Committee Hearing, April 3, 2008

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON STREETS AND SERVICES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, April 3, 2008 1:10 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO, CHAIR COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES COUNCILWOMAN MARIA QUINONES-SANCHEZ RESOLUTION 080088 - Resolution authorizing the Committee on Streets and Services to hold public hearings to investigate sidewalk closures during construction projects... - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, everyone. The Committee on Streets and Services, the public hearing, is now in session. Although we do not yet have a quorum, in the interest of time, I'd like to proceed with getting as much testimony in. I know at the time that we get into the public meeting, we will have a quorum. To my right, one of the Committee members, is Councilman Bill 14 Greenlee. To my left is Councilman Bill 15 Green. Councilman Kenney is here as well, although he's not a member of this Committee. We have four different panels. I will ask the first -- oh, I'm sorry. Councilman Kenney.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the prime sponsor of this resolution, I just had a few opening remarks before we get started, kind of explain some of our visual aids also. 3 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Mr. Chairman, new construction and development is certainly enhancing Philadelphia's vitality. We've seen our skyline change dramatically, old buildings renovated and neighborhoods transformed. However, in the midst of these construction projects, we've had unintentional consequences, sidewalk closures and pedestrian interference. Especially within Center City, you often find a sidewalk completely closed for vehicle parking, scaffolding and other construction-related purposes around construction projects. These closures force pedestrians to cross back and forth across the street, which drastically interferes with pedestrian traffic. Although signs are required to warn pedestrians of the upcoming closure, many of us are guilty of crossing over at the last possible moment or even walking in the road around the closure. Certainly this is a safety concern. As it is clear in cities like 4 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC, who all have policies requiring construction sites to maintain safe and accessible walkways, pedestrian movement is crucial for sustaining a dynamic urban area. For this reason, it's necessary, in my view, for Philadelphia to explore implementing code or permitting condition changes to ensure walkways remain safe and accessible around construction projects. I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that recently, this past December, I had the opportunity to go to New York and walk around extensively around Manhattan. Probably there's no 18 other place in the world who is experiencing more construction than Manhattan, other than maybe Atlantic City. Not once do I recall, having walked through Manhattan on a three-day period, ever having to walk in the street around a construction site. They configure their barricades and their 5 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 pedestrian protection measures in such a way that you can walk basically unimpeded despite the size or condition of a construction project. So I think that New York is no 7 more brilliant or innovative than we are, and I think that we could accommodate our own pedestrians while accommodating, at the same time, the advent of construction projects and the work and the renovation that it entails. I think also the other issue relative to these kind of barriers to pedestrian traffic also slows up vehicular traffic. You can see in many of these pictures -- and we've taken the opportunity to go around Center City and other places and take pictures of sites that we think could drastically be improved, and you will see that there are even instances where lanes are taken to accommodate private parking vehicles. I mean, I didn't see that in Manhattan. I assume if you work at a 6 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 construction site in Manhattan, you park like the rest of the office workers do, in a garage. But for some reason or another, Philadelphia has become accustomed to basically -- this is Broad and the old Leonetti's Funeral Home, which is being made way for a development project there. The sidewalk was gone for a good couple months, and as you see, people walk in the street during rush hour, heavy volume of traffic when these kind of things can be avoided. Here's another example of a lane being taken out. I recognize the construction equipment is there, but that doesn't stay there forever, and when that moves for some reason or another, we continue to take the lane and take the sidewalk. So I'm hoping to be able to shed some light on this problem, hear from the Streets Department and some other interested individuals and groups and come up with a set of code changes 7 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 that will require both safe and accessible pedestrian and vehicular barricades and enclosures around construction sites.

Certainly you know as a person that's promoted development in this City through a ten-year tax abatement and other efforts that we really do welcome this kind of work, but we see no reason why people should be put in danger and why they should be inconvenienced during the course of the construction. There is a couple construction sites we took pictures of where they had taken the sidewalk and the travel lane, one travel lane, and then stopped work for almost a year and kept the same conditions there. So I think there is also issues of enforcement that need to be fleshed out, and hopefully we can get ourselves a walkable and traffic-manageable City at the same time developing Philadelphia the way we'd like to see it done. 8 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 So I thank you for calling the hearing today, and hopefully we'll learn something. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Councilman, and thank you for your testimony. Just last night I was going to Broad and Pine to pick up my wife. She attended a candidate's forum there, and I was on Lombard Street where there's construction going on on the northeast corner of Broad and Lombard, and a gentleman was walking east. Rather than cross the street, he was trying to traverse between the Cyclone fence and the curb, which was probably no larger than eight inches. Fortunately for me, I saw him maneuvering and I didn't pull up. But he literally stepped into the street in front of my car, because he kind of stumbled off the sidewalk. Someone else who may not have been watching as closely as I was may have hit that man. But in any event, I do appreciate that. 9 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 For the record, we now do have a quorum. To my far right is Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and to my immediate left is Councilman Curtis Jones. The first panel to be brought up -- and then we'll ask the Clerk to read the title of the resolution. The panel is David Perri, Otis Haigler and Deborah Schaaf. Thank you. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Mr. McMonagle, would you just read the title of the resolution, please.

