Zoned Out

February 14, 2007

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

by Daniel Campo
Philadelphia City Paper, Feb 14, 2007

Zoning is the arcane and complicated set of municipal laws, processes and map that controls land use and development. Only a handful of planners, architect and attorneys have any real sense of how it works. But travel to almost an Philadelphia neighborhood these days, where residents are none too happy wit recent or proposed development projects, and you'll hear plenty about zoning an the people involved with it

In Fairmount, zoning allowed for the Barnes Tower, a proposed 47-story condominium, which residents complain will dwarf more modestly scaled buildings and add to traffic in the area.

Scale is also an issue with Yaron Properties' condominium proposal for 218 Arch St. in Old City. But here, it's not the zoning itself but the process by which developers can obtain a variance to supersede zoning. (Ten variances approved by the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Appeals this past September will allow Yaron to construct a 265-foot building in a district that has a 65-foot height limit.)

In Northern Liberties, a proposed zoning change will facilitate developer Marc Stein's proposed 915-foot residential and hotel tower and its adjacent 15-story parking garage. The controversial project would also potentially spoil the larger waterfront planning efforts for the Delaware.

Parking is an issue in the Graduate Hospital area, where zoning has failed to prevent developers from constructing houses with garage fronts that take away precious spots from the street and contribute to a lack of security on neighborhood sidewalks.

As the city welcomes back badly needed development — at a scale and intensity that has not been seen in decades — discontent, dispiritedness and accusations of political impropriety are everywhere. Yet the development community — those who must regularly deal with zoning — are equally dissatisfied. A recent report by the Building Industry Associuation of Philadelphia says that the city's zoning is "cumbersome and difficult to use." It claims the 47-year-old code has driven up the cost of development and that it is nearly impossible to build modern housing in the city without a variance.

Last week, City Council took concrete steps to address this situation. It unanimously approved a measure sponsored by Councilman Frank DiCicco that will place a referendum on the May ballot on whether to create a Philadelphia Zoning Commission. If approved, the commission would be charged with rewriting the 600-plus-page code and redrawing all the maps that go with it.

"The Philadelphia zoning code at times empowers communities and other times allows developers to run rampant over communities," says Brian Abernathy, a legislative aide for DiCicco, whose sprawling waterfront district includes 218 Arch, Stein's tower in Northern Liberties, as well as the two planned Delaware Avenue casinos.

Abernathy estimates that City Council staff members spend 50 percent of their time dealing with development proposals, many of which involve levels of technical expertise exceeding their abilities. He sees the tasks of the 31-member commission as bringing more transparency and simplicity to the system and providing for greater opportunities for community input. Many members of the development community are also seeking more fairness.

"The current complexity and outdatedness of the zoning and building system favors the inside players and larger developers that can hire the top lawyers," says Philadelphia architect George Claflen. "In other words, it favors deals."

Claflen, who directed the creation of the Design Advocacy Group's "Reform Agenda," is optimistic that the commission will consider some of the Group's recommendations, which include measures to bring predictability to the system and allow more projects to move forward without variances or protracted community battles. He says "this will open up the system" and allow for smaller and different developers to build.

Abernathy says that a new system can balance the needs of the neighborhoods with the needs of the city for development. He also sympathizes with many developers who suffer from the perception that they can "buy themselves through the development process." He says the reality is, "There are a lot of great developers in Philadelphia doing a lot of great work, but our system definitely allows that perception to occur."

If approved, the commission's work would be done in two phases. The first, which could be completed by the end of 2008, would involve rewriting the code and developing new zoning districts. Then, the commission would map the new zoning districts over the entire city. Given the enormity of the task and the potential for controversy as the zones are applied to individual neighborhoods, Abernathy acknowledges that the second phase "is going to take a lot longer." (A similar effort to revamp the Chicago zoning code took nearly 10 years.)

But Claflen views the potentially rancorous debate as "a great opportunity because it is essentially a planning process."

"It's the first step in re-planning the entire city," says Abernathy. "It should be contentious."