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SYNDICATE CONTENTCitizens Agenda: Planning and Zoning
Nov. 25, 2007
Much is made of William Penn’s celebrated street grid, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and the making of Society Hill. But let’s face it: Despite these landmark achievements, city planning has not been Philadelphia’s strong suit for a very long time.
Cities like Portland, Boston and Chicago have left us in the dust kicked up by their grand projects. They’ve busily reclaimed their waterfronts, reformed their zoning laws, fostered green design, and attracted international development dollars.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, wasted years praying over cursed tracts such as Penn’s Landing. Here, we pit communities against developers, and scare off investment with our backroom political culture. We starve our planning commission of funds and staff.
No doubt about it: We’ve rested on our planning laurels. We’ve slept and snored. And we’ve come to accept a degraded public sphere as a fact of life.
Luckily, the legacy bequeathed us by long-ago decisions – walkable neighborhoods, gracious architecture and a compact downtown – now are seen as major assets by a nation rediscovering city life. A 50-year trend of population loss is leveling off; the value of the average Philly home jumped 30 percent in the first five years of this decade.
Suddenly, Philadelphia is planning again: More than 1,000 people jammed the Convention Center for the recent unveiling of a new waterfront master plan. A new Zoning Code Commission has begun a rewrite of that tangled document. The city is at work on a bold GreenPlan for open space, and Mayor-elect Michael Nutter has pledged to reinvigorate urban planning.
A new era beckons. But where to begin?
The No. 1 Priority: Embrace the Central Delaware Riverfront Plan.
Why it matters:
The 1,100 acres along the central Delaware River are the city’s biggest development opportunity, and its worst planning mess. Working with broad public support, planners from the University of Pennsylvania have done a visionary plan to reunite the city with its river, spawning new neighborhoods, jobs and parks.
The 1,100 acres along the central Delaware River are the city’s biggest development opportunity, and its worst planning mess. Working with broad public support, planners from the University of Pennsylvania have done a visionary plan to reunite the city with its river, spawning new neighborhoods, jobs and parks.
What to do:
Protect the riverfront while the detail work to carry out the broad plan gets done. Otherwise, a forest of disconnected towers could sprout along the river, undermining the vision. Incorporate the vision’s ideas into the new zoning code, and if necessary, pass an interim zoning overlay to preserve goals such as a riverfront trail and pedestrian-friendly design. Map out the new riverfront street grid called for in the plan. Set up a new public or nonprofit agency to carry out the riverfront vision.
Protect the riverfront while the detail work to carry out the broad plan gets done. Otherwise, a forest of disconnected towers could sprout along the river, undermining the vision. Incorporate the vision’s ideas into the new zoning code, and if necessary, pass an interim zoning overlay to preserve goals such as a riverfront trail and pedestrian-friendly design. Map out the new riverfront street grid called for in the plan. Set up a new public or nonprofit agency to carry out the riverfront vision.
Near-term actions
Blooper backstop:
Create a design review commission to help prevent architectural bloopers from getting built. Baltimore and Boston get better buildings with architectural advisory boards. We can, too.
Create a design review commission to help prevent architectural bloopers from getting built. Baltimore and Boston get better buildings with architectural advisory boards. We can, too.
Don’t stack the code:
Be clear from the outset that the zoning-code rewrite must balance community and developer interests, not throw the advantage to one side. Open a broad public conversation, and don’t skip the basics. Use that dialogue to decide first what civic principles the new zoning rules should encode.
Be clear from the outset that the zoning-code rewrite must balance community and developer interests, not throw the advantage to one side. Open a broad public conversation, and don’t skip the basics. Use that dialogue to decide first what civic principles the new zoning rules should encode.
Plan for the whole city:
Begin a citywide plan now, engaging all communities, as a proper basis for the new zoning code. The city hasn’t done a truly comprehensive plan for 40 years. The recent system of letting some neighborhoods draft their own plans ignores that not every area can afford to hire its own planners.
Begin a citywide plan now, engaging all communities, as a proper basis for the new zoning code. The city hasn’t done a truly comprehensive plan for 40 years. The recent system of letting some neighborhoods draft their own plans ignores that not every area can afford to hire its own planners.
Call in the pros:
Reserve some seats on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for design professionals. End its reputation for arbitrary judgments.
Reserve some seats on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for design professionals. End its reputation for arbitrary judgments.
Bet against the (state) house:
Casinos may have the odds on their side, but keep up the pressure to relocate the two slated for the riverfront. At the very least, fight hard to revise Foxwoods’ oppressive, big-box design.
