Neighborhood Rezoning Proposal at Odds With Philadelphia's Comprehensive Plan

"The Philadelphia City Planning Commission, or PCPC, is eying a rezoning plan for northern Germantown, with a focus on imposing new rules mandating developers provide parking with their projects and putting limitations on building," reports Ryan Briggs.

The "Germantown North Zoning Remapping" is currently under public review, and is clearly tailored to respond to local concerns about perceived parking problems and development in the historic neighborhood.

"Perhaps most significantly, the plan would expand an existing parking overlay along Germantown Avenue to an area between Rittenhouse to Johnson streets," reports Briggs. "The overlay mandates that any new developments that feature more than 10 units provide off-street parking lots or garages."

According to Briggs, some of the development disincentives included in the rezoning don't match the vision set forth by the citywide Philadelphia 2035 plan adopted in 2011—the first new comprehensive plan for the city in 50 years.

In its own citywide “Philadelphia 2035” planning guidelines, the City Planning Commission broadly set a goal of directing more “multifamily housing development to commercial streets and train stations” in the same area now targeted for rezoning. But parts of the proposed rezoning along Germantown Ave, which hosts transit agency SEPTA’s Route 23 bus, would instead make some of those developments more complex and difficult to construct.

More details on the changes that would be implemented with the currently proposed zoning map are included in the source article.