Philadelphia zoning code overhaul effort advances

Editor's Note: An element of this article has been corrected. Here is the correction that was published May 15, 2011:

A May 12 story about a meeting of Philadelphia’s Zoning Code Commission failed to mention that some of Councilman Bill Green’s remarks had been made in an interview two days earlier. In that interview, he said he thought City Council would table the new code unless the commission accepted the changes he was advocating, but he did not say he would initiate the tabling of it. Green said he was concerned about the impact of the zoning code on the entire city and had proposed phasing in the new code neighborhood by neighborhood as their land-use maps are updated, rather than adopting the code simultaneously citywide. The city’s Northeast neighborhood was not being singled out for exemption.

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The long effort to modernize Philadelphia's zoning code moved a step forward Wednesday when a citizens commission overwhelmingly rejected calls to freeze the process and voted to send a final draft to City Council.

The measure passed the Zoning Code Commission with an ample 22 votes, yet the bitter debate foreshadowed battles to come. Seven commissioners abstained, all representatives of Council members, building-trades unions, or the Northeast.

The opposition was led by at-large Councilman Bill Green and the Northeast's representative, Councilman Brian O'Neill, who have served on the commission since its inception in 2007. They say the draft contains defects and needs extensive rewriting. They also advocate a measure that would effectively delay the code's implementation for at least five more years.

"I'm a little bit more pessimistic now," Councilman Frank DiCicco, the leading legislative advocate for the new code, said after the vote. "I'm concerned [Council] may gut the legislation."

Several commissioners said they were surprised by the last-minute opposition from the two councilmen, particularly their proposal to delay the new code until all of the city's building parcels can be reclassified.

In other cities, such as Chicago, where zoning laws have been overhauled, the new code has always been adopted before the land maps were revised, said Anne Papageorge, a University of Pennsylvania vice president. "We have always agreed that this is the path we're following. It was clear from the beginning," she said.