Mar. 11
By Kellie Patrick Gates
For PlanPhilly
Members of the Central Delaware Advisory Group asked First District City Councilman Frank DiCicco Wednesday to explain why the Central Delaware zoning overlay legislation he introduced last week looks considerably different than an earlier version CDAG had reviewed.
The earlier version was closer, they said, to the Central Delaware Action Plan - a set of long-range goals for the waterfront gleaned from an 18-month public process led by PennPraxis, the clinical arm of Penn's School of Design.
CDAG, whose members represent the waterfront neighborhoods, was established to represent the public in the implementation of the plan.
DiCicco's answer boiled down to this: Others - namely, the City Planning Commission and landowners and developers with property along the riverfront - had also reviewed the legislation. And their input was also included.
"Although there may be some current concerns that meetings have taken place between my office and developers - which is factual - I personally feel that this is the right thing to do," DiCicco said.
DiCicco and his director of policy, Brian Abernathy, told the group of neighborhood representatives that their concerns about changes that allow primary use parking garages and strip mall-type development (the Planning Commission's idea) and shrinking the minimum riverside right-of-way for public access from 100 feet to 50 feet (the property owners/developers' idea) can still be addressed before the overlay legislation is passed. Amendments are very likely, Abernathy said. "This isn't final. This is a placeholder."
But many at the meeting clearly want the details to be resolved before the overlay legislation is reviewed by the Committee on the Rules, which Abernathy estimated would happen in late April or early May.
"Place holders in Philadelphia can last for 50 years," said Harris Steinberg, executive director of PennPraxis. "We need to be very clear and careful about responsibilities, requirements imbedded in this legislation."
Steven Weixler, CDAG president, said that he's seen too many proposed amendments defeated to rely on them.
DiCicco said the legislation, which he described as imperfect, needed to be introduced so landowners would take it seriously. Amendments are routine and would not be difficult, he said.
No riverfront landowners were at Wednesday's meeting, but DiCicco and CDAG agreed a joint session that included CDAG's zoning committee, landowner/developer representatives, and the councilman was needed. There are hopes of scheduling one within the next two weeks.
CDAG member Rene Goodwin said this was an important step, because all of the groups really share a common goal: Improving the riverfront.
Weixler agreed. He said the development community is very important, because they are the ones who have the ideas - and money - to make the waterfront vision real.
The groups may share a common goal, but it is clear they do not yet agree on how best to reach it.
In an interview earlier this week, Craig Schelter, executive director of Development Workshop Inc. - a non-profit whose mission is to promote real estate development in the city and a group DiCicco consulted about the overlay - said the current 50- to 100-foot setback would be too much for some properties.
The 100-foot buffer is "Not just some number we pulled out of the air to be mean to the developers," Weixler said. That's the amount of space needed to create a sense of connection with the river, he said.
CDAG members say 100 feet should be the legislated standard, and if there is need for an exception, a developer should have to prove it.
Abernathy said he suspects there will be an amendment regarding the setback, but it would have been difficult to introduce the legislation with the original 100 feet intact.
"The backlash would have been significant enough we might not have survived it," he said.
CDAG member John Scorsone questioned why DiCicco was trying to please riverfront landowners who have had their properties for decades without building anything there.
"They've had no regulations and they couldn't get it built," he said. "Doesn't that tell you something? It tells me they're speculators."
"There's no doubt in my mind that some were speculating. They were speculating on gaming," Abernathy said.
"That's right," Scorsone replied. "So why are we catering to these guys?"
Scorsone said even 100 feet isn't enough. Places like New York and New Jersey are now ratcheting up their waterfront right-of-way requirements to 300 feet, he said. "We have the opportunity to start there," he said, but the current version of the overlay made it seem like the city was about to go backward instead.
Abernathy said that other places upped the requirement after development had already started and they had waterfront momentum.
The changes to the legislation that would allow strip-mall type structures and primary use parking garages on the west side of Delaware Avenue/Columbus Boulevard came from the Planning Commission, Abernathy said.
"Jefferson garage is a poster child for why a garage as a primary use should not be allowed on either side of the street," Steinberg said. "It sucks the life out" of the neighborhood.
The Planning Commission agrees with The Vision that non-vehicular modes of transport to the waterfront should be encouraged, Abernathy said, but the reality is that right now, cars are the main way to get there, particularly for people traveling from out of town.
CDAG member Caryn Hunt said the emphasis should be placed on getting people to the waterfront in other ways right from the start. "It's a bold vision," she said, and it needs bold action.
City Planners don't want Washington Avenue-style strip malls, Abernathy said, but they want to keep the opportunity for developments like the Santa Monica Pier.
What's to keep parking garages and strip malls from getting out of hand? The same body that would decide on the appropriate river set-backs and other details of the overlay: The Planning Commission.
Some at the meeting questioned whether too much discretion was being given to the that body. Abernathy said the Commission was the proper place for decisions to be made. The trouble with Philadelphia has been that the Planning Commission has had almost no power, and the Zoning Board has had too much.
For the life of the overlay, every development would go before the Commission, which must also review the overlay legislation before City Council votes on it.
At the request of the development community and property owners, the current version of the bill also gives the Commission 180 days to develop a set of guidelines and expectations upon which their decisions will be based.
Abernathy said his expectation is those guidelines will be grounded in the principles and goals of the Action Plan for the Central Delaware. The mayor has already endorsed the plan, and the Planning Commission will review it April 21.
Planning Commission Executive Director Alan Greenberger could not be reached for comment. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Commerce Andy Altman said it was Greenberger who studied the proposed legislation, and referred specific questions to him.
But Altman said because the Planning Commission will review all projects, he was not overly concerned about the details in the overlay legislation.
In 14 to 16 months, the city will have a master plan for green space and public access along the Delaware River and that master plan will lead to permanent zoning legislation, he said. RFPs seeking a project manager to lead the master plan process are expected to go out within weeks.
The overlay "is interim zoning, put in place while the master plan is completed," he said, and it's in that master plan that the details must really be sweated.
CDAG described Wednesday's meeting as a good start, but said there was still much more work to be done.
In addition to the meeting with the waterfront property owners, a second session of the full CDAG group and DiCicco has also been set, for March 25.
There was not time to delve very deep into many overlay issues important to CDAG, including details about public access to the water.
Contact the reporter at kelliespatrick@gmail.com
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