into the surrounding air.
ENVIRONMENT IS AN ISSUE
At the last SCA meeting on Feb. 12, one Carter Road resident questioned an aide to Kenney about environmental precautions taken by contractors working on the current demolition project.
Last week, the legislator reported that the contractors have adhered to the required environmental procedures.
Rich Ponak, a Philadelphia-based EPA environmental scientist, said that the contractor duly had notified the EPA in advance of the work and that he personally had inspected the site on Feb. 13.
Also, the city's Air Management Services office, a division of the Department of Health, had visited the site, Ponak said.
The state opted to demolish the C buildings first at Kenney's request.
"Why we started with those C buildings is because they're next to the residences," the lawmaker said.
Kenney hopes to clear the land closest to Carter Road for a 40-acre buffer zone/green space, running from Southampton Road north to the Poquessing Creek.
Combined with 22 acres on the south side of Southampton Road projected by Kenney for recreational use, that would leave 90 acres for commercial or residential development by PIDC.
"Historically, we've been talking about the development of ninety acres of it," Kenney said. "Ideally, we'd like to keep it as that and keep forty acres open."
That plan is not exactly what Somerton Civic Association president Mary Jane Hazell has in mind.
ARE HOMES ON THE RANGE?
The civic leader and her organization have continued to support residential development on roughly those same 40 acres that Kenney proposes for green space.
Hazell remains in favor of a 200-foot setback from Carter Road for any development, but says that the city needs single and twin homes for folks age 55 and older.
Hazell is not opposed to 40 acres of green space, but she would want to see 55-and-over homes built elsewhere on the tract in that case.
Notwithstanding future uses, Hazell supports demolition of the existing buildings as well as a sale to PIDC.
"I think the state should pull all of those buildings down, not just on Carter Road," she said.
Hazell is confident that residents will have final say over any development there with the support of City Councilman Brian O'Neill (R-10th dist.).
Developers would need Council approval for new streets and for rezoning of the land. As a matter of Council protocol, members defer to the wishes of the district Council member for approval of such measures.
"If they go to City Council, we have a shot to say, 'Yes, we want this,' or, 'No, we don't want this,'" Hazell said.
Kenney agrees that residents should be the first consideration in any development plan.
"My primary interest is protecting the community environmentally and from development," he said. "(There should be) either no development or development in their interest."
The legislator is also backing a recreational-use proposal for the 22 acres of the tract south of Southampton Road. After the current demolition project is complete, the land will be ready for redevelopment, he said.
DEMOLITION DERBY
Last week, workers were starting to tear down the former hospital's power facility. They will also gut the old laundry building, which, Kenney hopes, will be converted into a gymnasium with basketball courts or an indoor soccer field.
The recreation complex would also include outdoor facilities and be administered by local non-profit organizations under a lease agreement with the state. Under such an arrangement, the state would retain the 22 acres.
Also, under the plan, former Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz would not be involved in the management of the recreation facility.
Under a previous agreement of sale that was effectively nullified by the opposition of residents and O'Neill, Katz stood to obtain development rights to the 22 acres, where he proposed to build an ice skating rink. Katz wanted a non-profit group set up for the rink, but his for-profit company, American Skating, would have received exclusive management rights.
"Under (the new) scenario, we're not looking for anybody to manage anything," Kenney said.
The legislator maintains that the redevelopment of any portion of the former hospital must include a traffic abatement plan because traffic is already a problem.
"The traffic issue is the first one that comes up," Kenney said. "That's even before you start developing Byberry."