Philadelphia’s New Zoning Code

Philadelphia citizens are active in this year’s planning for a new zoning code reform. The previous code has not been updated in over 50 years and residents are ready to see these changes  implemented with the new development of the city. After the recent creation of a Zoning Code Commission, public and community meetings are being held in various areas of the city to encourage input from the people who live here.

“I’ve lived in Philadelphia all my life and my home is very old. The current code suggests that my house does not comply with the regulations within the zoning code, but the code is so outdated that my house predates those requirements listed ,” said Sheryl Lou, a 28-year resident of South Philadelphia’s neighborhood. “So updating the code will make life for homeowners like myself much easier especially regarding home improvement and renovations. That’s why I’ve gotten involved with the civic meetings.

Residents have expressed various concerns with the draft of the new code. Stakeholder groups throughout Philadelphia have also been involved in making sure the new revisions are relevant and applicable to all areas of the city. Rachel Vasser, the Philadelphia Outreach coordinator of Penn Future, expressed her organizations personal involvement in helping to move the draft forward.

“We’ve been keeping track of the process as its taken place. We’ve looked at the draft recommendations that the Zoning Code Commission has put out and we’ve offered our comments and suggestions for improvement,” said Vasser. “We have explained what we wanted to see in the code, what’s not there, how language can be improved and expanded, and how to make it more friendly and understandable for citizens. Now, the codes in this big consolidated draft and we’ll be reading that and be sending our comments out to them by October 10.”

As well as applying the criticism and suggestions from stakeholder groups, some issues that the Zoning Code Commission is currently facing involve trying to find the right balance between citizen and developer needs. Eva Gladstein,  Executive Director of the Zoning Code Commission,  expressed the desire to make the code simple enough but also compliant with the needs of residents.

“ The fine art is trying to balance the needs between a neighborhood resident living in a particular area, wanting some kind of certainty of what can be built and where in their neighborhood versus those of an investor wanting to make sure they understand what can be build in a neighborhood and having the ability to do that efficiently.”

Passyunk resident, David Pultman, is an active citizen in the zoning code process. “I think these changes are much needed and will be beneficial to the city once it’s completed. I’ve attended three of the meetings so far, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to voice my own thoughts and concerns. I’m anxious to see the outcome and see if the Commission really applies our feedback.”

Future meetings will be held within the next two months to continue drafting and eventually finalizing the new Zoning Code reform. Commission members have expressed on their website that the comments and criticism of Philadelphia residents will be incorporated into the new code and they are regularly updated to show the changes. Philadelphians can expect the new and revised code to be completed by spring 2011. For more information on the zoning code and zoning code activity, visit https://www.zoningmatters.org/.