"The purpose of it is to understand the relationship of projects to the public realm and to articulate a level of design excellence about what is good for the city as a whole, which we think has been conspicuously missing from a lot of these discussions to date," said new Planning Commission Executive Director Alan Greenberger, who drafted the plan (which was not made available to the public at the meeting).
Greenberger said design review would be used only for major projects, such as those that exceed 100,000 square feet or those requiring extensive zoning variances. Projects that can be built as a matter of right, without zoning variances or other special city approvals, would not be required to participate.
At yesterday's meeting, Greenberger said he would seek feedback on his proposal in January and February, including public hearings. Greenberger, who hopes to have the board up and running by the spring, said the new board needs only the approval of senior Nutter administration officials and the Planning Commission to be created. No City Council vote is required.
If the board does its job well, it could dramatically change the way big projects get built in Philadelphia. Over the last few decades, major developments have gone through a sort of ad hoc design-review process, where plans are tweaked at civic association meetings, in City Council offices, in front of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Mayor Nutter wants to consolidate that process, and put it in the Planning Commission's hands. Creating a formal design-review board - and asking developers and community members to hash out their differences before the board - would certainly increase the Planning Commission's clout.