Resolution No. 18 080088, a resolution authorizing the Committee on Streets and Services to hold public hearings to investigate sidewalk closures during construction projects and examine ways to improve pedestrian access to these sidewalks by requiring covered and protected walkways around construction sites. 10 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Perri, I assume you're starting off?

Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Please proceed. Identify yourself for the record.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today concerning Resolution 080088. My name is David Perri and I am the Chief Engineer for the Bureau of Surveys and Design for the Department of Streets. Accompanying me today are Chief Traffic Engineer Charles Denny and Chief Highway Engineer Kevin Koch. The Department of Streets' responsibilities include the issuance of permits for sidewalk and roadway closures. The Traffic Engineering Division reviews the permit applications, 11 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 and the Highway Division is responsible for enforcement. As stewards of the public right-of-way, we are concerned with the increasing demands placed upon public space, especially the sidewalks in dense areas such as Center City. The City of Philadelphia benefits tremendously from the human scale and walkability of its streets, especially within the central business district. Inviting and walkable sidewalks encourage pedestrian movements, which in turn improve public safety, enhance health, promote economic activity and make the City an attractive place to live and work. The City of Philadelphia is also fortunate to possess over 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes and is considered one of the top ten bicycle cities in the country. To further encourage bicycle commuting, the Department of Streets will in July 2008 begin installing 1,500 additional bicycle racks through the 12 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Adopt-A-Rack project. New construction and building rehabilitation projects, which have been so vital to the ongoing renaissance of Philadelphia, can often cause major conflicts with pedestrians and bicyclists. This is especially true when sidewalk and lane closures are unnecessarily long in duration or consume more area than is absolutely necessary for the supported construction. The Department of Streets recognizes these conflicts. As a result, one of the first orders of business for the new Administration was the introduction of three ordinances to enable the Department of Streets to change its permit system and, for the first time, charge fees for sidewalk and roadway closures. We believe that permit fees and penalties that are based upon the overall size and duration of a sidewalk or roadway closure will discourage the current abuses without unnecessarily burdening 13 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 responsible development. Sidewalks in Philadelphia are generally narrower than other major cities, and many buildings are built with minimal or no setback from the street lines. As a result, we tend to err on the side of public safety and issue sidewalk closure permits rather than order the placement of sidewalk shelter platforms. The current Philadelphia Building Code, which is administered by the Department of Licenses and Inspections, includes provisions for the use and construction of sidewalk shelter platforms. The Department of Streets supports the increased use of sidewalk shelter platforms and is willing to use the Philadelphia Building Code standards, provided that they are amended to allow the Department to order a 300-pound per square foot live load design as opposed to the current 150-pound per square foot design when site-specific conditions warrant additional protection. 14 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 An increase in the live load design criteria will allow us to require a stronger sidewalk shelter platform when circumstances such as high level material movements occur above the sidewalk. A change to the local Building Code will require approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. As with permit fees, we do not wish to impose unnecessary costs on responsible development. Rules that would allow the Department of Streets the discretionary authority and flexibility to order sidewalk closures and require a higher live load design standard for sidewalk shelter platforms is the most desired outcome.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. We would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr. Perri. Do you have that brochure, by 15 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 any chance? No? Sarah, would you do me a favor, just bring that over to Mr. Perri. I'm going to take this opportunity to point out a situation that's in my district, very similar to that one where the brace is holding up the front of the building, on the bottom of that page, on the 1300 block of South. I've called this in a few times. It's got to be about two years. That's on , for anyone who wants to look at what I'm talking about. It's about two years that sidewalk has been blocked in a very similar manner. If someone from your department working with L&I can address that, I'd appreciate it. And that's the 1300 block of South Street, which is becoming more active as a result of a recent condominium development. Next door there's a very popular restaurant called Tootsie's right next to that. So 16 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 we have a lot of foot traffic there. I'd appreciate that. And I wanted to take -- fortunately, that was in there and I just brought it to mind again. Why don't we do this for the purposes of this Committee. We'll get the other two panelists to give their testimony and then we'll ask questions. Who will be speaking next on your panel?