Casinos may have the odds on their side, but keep up the pressure to relocate the two slated for the riverfront. At the very least, fight hard to revise Foxwoods’ oppressive, big-box design.
Appoint a development czar:
Name a coordinator to ride herd from the mayor’s office on the alphabet soup of agencies that have a hand in approving developments. The goal: Ensure the fairness and predictability that quality builders expect.
Name a coordinator to ride herd from the mayor’s office on the alphabet soup of agencies that have a hand in approving developments. The goal: Ensure the fairness and predictability that quality builders expect.
Long-term efforts
Embrace 21st-century zoning:
Ditch the complicated mathematics of conventional zoning for a new “form-based” code, one that starts with how a building meets the street, defines public space, and matches its context. The benefit? Peace in our time between neighbors and developers.
Ditch the complicated mathematics of conventional zoning for a new “form-based” code, one that starts with how a building meets the street, defines public space, and matches its context. The benefit? Peace in our time between neighbors and developers.
Build greener:
Build incentives into the code to reward energy-efficient design. Reduce parking requirements for new developments to encourage the use of transit and your own two feet. Encourage mixed-use development within walking distance of transit stations. With oil topping $100 a barrel, cities are the sites of a sustainable future.
Build incentives into the code to reward energy-efficient design. Reduce parking requirements for new developments to encourage the use of transit and your own two feet. Encourage mixed-use development within walking distance of transit stations. With oil topping $100 a barrel, cities are the sites of a sustainable future.
Save the middle-class house:
Philly construction costs are the fourth highest in the nation. Luxury builders can handle those costs, but middle-income homes don’t get built without public subsidy. Here, the unions must step up for their city, offering the lower rates they charge in the competitive suburbs.
Philly construction costs are the fourth highest in the nation. Luxury builders can handle those costs, but middle-income homes don’t get built without public subsidy. Here, the unions must step up for their city, offering the lower rates they charge in the competitive suburbs.
Continue abated:
Keep the 10-year tax abatementfor new construction and renovation. It works, and it can serve the whole city.
Keep the 10-year tax abatementfor new construction and renovation. It works, and it can serve the whole city.
Finish the Parkway:
Building on the excellent renovations of Logan Circle and Aviator Park, make the Parkway less of a highway and more of what the Center City District calls “an animated cultural campus” that welcomes pedestrians, instead of scaring the heck out of them. New buildings, restaurants and the arrival of the Barnes art collection will help.
Building on the excellent renovations of Logan Circle and Aviator Park, make the Parkway less of a highway and more of what the Center City District calls “an animated cultural campus” that welcomes pedestrians, instead of scaring the heck out of them. New buildings, restaurants and the arrival of the Barnes art collection will help.
Make no small plans:
Let ambition become the city’s byword as it rethinks public spaces. By some analyses, every $1 of public money put into public amenities can trigger $12 in private investment. What transformative projects could propel Philadelphia’s growth for the next 40 years?
Let ambition become the city’s byword as it rethinks public spaces. By some analyses, every $1 of public money put into public amenities can trigger $12 in private investment. What transformative projects could propel Philadelphia’s growth for the next 40 years?
Ideas from citizen forums
Civic exchange:
Start field trips for civic leaders. One neighborhood hosts another. A knowledge clearinghouse to link neighborhood leaders who know how to handle development with those who don’t.
Start field trips for civic leaders. One neighborhood hosts another. A knowledge clearinghouse to link neighborhood leaders who know how to handle development with those who don’t.
Finish NTI:
Don’t lose momentum from the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. Continue programs to maintain cleared lots and spruce up commercial corridors. We’ve seen the bulldozers. Now bring on the bricklayers.
Don’t lose momentum from the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. Continue programs to maintain cleared lots and spruce up commercial corridors. We’ve seen the bulldozers. Now bring on the bricklayers.
Boot the casinos:
Most residents of river wards fear casinos could ruin the city – or at least their hard-won property values.
Most residents of river wards fear casinos could ruin the city – or at least their hard-won property values.
Play something else:
Public confidence in City Hall’s ability to shape development has been seriously harmed by pay-to-play debacles like the last round of Penn’s Landing shakedowns. An era of no scandals is desperately needed.
Public confidence in City Hall’s ability to shape development has been seriously harmed by pay-to-play debacles like the last round of Penn’s Landing shakedowns. An era of no scandals is desperately needed.
