Zoning News

The following are reprints of recent articles covering zoning matters:

Request for Qualifications for On-Call Planning Services to Support Work of the Zoning Code Commission

PCPC and ZCC Workplan Subcommittee, April 22, 2008
Read more

New Urbanism

Maryanna S. Phinn , LifeStyle Magazine (Online), March 4, 2008
Read more

Mayor Nutter Appoints New Members To Zoning Code Commission And City Planning Commission

January 18, 2008
Read more

"Citizen's Agenda: Planning and Zoning"

Great Expectations: Citizens Voices on Philadelphia's Future, November 25, 2007
Read more

Changing Skyline: He puts the "urban" back in New Urbanism

Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 2007
Read more

Zoning Can Shape the City

Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 2007
Read more

Zoning and Planning Ideas from Elsewhere

Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 2007
Read more

Changing skyline: City planners left in dark

Philadelphia Inquirer, September 20, 2007
Read more

City planning a top priority, Nutter says

Philadelphia Inquirer, September 19, 2007
Read more

Sobering words as zoning reform gets underway

Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 2007
Read more

Development as a rigged game

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 10, 2007

Citizens at forums all over the city indicated great concern about how planning, zoning and development decisions in Philadelphia seem scattershot and subject to political influence.

Zoning in on an Important Ballot Question

May 7, 2007

Letter to the Editor by Rose Gray, Vice President for Community & Economic Development, Asociacion Puertorriquenos en Marcha (APM) & Alisa Orduna Sneed, Executive Director The Partnership CDC

Vote por el bien del vecindario (Vote for the good of the neighborhood)

Al Dia, May 7, 2007
Read more

Sí, a ordenar Filadelfia (Yes, to organizing Philadelphia)

Al Dia, May 7, 2007
Read more

City says it can learn zoning from Chicago

Philadelphia Business Journal, May 4, 2007
Read more

A chance to fix the city’s broken zoning code

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 3, 2007
Read more

City zoning code is out of date

NORTHEAST TIMES, April 12, 2007
Read more

A Developing Situation. Philadelphia can feel like an obstacle course to those looking to build.

Josh Cornfield, Metro, April 9, 2007
Read more

Zoned Out

Philadelphia City Paper, February 14, 2007

In May, voters will have a chance to change development oversight.

Fix the No-Zone

Daily News, February 8, 2007

HERE'S a no-brainer: Do we want a modern city that is smartly planned and designed for the benefit of all, or a provincial backwater that gets built on favors, closed-door...

A great city needs a better plan

Philadelphia Inquirer, February 7, 2007

Philadelphia can start curing one of its worst habits tomorrow.

Vote 'yes' on zoning reform

Rick Sauer and Bill Reddish, Daily News, February 2, 2007

THEY CALL it Billy Penn's Curse, claiming that our pro sports teams have been hexed because we created special zoning that allows office buildings to rise taller than our founder's hat on City Hall.

Zoning In On Philadelphia's Code

Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer, January 8, 2007

The new Planning Commission chief will seek public input as she tackles an overhaul of the city’s byzantine regulations.

A MILLION STORIES IN THE CITY. HOW MANY ZONED? Time to rewrite the City's 'Da Vinci Code' of Development

Daily News, December 14, 2006

WE LOVE our city in all its broken, messy glory.

Editorial: A roadblock to growth

Philadelphia Inquirer, December 13, 2006

Philadelphia's Byzantine, bloated zoning code is as simple as making the decision that it's finally time to fix it.

Phila. takes a step toward updating its zoning

Patrick Kerkstra, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 7, 2006

Philadelphia's Eisenhower-era development blueprint came in for a beating at City Hall yesterday as developers, urban planners and civic activists described it as an obsolete, quirky and cumbersome system that stifles growth and allows for little to no big-picture planning.

Move for new zoning code

Mark McDonald, Daily News, December 7, 2006

After several hours of City Council testimony yesterday, the city's 44-year-old zoning code was a battered, bloody mess.

Developmentally Disabled

Philadelphia Weekly, July 19, 2006

The city needs a plan—desperately.

City's Zoning Code Trapped in a Time Warp

Editorial by Jeremy Nowak, Inquirer, October 6, 2005
Read more