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Source: Philadelphia Weekly
Date: July 19-25, 2006
Byline: Gwen Shaffer

Developmentally Disabled

The city needs a plan — desperately.

Patricia Freeland says she was flabbergasted when a neighbor called her to ask if she knew anything about the building permits tacked to the sprawling Best Western Motel at 22nd and Spring Garden streets. The property's owners were planning a 47-story condo tower on the site.

"I was astonished that a developer would seek permits for a major project without talking to the neighbors," says Freeland, president of the Spring Garden Civic Association.

Freeland isn't the only one upset by the prospect of the Barnes Tower, a 278-unit high-rise sprouting up alongside the Ben Franklin Parkway.

Some 500 hostile neighbors packed a community meeting with the developers — V&H Hotel Associates — in March. Most voiced opposition to the skyscraper, contending it was out of scale with the surrounding historic row houses and Parkway museums, and that its long shadow would steal their sunlight.

"I know someone who had to go to the zoning board for a variance because he was putting up a trellis taller than 6 feet," Freeland says.

More than 35 percent of building permit applications require a variance from the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I). Ironically, though, the motel property is zoned R-15, which means multifamily housing units can be built with no height limit on structures a minimum distance from the sidewalk.

"The zoning code requires only setbacks from the curb," says Jeff Jubelirer, a public relations consultant hired by V&H. "I'm not saying it's good or bad — simply a fact. We're getting beat up, and we're following the law."

How many bureaucrats does it take to change a light bulb?

Before the Center City District (CCD) could install hundreds of new lights along the Parkway, it was forced to seek approval from the Streets Department, the Fairmount Park Commission, the Art Commission, the Planning Commission and the Historical Commission.

The Building Industry Association (BIA) designed a chart illustrating the steps in a typical development process. Different color lines show that 14 agencies or boards must review certain projects.

"The chart looks like spaghetti," says CCD president Paul R. Levy.Simply throwing money at an underfunded city Planning Commission isn't a panacea, Levy says. "Philadelphia needs to link planning with implementation."

But even the best-laid plans can't be executed until the city rewrites its zoning code. The last rewrite came in 1962, when planners cared more about cars than pedestrians, and no one had dreamed of luxury condos on the waterfront. Circumstances permitting: Jefferson University Hospital built this seven-story garage at 10th and Chestnut streets after the zoning board granted it seven permit variances.

City Council has modified the code thousands of times since then — 150 amendments passed last year alone. Now we have a 624-page zoning code that incorporates roughly 15 overlays and 31 residential zoning districts. (Chicago, with nearly double Philadelphia's population, has eight residential districts.)

"The zoning process is totally fragmented," says Levy. "It needs to be modernized. But first we need a large-scale master plan that doesn't sacrifice the neighborhoods."

"The big-vision stuff is gone," agrees Jeremy Nowak, president and CEO of the Reinvestment Fund, which provides financing for neighborhood revitalization. "We've defaulted to parts."

The marketplace may be capable of supporting projects on a property-by-property basis, Nowak says, but strong planning leads to significant projects that help shape a city, like Fairmount Park, the Zoo or City Hall Plaza.

Matt Ruben, a former president of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, says he's spent literally hundreds of hours negotiating deals with developers. The point of a zoning code is to create expectations — from the street lighting and parking spaces to height. "But we have no expectations in Philly," Ruben says. "We're constantly reacting."

Barbara Kaplan, who served as executive director of the Philadelphia Planning Commission from 1983 until May 2000, says she quickly realized the Street administration saw little value in city planning.

"I knew I couldn't be effective," she says. "A lot of people left because they couldn't stand not having any power, and now the commission is chronically understaffed."

Her successor, Maxine Griffith, stuck it out for five years — long enough to collect her pension.

Gary Hack, dean of Penn's School of Design, resigned as chair of the commission in 2004, citing frustration with the outmoded zoning and preferential treatment for politically connected developers.

Though cranes jut across Philadelphia's skyline in every direction, no vision exists for what the city should look like in even five to 10 years, says Karen Black, a consultant who wrote a report on zoning reform for the BIA. "If we don't decide who we want to be, someone will do it for us."

Off the beaten track: The city demolished these train tracks, known as the "Chinese Wall," along Market Street west in 1954. Courtesy of the Temple Urban Archives When William Penn founded the city in 1682, he gave careful thought to the design of his "greene countrie towne." Penn's surveyor Thomas Holme laid out the city's cobblestone streets in a strict grid — a design emulated by scores of communities since. Holme also planned five public parks: Washington, Rittenhouse, Logan, Franklin and Center squares.

