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The strange case of Chestnut Hill v dialysis center
A strange, complicated, battle played out in City hall today.
The strange case of Chestnut Hill v dialysis center
A strange, complicated, battle played out in City hall today.
On the one hand, it seemed to pit a group of residents fighting for their neighborhood against the cold, machinery of city politics; on the other, it showed residents fighting for a cause so particular and so hard to understand that it wasn't clear what, exactly, the real conflict was over in the first place.
For days, I've been getting emails from a number of Chestnut Hill residents knows as the Chestnut Hill Residents Association regarding an apparently-controversial dialysis center to be built on a currently-vacant property near Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill.
The strange thing is that the center isn't really controversial: its hours are — and only by nine hours.
In a nutshell (summary thanks to a detailed article in the Mt. Airy Independent): Major international dialysis operator Fresenius Medical bought the vacant building with the intention of developing it into a dialysis center. Neighbors raised concerns over the hours of operation, particularly night hours, requesting that the center operator put in writing that the center would operate only from 6 am to 6 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Eventually the Zoning Board of Adjustments granted a needed zoning variance with the restricted hours in writing as part of the deal. But then the developer hired power attorney Carl Primavera, who — somehow — managed to get the ZBA to reverse its decision about the hours without another hearing. According to the Mt. Airy Independent, his missive to the ZBA contained letters of approval from Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and other city officials.
The residents sued, but, before they could have their day in court, Councilwoman Miller then a bill that would allow spot zoning for the property, to be heard in Committee today, well in advance of any court dates.
Now the residents are mad as hell: they feel betrayed both by the developer and by the city, which they say let a powerful player rig the game in favor of his client, and at the expense of regular residents who fought fair and square.
Which brings us to today's Council hearing. Members of the Residents Association and Primavera showed up to make their case. Primavera said his client shouldn't have to promise not to keep night hours. Residents say the democratic process has been hijacked.
But (and here's where it gets even more complicated)The main question on the minds of Council members — why the hours made a difference anyway — didn't seem to have a clear answer.
It isn't hard to understand why neighbors would be angry over having their local victory trumped by power and politics, but it is more difficult to understand why the thing they're fighting over in the first place — an extra 9 hours of business per week— matters.
"Our greatest concern is that they lied to us originally about hours of operation and have since put on a full course political press with expensive legal/lobbyist support to win what seems a minor point," wrote resident Peter Burke to me in an email, "so what else are they keeping secret?"
Fair enough: but one comment from a resident in today's hearing made CP wonder if there aren't other, unstated issues here. Referring to a neaby ironworks, the resident noted that "They stop working at 5 pm and go home." As to another nearby business, he noted that its workers "don't stay here at night."
Clearly, this battle has symbolic value to the neighborhood residents waging it. But is it possible there's a NIMBY dread of outsiders — especially coming into the neighborhood, at night — at play as well?
Let's face it: dialysis centers in this city attract a crowd that skews ... not toward the gentry. And the idea of night hours isn't a light one for patients: dialysis takes hours, and patients with day jobs will rely on night hours to keep their jobs.
Not surprisingly, meanwhile, (on neighborhood issues, Council members almost always defer to the judgment of the Councilperson whose district it is) — the zoning variance passed out of committee.
Chestnut Hill residents, mayb you can fill us in: why the big deal over night hours?
tricky issue, tricky situation. It's fair to question all possibilities of NIMBY concerns---the good ones and the possibly not so good. One way to look at it is, there are other businesses along the Avenue that operate into the evening and that's regarded as positive for the neighborhood. So this block is different. But what if another business wanted to move in with evening hours for services more appealing or useful to neighbors? Would they still object? On the flip side, the power politics of special interests cannot be ignored either. And there's a subtle issue related to complex problems of public health and health care reform which is the possibility that dialysis centers are not just a sign or symptom of an urgent health need in the community but that dialysis has funding advantages that other health problems don't get. Meaning, that dialysis is different from other health care services in the way that it's funded and there are concerns that financial incentives favor dialysis, which can be a treatment for preventable late complications from other diseases made worse by lack of funding for other, better but inaccessible health care services. It's very fair to consider the role of dialysis in our for-profit health care system. However, I don't think that's a major reason why the neighbors are objecting. And, restricting the hours of operation won't solve the nation's health care problems. But it's an important aspect of the whole issue, particularly in a city with such very high rates of diabetes.
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[...] The strange case of Chestnut Hill v dialysis center :: The Clog ... But then the developer hired power attorney Carl Primavera, who — somehow — managed to get the ZBA to reverse its decision about the hours without another hearing. According to the Mt. Airy Independent, his missive to the ZBA contained . [...]
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