Good day, Councilman DiCicco and members of the Committee. , Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today I am here to provide the Department's testimony on Resolution 19 080088, which calls for hearings within this body to investigate the closure of sidewalks during construction projects that take place in the City and also look at alternatives to improve pedestrian access, as well as enhance the protection provided around construction sites. 17 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 The Department of Licenses and Inspections is the City's regulatory arm that is responsible for the inspection of building construction and the issuance of permits related to the construction activity in order to safeguard the public welfare. Indirectly, L&I's role as it relates to the protection of pedestrians that transverse the public right-of-way around the construction sites centers on requirements of the Building Code that it enforces for the construction of a shelter platform over the sidewalk if one is required by the Department of Streets. The 2006 edition of the International Building Code, as promulgated by the International Code Council and adopted by the City as its Building Code, contains language within Chapter 33 related specifically to safety in and around construction sites. Section B-3306 of the Building Code is the section that pertains to pedestrian safety around the construction site and 18 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 provides for either a shelter platform that is constructed in accordance with the requirements of this section or closure of the sidewalk at the determination of the authority having jurisdiction. In this case, the Department of Streets, as prescribed by the City Charter, is the authority having jurisdiction over the activities that take place on the public right-of-way and has discretion, as provided by the Building Code, to determine which method is appropriate to protect pedestrians around specific construction sites based on their assessment of the risks to pedestrian safety if exposed to the construction activity. Once the Department of Streets has determined which method, shelter platform versus sidewalk closure or street closure, is needed for a particular construction project, if the method pertains to the construction of a shelter platform, it is L&I's 19 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 responsibility to ensure that a permit is secured for the platform construction and that the platform is in compliance with the requirements of the Building Code relative to its design and construction. The requirements that are found in the Building Code is fairly uniform around the country for jurisdictions that have adopted the International Building Code as its construction code. However, as with all model codes, the requirements can be modified to address a particular concern within a local jurisdiction, provided the modifications are in compliance with laws and regulations that govern how amendments are to be made. In the case of Philadelphia, we are granted powers to enforce codes relative to building construction by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through adoption of the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code and regulations pertaining thereto. Conditions for amendments that are made to codes under 20 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 the authority of the state are that the amendments have to equal or exceed the requirements currently in the Code and that the jurisdiction follow certain procedures as mandated by state law for the submission of amendments to the state Department of Labor and Industry for review and for public notification of a hearing to consider the amendments prior to enactment.

Based on recent discussions that have taken place with Councilman Kenney concerning possibly amending the provisions of this section of the Building Code in order to enhance the protection afforded to pedestrians around construction sites, we are not opposed to amendments being made to the provisions under this section to increase the load capacity of the shelter platform to 300 pounds per square foot from the current 150 pounds per square foot based on the height of the building. We will be happy to work in 21 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 cooperation with the Department of Streets and Council to work on any matter that will improve and enhance the safety of the public we serve. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department's testimony, and I'll be happy answer any questions. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr. Haigler. Deborah.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on Resolution 080088. My name is Deborah Schaaf and I'm a Transportation Planner with the City Planning Commission. With me today is Alan Urek, Director of the Strategic Planning and Policy Division. The City Planning Commission has for a long time been concerned about pedestrian safety and accessibility. More than 35 percent of the households in Philadelphia do not own cars and, thus, 22 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 the ability to walk safely to transit and on short trips is particularly important to our City's mobility. Walking is essential to our tourism sector and to the health of our citizens. While Philadelphia is generally considered a walkable city and the City has made many accommodations to improving pedestrian safety, there is considerable room for improvement. Pedestrian deaths constitute one-third of all traffic fatalities in the City compared to only 12 percent statewide. The City Planning Commission applied for and received two grants totalling $180,000 to undertake a Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan for the City. Improving pedestrian and bicycle accessibility is an important component of the City's Local Action Plan for Climate Change, as well as the new open space plan GreenPlan Philadelphia. We have received nine proposals for the study and hope to select a consultant 23 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 within the month. The major emphasis for the consultant's work will be on recommending physical improvements to strengthen the bicycle and pedestrian networks and provide greater connectivity between destinations such as residential areas, commercial corridors, schools and universities, recreational and cultural attractions, and transit stations. We will also be developing citywide recommendations for regulations, policies and programs affecting pedestrians and bicycles as part of our plan. Among these policy issues, we have identified the subject of construction disruption as one of the most important. As we begin work on the Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan, we will research how other cities deal with various sidewalk issues, including closures for construction. In this, we can build on information gathered for the Center City District's Congestion Management Study. We have already 24 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 contacted several other cities that are known for promoting the welfare of pedestrians. For example, Cambridge, Massachusetts, recently named the most walkable city in the United States, has a simple permit that refers to the guidance of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and requires that pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic must be protected at all times. Cambridge's fee for sidewalk obstruction is $100, plus $2 per square foot, and the permit must be renewed monthly. This substantial fee helps to encourage contractors to minimize their impact on sidewalk users. Phoenix, Arizona takes a different approach. They have adopted a very detailed Traffic Barricade Manual and require anyone placing barricades to go through city training every year. Phoenix charges no fees for a legal closure, but imposes heavy daily fines for anyone who fails to obtain a permit or to follow the manual. Income from the 25 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 fines supports at least 11 staff members who work on processing permits and enforcing them. Certainly there is a legitimate need to close streets and sidewalks at times, but the permission to do so is abused when contractors use the closures as storage and parking areas for months after the construction is largely completed or when the project is obviously on hold. The bills drafted by the Streets Department would allow for the imposition of fees based on the duration of the street and sidewalk closures and are an excellent starting point to gain control of the disruption to pedestrian movement caused by construction.