But with time, large-scale planning in Philadelphia turned slapdash. As communities like Frankford, Manayunk and Germantown developed, planning became piecemeal. Streets were paved and bridges erected with little thought to central planning.

In 1801 the city started using Center Square as a pumping station. But within a decade the water was polluted, and officials sought a safer supply. They began building the Fairmount Water Works in 1812, and the need to buffer it from industry along the upper Schuylkill River led to the creation of Fairmount Park.

When the Civil War ended, City Hall was moved to Center Square. The plan was to create a diagonal boulevard connecting it to the park. That stretch of land had become the city's backside, littered with warehouses, orphanages and the like.

Chicago hosted the World's Fair in 1893, and woke up civic leaders to the potential for cities to sparkle. A "city beautiful" movement began, and in 1908 Mayor Blankenburg revived the strong local planning tradition by initiating construction of the Ben Franklin Parkway — Philadelphia's version of the Champs Elysees, with its extravagant monuments and fountains.

The relocation of the Franklin Institute and the construction of the Rodin Museum were under way, or about to be, when the Depression hit. The stock market crash threatened the city's treasury with bankruptcy. Plans to modernize Philadelphia were quickly dashed as basic needs projects took over. By 1932 the city was focused on building subsidized housing and public works that provided jobs.

Bacon bits: Ed Bacon helped shape the modern city. Courtesy of the Temple Urban Archives During the last era of major planning in the 1950s, the highest-rated TV sitcoms — like Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best — cheerily portrayed life in the suburbs. Today reruns of Sex and the City and Friends are in constant rotation, and the most popular show about suburbia is Desperate Housewives.

Cities are experiencing a boom — which is why they face tremendous pressure to become cleaner, safer and better managed.

The Planning Commission is now working on about 10 neighborhood plans, for everything from making the city more bike-friendly to extending the Avenue of the Arts northward. But the most ambitious goal is rewriting the zoning code.

"I've worked here for 28 years and been thinking about this a long time," says acting executive director Thomas Chapman.

To push a code through City Council, the Planning Commission will need endorsements from community groups, architects, urban planners, real estate lawyers and developers. That kind of widespread buy-in is tough.

"All of these groups have different ideas about what a good code looks like," Chapman says, noting that Chicago spent $2 million to hire consultants who met with stakeholders.

"There's a cost associated with dragging this thing around the city," he says. "But we have to do it."

Carl Primavera, perhaps the most prominent real estate lawyer in town, realizes the fees he gets for navigating the chaotic zoning code has underwritten everything from his Chestnut Hill home to his son's guitar lessons. Still, he wants a rule book with "transparency, consistency and clarity."

"Everybody needs to pull back and agree to give up a little bit of power," says Primavera, a partner with Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzburg & Ellers.

Easier said than done.

During a community meeting on urban planning in May, a debate degenerated into accusations of shakedowns, incompetence and corporate greed.

City Councilman Frank DiCicco told the crowd he spends 50 percent of each day dealing with development projects. "It's way beyond my expertise," said DiCicco, whose district includes the river wards, which are now awash in proposals from prospective builders.

City Councilman Michael Nutter, who stepped down earlier this month to campaign for mayor in 2007, says planning reform is critical. "We can't continue to make planning decisions deal by deal, transaction by transaction."

City Council members publicly complain about spending too much time on development, but they may be reluctant to relinquish power and the pay-to-play opportunities that come with cutting deals for multimillion-dollar projects.

"I don't think City Council members want to get involved in every corner store or backyard fence," says Bob Rosenthal, a former executive for housing developer Westrum Corp. who's now the vice president for the Reinvestment Fund's development partners. "But they don't want to lose control."

Because local legislators routinely pass amendments to the zoning code, rules are constantly changing. An ordinance sponsored by DiCicco voided a requirement for garages on new homes — but only on some streets in his and Council President Anna Verna's districts.

That the law allows City Council members to alter the rules only in some districts is "very, very odd," says BIA consultant Karen Black. "Uniformity is the key."

Planning director Chapman agrees that "even if the best zoning code in the world falls out of the sky," local legislators will amend it. "In a couple years we could be right back where we started."

