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October 20, 2011
By Jared Brey
For PlanPhilly
For PlanPhilly
The Zoning Code Commission's final report on reforming the zoning code in Philadelphia must be before City Council within 30 days. Council passed a resolution Thursday officially sending recommendations to the ZCC, the third-to-last step on the charter-mandated timeline for zoning reform.
The resolution was passed along with an appendix carrying 40 proposed amendments to the Commission's preliminary report, which was issued in May. A handful of those amendments touch on issues discussed in a ZCC meeting last week. For example, the resolution recommends:
- Eliminating mandatory submission requirements for Community Benefits Agreements
- Eliminating mandatory adherence to Sky Plane controls, and giving builders an option of using either those controls or the Bulk and Massing regulations of the current code
- Allowing a district councilperson to act as a Registered Community Organization for any project in his or her district in which no RCO has jurisdiction
- Incorporating the burden-of-proof standards laid out in Bray v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of Philadelphia into the new zoning code.
ZCC Executive Director Eva Gladstein told PlanPhilly that some of the amendments were "newish," but none was particularly surprising. The Commission is not required to incorporate Council's recommendations into its final report--but Council is not required to adopt the Commission's draft of a new code either. These amendments will certainly be discussed at the next meeting of the ZCC, on Wednesday, October 26th, at 8 a.m. All ZCC meetings are open to the public.
Contact the reporter at jaredbrey@gmail.com
| Attachment | Size |
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| Council_ZCC_Resolution.10-20-11.pdf | 95.04 KB |
Comments
"- Allowing a district councilperson to act as a Registered Community Organization for any project in his or her district in which no RCO has jurisdiction"
NO, No, no!!!! Just say no! The whole point of revamping the Zoning Code and process was to remove Council from the picture entirely, to stop the rampant spot-zoning and absurd influence Council carries on land development issues. If the community is not organized enough to care about a given development, the WHOLE POINT of the Planning Commission is to act in their best interests. The Planning Commission develops the Zoning Map with the best intentions of the community, and in the Zoning Map approval process the community has a voice. Once the Map is approved, and conforms to the City Plan, any changes to it should be handled through the Zoning Appeal Board - not Council! Inserting Council back into the process simply allows them to take special interests' money again, and act in complete ignorance of the City Plan or Zoning Map.