Move for new zoning code

December 7, 2006

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

And nobody was offering any sympathy.

In a strange convergence of opinion, developers, neighborhood activists, the Street administration and the good-government crowd all said it was time to rewrite the now-bloated code, all 624 pages of it.

Council's Law and Government Committee quickly obliged, approving a package of bills that would offer voters the chance to change the city charter and create a new Zoning Code Commission, redesign the Planning Commission and give the Planning Commission more time to do its work.

The bills are sponsored by Councilmen Frank DiCicco and James Kenney.

"The zoning code doesn't serve the needs of residents or developers," DiCicco said. "I see this process as an investment for the city. It will set the stage for where we want to see this city go."

If approved by Council and signed by Mayor Street, the charter-change question will be on the May primary ballot. The bill calls for a 29-member commission to be chaired by the Planning Commission's executive director.

By June 30, 2008, the new Code Commission would report to City Council, which would vote on the proposed code rewrite. The Planning Commission would vote up or down on the new zoning map that the Code Commission would recommend.

Gary Hack, dean of Penn's School of Design, said that the current code is "extraordinarily out of date" and that the city suffers from a reputation that it "is not a place where decisions are made fairly and expeditiously."

No other big city is working with such an old document, he said. Since the early '60s, New York City has twice revamped its code.

Janice Woodcock, the city's new executive director of the Planning Commission, noted that a 2004 study found that 40 percent of all projects submitted for zoning approval required variances.

Bill Reddish, president of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia, said the city zoning code makes no mention of computers, outpatient clinics, lofts or "live-work" spaces.

A code with 55 zoning districts and numerous neighborhood overlays has created a "dysfunctional relationship" between developers and neighborhood groups, said Paul Levy, president of the Center City District.

Facing time and cost issues in acquiring a variance, developers ask for twice as much while neighborhood groups dig their heels in, Levy said.

Developer John Westrum, who is developing thousands of housing units in the city, said he has experienced costly problems navigating the city system. Many other national developers have told him they passed on the Philadelphia market because of the "uncertainty of its zoning and development review process."

Without a new zoning code, Woodcock warned that the city faces "missed opportunities for economic development... and a diminished quality of life for city residents."