After World War II it became obvious that if Philadelphia were to thrive in a postindustrial economy, a grand plan would be necessary. The city's days as a manufacturing center were numbered. Its future depended on successfully creating service and office sectors.

In February 1943 Republican Mayor Barney Samuel appointed nine new members to the Planning Commission, and charged them with expanding the mass transit system, controlling traffic, creating playgrounds, proposing a sewage treatment system and building the original Southwest Airport.

In 1947 the Philadelphia City Planning Commission organized an exhibit at Gimbel's that touted a "new Philadelphia." It featured a room-sized model of Center City designed by a young planner named Edmund Bacon. On one side the model presented the gritty reality the city had become. Then, in dramatic fashion, it flipped to reveal a glittering vision of what Philadelphia could be. More than 400,000 people viewed the exhibit, which debuted Bacon's concept for greenways in Society Hill and a mall fronting Independence Hall. Super model: The Better Philadelphia Exhibition went on display at Gimbel's department store in 1947. Courtesy of the Temple Urban Archives

Problem was, nobody knew how to fund these projects.

But two years later the stars aligned. Bacon was named director of the Planning Commission. City Hall leaders Joe Clark and Richardson Dilworth were at the forefront of a reform movement to modernize city politics. And the Federal Housing Act of 1949 gave Philadelphia two transformative tools: the power of condemnation and subsidies for land acquisitions. The urban renewal heyday had begun.

After a decade of tweaking it, the Planning Commission unveiled a comprehensive blueprint in 1960. A remarkable number of proposals eventually became reality — Penn's Landing, the Chestnut Street Transitway and the Gallery on Market Street among them. The plan also spurred completion of Independence National Historical Park and the restoration of Society Hill.

The "Chinese Wall" that had supported train tracks to the Broad Street Station was demolished in 1954, and the Penn Center office complex rose up in its place.

Philadelphia had become a national leader in physical design. World-renowned architects were teaching at Penn. Louis Kahn, celebrated for a style simultaneously both ancient and contemporary, designed the Richards Medical Laboratory on Penn's campus. And David Wallace designed Baltimore's Inner Harbor, which revitalized the waterfront.

Bacon's face graced the cover of Time in 1964, and Life magazine devoted a cover story to his work the following year.

"A zoning code should make it easy to build projects you want and difficult to build what you don't want," consultant Karen Black says.

Variances are meant to be granted only when a property's unique characteristics — a deep slope or an adjacent railroad track, for instance — make it impossible to develop. Proposals for controversial businesses, such as strip clubs, should also trigger the variance process, Black adds.

"But that's gone out the window," laments Barbara Kaplan, the city's former planning director. "If anyone with political clout can get an exception, what good is the code?"

She cites Thomas Jefferson Hospital's seven-story parking garage that was recently completed at 10th and Chestnut streets on what was once a vibrant mixed-use block. The Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) granted the hospital seven variances, including ones for height, curb cuts and maximum vehicle capacity.

"We spent so much time testifying on the need for light and street life on Chestnut, and they gave it all away," Kaplan says, noting that it's no coincidence that Jeff is Center City's largest employer.

Some say the ZBA members have become de facto planners. For example, they now require all residential decks to be set back so you can't see them from the street. "And we said no more carry-out restaurants without eat-in tables," Auspitz says. "We want to create a sense of community."

If the ZBA is making these rules, the system is broken, asserts William P. Becker, an architect who chairs the Design Advocacy Group, a volunteer coalition that pushes for physical planning. When developers appear before a panel of mayoral appointees, "it brings political people into the process — people with no design expertise," Becker says.

Similarly, the BIA report concludes that Philadelphia's zoning code has become "a political document." Urban outfitter: Shawn Rairigh, an urban planner, is pushing for more strategic development along the Delaware River.

Auspitz takes issue with the characterizations. "The mayor has never tried to influence me in a zoning matter," he says. "He's never called me. It's wrong to propagate the myth that the ZBA is like the Traffic Court of many years ago."

Zoning board members are handpicked by mayors in most cities. But that not one professional planner sits on Philadelphia's board is "astonishingly unique," says Black.

Auspitz owned Famous Deli for decades, and was active in his Queen Village neighborhood. Attorney Judith Eden is former president of the Center City Residents Association. Rev. William Hall is Mayor Street's pastor. Eleanor Dezzi is a political consultant. And Sam Staten Jr. is president of the laborers' union.

