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New zoning should protect neighborhoods but changes must be enforced

10/29/2009 | 

ZCC Public Outreach Session 

zcc-october-27Residents and community leaders met in South Philadelphia and the Northeast to speak out on draft recommendations for the city’s new zoning code. Participants at both meetings liked the idea of having clear and more stringent rules about what can happen in their neighborhoods, but are concerned about potential loopholes and whether the ZBA will stick to the new code. “We need to know exactly what the code says and how it will be enforced,” they said. “The details can help or hurt us.” Those that read the full 92-page report on recommendations described ”reducing community involvement as a theme throughout the document.”

The meetings were structured to get public feedback on specific recommendations. Participants at these two sessions chose to focus on when and how neighborhood meetings should be called, improving public notification requirements, standards designed to protect neighborhoods, and simplifying the approval process for all. In general, the public wants zoning to preserve community character, address conflicts between uses, improve access to information, and ensure meaningful community input. Many participants think the city should take on the responsibility of notifying neighbors about proposed projects, but want the developer to foot the costs as part of the application process. They want a uniform set of rules for conducting public meetings in all neighborhoods, so that both community leaders and developers can be prepared to discuss the “nitty-gritty.” Although most would like to have an opportunity to comment on any project in their neighborhood if they want, one participant reminded the group about the limit of public influence on development decisions. “A community meeting is not a democratic process. There are rights to be protected on both sides and we need to remember that.”

Other items on participants’ wish lists: a better and timelier online notification system for applications, perhaps posting by zip code; updated notices on second hearings; zoning that encourages sustainability; regulations on how landscape maintenance issues will be enforced; limitations on street-front garages; more open space designations; and stricter rules about how illegal development is handled.

The last in this series of public outreach meetings will be held Thursday at the Temple University Student Faculty Center, 3340 N. Broad Street, from 6 to 8 PM. Click here to review the draft recommendations and go to www.zoningmatters.org to take a survey and provide additional comments.

Zoning Watch 2009 Archives

ZCC

ZBA

General Zoning

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