Here are some news briefs from around West Philadelphia.

VA Hospital to be renamed

Photo via philadelphia.va.gov.

The Philadelphia’s Veterans Administration Hospital (3900 Woodland Ave) will be renamed in memory of Michael J. Crescenz, a Philadelphian who served in the Vietnam War. He was 19 when he was killed in action. President Obama signed a bill, sponsored by Rep. Chaka Fattah and Sen. Pat Toomey, to rename the hospital last week.  Continue Reading

The Wiota Street Garden (from Google Street View).

Those in attendance at last night’s public meeting on the future of the Wiota Street Garden in West Powelton tenuously agreed to block attempts to build housing on the parcel.

Some 60 people turned out for a meeting of the West Powelton Concerned Community Council, which, though divisive at times, led Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell to promise to stop developers’ attempts to buy the land and construct housing. She also urged community members to devise a plan that would make the garden a community space with a defined and transparent management structure.

The City of Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, which owns the parcel at 46 Wiota St. (near 40th and Powelton), has deferred any decision to sell the property to Blackwell, who attended the meeting to gauge public opinion. Her agreement to help protect the garden came with the stipulation that it be managed in a way that invites the entire community.  Continue Reading

With the expanded footprint of the new building, the area between nearby buildings has come into question, including the area bordering the Kingsbury apartment building (seen on the right in this image).

The developers of a proposed affordable housing building at 46th and Spruce presented more detailed plans for the four-story, 24-unit structure, which will replace the one-story building damaged by fire in 2011, to the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee on Wednesday night.

The Mission First Housing Group‘s building would include 24 one- and two-bedroom rental apartments aimed at people with a household income of $36,000 a year or less and is contingent on state funding. Mission First hopes to improve its chances for funding by going through the zoning process, which will require variances for building height, erecting a multi-family structure and not providing parking.

Their proposal got some pushback from neighbors concerned about the building’s height, which will be 10 feet higher than current restrictions, and its distance from nearby buildings. Tentative plans call for the new building to be pushed back from the Spruce Street sidewalk (the current building comes right up to the property line) to be more in line with other buildings on Spruce. That means the building has to go higher to accommodate the number of units needed for the project to be feasible.

The owner of the building in the rear of the project also wants a little more setback from his apartment building, the Kingsbury. Negotiations have been ongoing between the Kingsbury’s owner and Mission First to come up with a compromise that may push the building a little further toward Spruce Street.

Plans include indoor bike storage and trash receptacles and a compactor that would be stored inside. No parking is proposed, but Mission First representative Mark Deitcher said that few residents in similar housing complexes that the organization operates around the city own cars.

The building would be aimed at attracting low-income single residents, particularly veterans. Last night’s meeting was scheduled to get an update and no decisions were made. A full hearing on the project will be conducted after the plan is submitted to the city.

– Mike Lyons

A sign erected this fall at the Wiota Street Garden aimed at Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell underscores the campaign to preserve the garden, which developers are eyeing.

A meeting will be held Thursday to discuss the controversial proposal to build housing on the site of the Wiota Street Garden, a neighborhood fixture for 30 years that highlights the tenuous existence of the hundreds of community gardens in the city.

The Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia, the city agency tasked with connecting private investors to developable plots, owns the 1,100-square-foot parcel in the West Powelton neighborhood. The plot, which is zoned for residential development, has been an active community garden, hosting a weekly farmers’ market and providing produce to local residents and food banks. But the proposed construction of a 12-unit residential structure would spell the end of the garden.

Construction is underway on a number of similar housing units, many aimed at students, in the immediate vicinity around the community garden. Supporters of the garden have been pushing to have the plot protected as part of the Neighborhood Gardens Trust.

That’s what Thursday’s meeting is all about. The ultimate arbiter of the parcel’s fate, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, will be at the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at 4001 Baring St. The Redevelopment Authority has reportedly deferred any decision to Blackwell.

Using the Wiota Street Garden as her main example, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Inga Saffron distills the “gardens or housing” dilemma facing many developing neighborhoods here.

– Mike Lyons

Former Transition to Independent Living facility at 46th and Spruce.

Community members are invited to discuss new development projects in the Spruce Hill Neighborhood area at an upcoming Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee meeting this Wednesday, Dec. 17.

Two development projects are at the focus of Wednesday’s meeting:

1) A proposed six unit development at 100-02 Ludlow Street. The project was discussed at an earlier zoning committee meeting and the committee asked for some additional specifics. The property owners are following the procedure for RCO (recognized community organizations) notification.

2) The proposed development to replace the former Transition to Independent Living facility at 4536 Spruce St. This will be a second meeting with the developers to examine updated drawings and plans. The attendees will also hear a report from discussions between the developers and the owner of the adjacent property on 46th Street, according to zoning committee chair Barry Grossbach.

The Mission First Housing Group proposed a four-story affordable housing building at the southeast corner of 46th and Spruce, where the former Transition to Independent Living Center building is located (pictured). The building was damaged in a fire in 2011 and since then has been shuttered and slowly deteriorating.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at the Spruce Hill Center (257 S. 45th St).

UPDATE (12/16/2014): Here’s the agenda for tonight’s meeting:

• Enrollment
• Support of K-12 education
• Ongoing Engagement activities
• Campus Master Planning
• Call for university – community collaboration ideas

(12/15/2014): University of the Sciences (USciences) is reaching out to the local community by hosting a regular public meeting every three months. In a message circulated via email, USciences president Dr. Helen Giles-Gee writes that “as a member of our community, University of the Sciences recognizes that it’s important that we communicate with each other and share information.”

At the quarterly meetings, university leadership will provide updates on new and ongoing projects and “will seek your feedback on ways in which we may work together for the betterment of our community.”

The first community meeting will take place this Tuesday (Dec. 16) at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the McNeil Science and Technology Center (43rd and Woodland, see map here). Light refreshments will also be served.

It’s not clear whether the meeting will include information and discussion of the university’s recent purchase of the former Wilson Elementary School building at 46th and Woodland, which it plans to convert into student housing (read more here).