Mayor Street's spokesperson Joe Grace counters that while the ZBA may not include planners or architects, it does have people with experience and knowledge about development.

Auspitz warns neighborhood groups to not be "fooled" by reform advocates.

"What we've got is a patchwork approach to zoning, but it's also the quilt that comforts and protects you from the cold," says Auspitz. "Fewer restrictions in the zoning code would probably benefit developers, and leave communities with fewer opportunities to participate."

Rather than rely on ZBA hearings, community groups should help rewrite the zoning code, counters lawyer Carl Primavera. "I know they're exhausted from fighting these guerrilla wars."

An old saw: Contractor Bill Reddish says the current culture of uncertainty has a ripple effect on property values. In 1972 President Nixon turned off the tap that had gushed urban renewal funds. Without federal dollars spewing into local projects, development in Center City slowed to a trickle, while single-family homes germinated like weeds in the Northeast. The Planning Commission staff dwindled to 19 professionals by 1973, down from 45 a few years earlier.

Planning Commission chair Bernard Meltzer advocated for increased spending in the neighborhoods and fewer "grand projects" in Center City. His philosophy was in line with Mayor Rizzo's populist bent.

For 91 years the massive bronze City Hall statue depicting William Penn had dominated the skyline. An unwritten rule dictated no building could reach higher than Penn's broad-brimmed hat, 491 feet above street level.

But in 1985 Willard Rouse proposed construction of Liberty Place, and the debate over the height limit sparked a broader discussion about Center City.

The William Penn Foundation paid for the Planning Commission to update the downtown master plan. Unveiled in 1988, the results were neither ambitious nor dramatic. But they did recognize the need for pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, and proposed building the Convention Center and creating a Center City District.

Philadelphia may not be winning any World Series or Super Bowls, concedes Bob Rosenthal, "but it does have a good housing market."

More than 6,000 new units have gone up since 2000, and 10,000 more are proposed.

"We just met with a guy from Toronto who's never put one brick on top of another in this town, and he wants to build here," says planning director Chapman. "Developers may complain that the zoning code is crazy, but it doesn't stop them."

That's why Pat Gillespie, business manager of the Building Trades Council, doesn't see a need to update the zoning code. "We're building more than any time in our history," he says, challenging the motives of the "investors and speculators" he believes are driving reform.

Mayoral spokesperson Joe Grace agrees that "the city's processes for planning and development are helping to manage one of the most spectacular renaissances in the city's history." Zone defense: ZBA chair David Auspitz questions the need for reform.

But the boom is causing developers to bump up against outmoded regulations.

Until the past few years most projects in Philadelphia were publicly subsidized. (Remember the spate of hotels built before the 2000 Republican convention — the Loews, the Ritz-Carlton, the Hyatt at Penn's Landing, the Courtyard by Marriott? All subsidized.) Property acquisitions and transaction costs were of less concern. But now that developers are taking on more risk, they're demanding a more efficient system.

Which explains why the BIA wrote If We Fix It, They Will Come, a detailed report on streamlining the city's development process.

BIA president Bill Reddish insists the group's call for zoning reform isn't motivated solely by self-interest.

The issues that force a developer to go before the ZBA have a ripple effect, Reddish says. The culture of uncertainty causes delays for contractors, which translates into higher costs and less productivity — both of which can indirectly impact property values and taxes.

The permit process is arduous enough that a cottage industry of expeditors has sprouted up. The 75 currently licensed expeditors research zoning rules and complete permit applications for lawyers and builders.

"When I started doing this in 1991, there were just five or six of us," says Tom Citro, who charges $300 to $400 to process a building permit.

The L&I examiners who initially review applications are "totally overwhelmed," Citro says. "People wait in the Municipal Services Building concourse for hours to see them."

And usually for naught. "People don't realize they need to bring the deed and site plans and photos. Most make three to four trips to L&I before they get it right," says Citro, who processes a minimum of 150 ZBA cases annually.

When Ed Rendell became mayor in 1992, the city was bleeding jobs and residents, and the government teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Confidence in the city was lower than the infamous Disney hole at Eighth and Market.

Some charge that Rendell neutered the Planning Commission, viewing it as an impediment to development. But Rendell's defenders say he recognized the fragmented zoning process and made a strategic decision to centralize planning in the mayor's office.

