City Councilman Brian O’Neill last week spoke at the Fox Chase Town Watch and Civic Association meeting, providing an update on the Medical Mission Sisters property at 8400 Pine Road.
The religious order wants to sell the property and use proceeds to care for ailing, aging Sisters and to pay for its mission in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Sisters outlined their proposal at a civic meeting in October 2021. The developer proposed 549 housing units – 431 apartments and 118 townhouses. Civic members expressed concerns about traffic, rainwater runoff and an apartment glut in the neighborhood.
More recently, a law firm and developer asked O’Neill to meet about the property. Much to the surprise of the lawyer and developer, the councilman invited the Fox Chase civic board. The Sisters were not present.
The property consists of 24 acres in Abington and 21 acres in Philadelphia. O’Neill said the developer proposed 98 single homes. While the councilman was not opposed to that plan – which could only move forward if O’Neill introduced new street ordinances – he will not give the go ahead because no plans were presented for the buildings located in Abington. Any final project, he said, must include a negligible impact on traffic.
An Abington official was at the meeting and is on the side of O’Neill and the civic, according to the councilman.
In other news from the Jan. 14 meeting:
• The group heard from representatives of the design, construction and traffic divisions on the city Department of Streets. They discussed the pending $5 million reconstruction of the Pine Road Bridge over the Lorimer Trail. Construction is expected to begin in late summer and take a year. There will be pedestrian and vehicle detours. Civic members were concerned about the plan to detour traffic onto Susquehanna Road. Members noted that, in a previous construction project in the area, vehicles were diverted to Bloomfield Avenue. Councilman O’Neill agreed with members that a four-way stop sign is needed at Pine and Susquehanna roads.
• Community relations officers Mark Mroz, of the 2nd Police District, and Al Fiorentino, of the 7th district, addressed the group.
Mroz said crime was down in the district in 2025, except for retail theft and stolen autos. The district has increased the number of car stops and stops for truant and curfew violations. There was a domestic-related double homicide on Jan. 1 on the 7100 block of Oakland St., and a man was shot to death in a targeted attack in his tow truck on Jan. 11 on the 2100 block of Knorr St. Mroz said there seems to be a “turf war” among some tow truck operators.
Fiorentino said an arrest was made in a recent residential burglary on the 8200 block of Ferndale St. He also said an arrest was made in Darby of a man wanted in the shooting death of another man on the 800 block of Emerson St. on Thanksgiving.
• Steve Phillips, president of Fox Chase Town Watch, has invited Wawa’s head of security and a representative of the corporate office to next month’s meeting. Phillips has been concerned with retail thefts at the Wawa at 7913-29 Oxford Ave. Mroz, the 2nd district CRO, has also noticed retail thefts at various Wawa stores. He said Wawa security guards, in general, “don’t do anything.”
Phillips also reported arrests were made in the September shooting of a female Archbishop Ryan student at Fox Chase Recreation Center and in the three armed robberies in November of the Exxon “K-Shop” at 7980 Verree Road. The alleged shooter at the rec is a 15-year-old boy.
• Feast of Justice, with sites at 3101 Tyson Ave. and 6434 Castor Ave., offers monthly canned goods, produce, frozen meats, bakery items and home essentials. There are no income requirements. To register, go to feastofjustice.org/registration. To volunteer or donate or for more information, call 215-268-3510.
• Kate Friend, the civic president, presented a gift bag to Linda Higgins, the group’s former corresponding secretary, for creating a comprehensive spreadsheet that includes updated neighborhood zoning and remapping information.
• Northeast Regional Library, 2228 Cottman Ave., offers free professional headshots on the third Monday and Tuesday of the month, from 4-6 p.m. Call 215-685-0522.
Holmesburg Library, 7810 Frankford Ave., will host an SAT crash course on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 4 p.m. Call 215-685-8756. ••
