Master Plan Proposed for Philly's Society Hill

"The Society Hill Civic Association has presented a new master plan [pdf] to the city’s Planning Commission," reports Jake Blumgart.

The plan presents "both an innovative way to manage the open space that laces throughout the neighborhood of well-kept circa-19th-century rowhouses and a more familiar zoning proscription -- downzone everything," according to Blumgart. Design guidelines are also included.

As noted in the article, Society Hill is one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city, transformed by urban renewal led by Edmund Bacon in the middle of the 20th century.

"The wish list for that overlay is extensive but would basically downzone a substantial portion of Society Hill. For example, the civic association seeks to purge much of the RM-1 multifamily zoning from the single-family rowhouse blocks, a designation that dates to before the urban-renewal program, when many townhouses were carved into rooming houses or small apartment buildings," explains Blumgart in more detail about the plan.