If activists can’t halt the building of a controversial North Philly public safety complex, they want a say in designing it

Last month the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) unanimously approved a use variance to construct the the North Central Public Safety Complex at 2100 Diamond St. in the Diamond Street Historic District.

For about 25 North Philadelphia residents who gathered at the Cecil B. Moore Library on Saturday afternoon, that approval signaled the long fight to halt the construction of the 22nd District police headquarters on Diamond Street is essentially over. However, their battle to ensure that the city includes community voices in the design and building of the complex has just begun.

» READ MORE: The Zoning Board helps clear another hurdle for a controversial new police station in North Philly

The ZBA joined the Board of License and Inspection Review, which in November voted to uphold the May decision by the Philadelphia Historical Commission also approving the plans for the safety complex.

In 2020, the Historical Commission denied the proposal to place the police district on Diamond Street, claiming the city hadn’t “engaged the public sufficiently.” Commission members also agreed with residents that the project wasn’t a good fit for the neighborhood.

That vote came in the wake of the mass protest of the George Floyd killing in 2020 that set off a call to defund police budgets. During a meeting in June of that year, about 130 people, concerned about policing practices, came out to oppose the project.

At the time, Jacqueline Wiggins, a retired educator and fierce opponent of locating the safety complex in a historic district, thought the idea of moving the police district to Diamond Street had died with the Historical Commission’s denial.

“The other sites that the city looked at, why were they dismissed?” Wiggins asked.

Instead, the plan was reworked — a Police Athletic League (PAL) center and other community amenities were added to the design — renamed the North Central Public Safety Complex, and successfully resubmitted.

With this latest approval, the city is now free to build the $32.5 million building on what is now a vacant lot. A timetable on when construction might begin is unclear, according to people familiar with the project.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia Historical Commission decision to approve controversial 22nd Police District upheld in appeal

“So far there is no stopping it. That’s what we are being told. The city is entitled to use this land as they see fit,” said Lysa Monique Jenkins-Hayden, founder of the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood and Homeowners Association.

The group that Wiggins dubbed Advocates for Change in North Central agreed the existing 22nd District building was in poor physical shape and needed to be replaced.

“I have been working out of the 22nd police district for five years. The building is deteriorating, has sewage backups and rodent issues. Even though we have a good cleaning staff and they clean very well, the building is old and deteriorated,” said Kenneth T. Walker Jr., assistant program manager for Police-Assisted Diversion (PAD).

Now the group of advocates is pivoting to develop a list of design demands, starting with a more transparent and inclusive community engagement process.

“All the RCOs that that are in the 22nd police district should determine what we are able to do if there is no recourse with the building that is being forced upon us,” Jenkins-Hayden said. RCOs or registered community organizations are neighborhood-based groups that focus on their community’s physical development.

Block captain Gail Loney, of the 2200 block of North Lambert Street, is concerned about the congestion, noise, trash and parking issues the public safety complex will bring to her neighborhood.

Darnetta Arce, executive director of the Lower North Philadelphia CDC, has long been in favor of locating the complex on Diamond Street but is not a fan of its proposed onsite fueling system: “I don’t know why we need to have a fueling system when we have one right at 26th and Glenwood Avenue. Why not have police officers go to that fueling station?”

City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., newly elected to represent the 5th District, listened to this first set of demands and said that he wanted to work with the director of public property to conduct environmental, parking and traffic impact studies before the facility is built.

But members added more to that list. Jenkins-Hayden, who wants mental health services provided at the safety complex, suggested a trauma and wellness assessment. Loney added lighting and air pollution studies. Young told the group he had to wait until a new head of public property was appointed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

But Wiggins, even as she plans the March meeting for the group, admits she isn’t convinced the safety complex on Diamond Street is a done deal.

“I’ll never see it as a done deal because the ground hasn’t been broken,” she said.