Development Workshop reacts to ZCC’s draft of zoning code

Check out the Development Workshop’s 38-page analysis of the consolidated draft of the proposed zoning code – a process that has been in the works for nearly four years.

The report, turned in on the last day of the period reserved for public comment, was prepared by Craig Schelter, a respected economic development and planning official in Philadelphia, on behalf of a strictly private group of local landowners.

Editorial Note: (The Development Workshop, whose members are made up of former city planners, developers, real estate attorneys and experts in matters concerning the built environment, is a little known entity in terms of membership and individual opinion despite repeated requests by PlanPhilly for access to its members and their concerns.)

That said, the Workshop has a lot to say about the unique nature of planning and development in this most seminal United States city in terms of design heritage. The Workshop is particularly concerned about the lack of a comprehensive plan that would direct zoning reform, the complexity of the code rewrite, the impact the new code would have on development in the city and the review and rollout timeline of the code revisions.

Generally the group feels more time should be allotted for the basic code rewrite – given the state of the real estate market – and what its members consider fundemental  – but problematic – changes to how the built environment could function in the future in Philadedphia.

PlanPhilly reporter Nick Gilewicz, who is covering the zoning reform effort, will sit down with Schelter later this month in order to flesh out the Workshop’s point-by-point concerns about the code rewrite.

Read the Workshop’s full report here in PDF form.

Contact the reporter at mgolas@design.upenn.edu

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