Rather than relying on master plans and studies, Rendell capitalized on his own charisma to attract projects. Either way, he instituted little systematic change, and when he vacated City Hall, so did his vision. Planning and implementation were never linked.

In Boston, the redevelopment authority, the planning commission, the housing authority, the zoning board and public financing are all arms of a single agency. In Philly, it's not apparent the five entities charged with these functions communicate regularly.

In mid-May Jared Langman's jaw dropped when he opened a condemnation letter from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. It seems the agency planned to transfer Langman's three vacant properties in Northern Liberties to developer Bart Blatstein, who wanted to build market-rate housing and stores on them.

The ZBA had already granted Langman approval to build a five-story condo on the 900 block of North Second Street. He had the architectural plans in hand, and was talking to banks about financing.

Tom Chapman says the Planning Commission has "excellent working relationships" with related agencies, and that the Home Rule Charter doesn't permit them to consolidate.

Another exceptional communication failure stands out, though.

When developers proposed building Waterfront Square six years ago, Philadelphians were desperate to see something — anything — built on the Delaware River. The Planning Commission never reviewed blueprints for the five 30-story towers that would become the largest high-rise development in the city. Before the ZBA approved permits, board members didn't demand public access to the water or much else.

Times have changed. No neighborhood has property for the taking now. And in June of last year the Planning Commission finally approved a policy requiring developers to set aside a 50-foot-wide swath of land when building along certain sections of the Delaware or Schuylkill for "unencumbered public access."

Plus, City Councilman DiCicco and state Sen. Vince Fumo are chatting up foundations they hope will fund a new nonprofit to create a master plan for the Delaware River waterfront. "The money would allow us to hire architects and planners," DiCicco says.

Sounds terrific, but isn't this the job of the Planning Commission? In fact, the commission did create a master plan for the north Delaware waterfront several years ago, says former director Kaplan. "But it's languishing on a shelf."

Handing over control to a nonprofit with no connection to citywide planning doesn't make sense, says activist Vern Anastasio, who has a long-standing rivalry with DiCicco. "Planning is already so political."

Shawn Rairigh, an urban planner and member of Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront (NABR), is concerned that Fumo and DiCicco want to hide behind a private agency. "It's a great way for elected officials to create a buffer," he alleges.

Members of NABR are demanding significant changes to a proposal to build two 36-story condo towers on the riverfront in Fishtown. Yet at a June 15 Planning Commission meeting, planning staffer Paula Brumbelow downplayed the neighbors' concerns and urged rezoning the property to ease the way for a developer.

It's too soon to say what a new zoning code would look like.

But initial recommendations call for consolidating the 31 residential zoning districts, and many are pushing for a clause to do away with the restrictions that vary from district to district and sometimes street to street.

"Contextual zoning" is also likely to be added. This is the attempt by planners — in Boston, New York, Chicago and other cities — to encourage new buildings that are compatible in scale and style with existing structures.

Philadelphia could also become part of a national trend to use zoning to influence social policy. Nearly 300 municipalities — San Diego, Boston and Washington, D.C., among them — have ordinances that require a specified share of new housing units be set aside for low-income buyers. (The average single-family home sale price in Philadelphia has doubled in the past five years, from $62,000 to $131,000.) Councilman Clarke has called for this very kind of zoning.

Some reform advocates also favor charging developers an "impact fee," typically equal to 2 percent of their entire project costs.

"If developers are putting up 150 new units on Christian Street, why shouldn't they provide money to compensate for the new potholes, traffic and noise?" asks activist Anastasio.

Mayors come into office with their own vision, and don't want professional advice, says DiCicco. "This mayor isn't charging the Planning Commission with the responsibility of a master plan."

DiCicco will likely introduce a bill creating a zoning code commission, similar to the group of experts who recommended legislative changes to Philadelphia's tax code.

Advocates for better urban planning intend to make it a major theme of the 2007 mayoral election.

"We want centralized planning and updating the zoning code to dominate the race — like population loss did in 2003," says Anastasio.

If even one mayoral candidate jumps on the issue, others will follow, predicts attorney Carl Primavera. "If we can get them to see this as a good- government issue, they have to be on board."

Center City District director Paul Levy says Philadelphia's next mayor must be a "political entrepreneur" who can capture the current momentum.

"Philadelphians spent a lot of years looking in the rearview mirror," he says. "But we've arrived at a transitional moment with the election. It's time to connect planning to implementation."

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