Fox Chase Cancer Center gets
approval at heated meeting

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

The Fox Chase Homeowners Association last week reaffirmed its approval of construction planned by the Fox Chase Cancer Center on ground already owned by the hospital, but not without controversy.
Though the issue at hand during the civic group’s March 14 general meeting did not involve the hospital’s proposed expansion into neighboring Burholme Park, one park advocate repeatedly interjected criticism during a presentation by a hospital official.
Jean Gavin, a longtime member of the homeowners association, has appealed a December ruling by the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment granting the cancer center approval for a five-level, 120,000-square-foot patient care and research pavilion on the center’s existing campus.
In turn, the cancer center has sued Gavin, a fellow appellant and their attorney with hopes of blocking what it believes is a frivolous appeal.
Additionally, the cancer center intends to apply to the city in April or May for permission to build a four-level, 600-space parking garage, also on existing cancer center ground, according to Tom Garvey, the hospital’s vice president of administration. The center has leased a 3.5-acre parcel from Jeanes Hospital for the garage.
The homeowners approved the patient care and research pavilion at their September general meeting. At the same meeting, the civic group also reviewed the parking garage project.
But with tensions already high between the cancer center and Burholme Park advocates over the center’s proposed long-term expansion into the park, the civic group’s leadership felt it necessary to clear up any confusion about its stance on the smaller construction initiative, according to its president, Craig Turner.
After viewing and hearing a presentation from Garvey, which included schematic drawings of the cancer center campus and a more-detailed drawing of the proposed parking garage, residents voted overwhelmingly to back the pavilion and garage projects. There were four "no" votes among a gathering of about 75 people.
Gavin was not satisfied, however, and demanded to see "architectural" plans rather than the overhead-view drawings on display. The same point is one basis for her appeal of the zoning approval for the pavilion project.
Turner thinks that neighbors were shown plenty of details to make an informed decision.
"I don’t need to see architectural plans, and I don’t think most people here need to see them," Turner said, noting that most people probably wouldn’t know how to read the highly technical plans anyway.
The "plot" drawings on display at the meeting showed the building footprints in relationship to other campus features, with measurements for setbacks and heights, as well as other details.
The parking garage would rise 23 feet above the crest of a sloping parking lot now on the site. Because of the slope, two of the four levels will be partly underground.
The pavilion would be attached to an existing cancer center building and rise slightly above it. Yet it would be shorter than the main hospital building.
The garage would take 12 to 18 months to complete, while the pavilion would take 24 to 30 months, Garvey said.
When finished, the pavilion would generate 400 new jobs, the cancer center has said. According to Garvey, the parking garage will accommodate the existing overflow of employee and patient vehicles and leave room for 200 additional vehicles. Together, the buildings are expected to cost about $70 million.
Prior to the meeting, Gavin stood outside the door to the meeting hall and distributed copies of a two-page prepared statement labeled as a "response" to the cancer center’s lawsuit against her.
During the meeting, Gavin — who for years has been one of the homeowners’ most vocal members on a variety of issues — demanded to read the statement aloud, as well as "equal time" as Garvey.
Turner initially yielded the floor to Gavin but did not allow her to read her full statement, noting that anyone wishing to hear it could instead read the printed copies. Also, Turner told Gavin that she would not be given equal time as Garvey, whose presentation — mostly a question-and-answer session involving residents — lasted about a half-hour.
Gavin interjected several more times and was ordered by both the president and the group’s sergeant-at-arms not to speak when someone else has the floor.
The cancer center’s long-term plan to expand into Burholme Park is also in the midst of a legal struggle.
The Fairmount Park Commission has agreed to lease 19.4 acres of the 60-acre park to the center, which would erect a series of buildings over a 20-year period. The lease would last 80 years. In all, the center plans to spend $1 billion on the project.
But park advocates have challenged the lease agreement, citing the will of a former private owner of the land who donated it to the city’s residents as a park.
The lease agreement would require the cancer center to fund maintenance of Burholme Park and to acquire land elsewhere for use by residents as park ground. The center initially offered land in nearby Cheltenham Township, but local folks including City Councilman Brian O’Neill didn’t like the idea of using ground in Montgomery County to replace a Philadelphia park. So the search for new parkland within the city continues.
The cancer center’s president, Dr. Robert C. Young, who announced Tuesday that he will be stepping down, has said that he believes that opposition to the center’s expansion into Burholme Park is behind opposition to the pavilion and parking garage projects.
The next joint meeting of the Fox Chase Homeowners Association and Fox Chase Town Watch will be on May 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cpl. John Loudenslager American Legion Post 366, 7976 Oxford Ave. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com