Further improvements to the control of temporary sidewalk closures are needed, but would best be accomplished through the permitting system. Given our constrained street and sidewalk system, decisions must be made on a site-specific basis, yet some 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 general principles should be followed. Ideally, alternate routes for pedestrians should always be provided on the same side of the street, but if sidewalks must be closed, the advance warning sign must be at the corner, not at mid block, as is now sometimes the case. Standards for the size, quality and placement of the advance warning signs should be developed to ensure visibility while protecting the safety of pedestrians, especially disabled users, and minimizing the impacts on adjacent businesses. When a walkway is provided in the street adjacent to a closed sidewalk, ramps must be provided for wheelchairs, and the walkway needs to be wide enough for the anticipated volume of pedestrians. Covered walkways are not usually needed unless the construction activity creates a hazardous condition below, such as sites with the potential for falling debris. If a cover is built, 27 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 it must be adequately lighted and maintained and must not block the view of pedestrian signals. Finally, when traffic lanes are closed, bike lanes should be protected, if possible, and, in particular, parking must not be relocated into a bike lane. Taking a comprehensive approach to protecting the pedestrian experience while at the same time allowing for responsible construction to continue will only enhance the economic development within our City. The Planning Commission looks forward to creating a plan that will achieve this balance. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any questions from the Committee? Councilman Greenlee.

Thank 28 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Perri, I guess this question is more for you. I'm still not clear on what exactly is the criteria for when it's decided that the street is closed or that there's a shelter put up. I know you talk about it in here, but what is specifically -- what are you looking at? What are the kind of things you're looking at to make that determination?

The Code would allow either a closure or the use of a sidewalk shelter platform. I'm going to ask Charlie Denny, who is our Chief Traffic Engineer, to specifically address your question.

Okay. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Charles Denny. I'm the Chief Traffic Engineer. There are various things that we look at when we're closing either the 29 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 sidewalk, a travel lane, a parking lane or the roadway, its total. We try to avoid as much as possible to close anything. One of the constraints is how much area there is for the building, how constrained the building is. Some buildings have no yard or very little yard. It's not accessed from the street. The building is right up against the house line, and the only place there they can bring in materials is in through the front, through the street, and the only place where they can store debris is, again, in the front. So as the various entities or companies come in looking for permits, they show us what they're going to do. We review what they're going to do and how much space they need in order to do the work they're going to do. But the bringing in materials, they need to bring the materials in the front. They need to get the vehicle 30 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 that's delivering the materials out of the way. They also are having dumpsters, which they're placing in the street, for removal of debris when they're demolishing or partially demolishing the building or the interior of the building.

On average -- I know you maybe can't tell me exact percentage, but how is it broken down between determining whether the streets -- how many street closures do you give as opposed to making them build some kind of walkway, roughly?

It depends on the width of the street and the space in front of the building. On narrow 26-foot-wide streets we're more likely to allow them to close the sidewalk and have them use the other side, because it's a short distance across. On the wider streets, we'll have them relocate the pedestrian walkway into the parking lane so that pedestrians don't have to walk across the street. We don't want 31 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 pedestrians crossing the wider streets like Broad Street or Market Street if we can avoid it.

So the width of the street is a big determinant factor, which makes sense. Because the one thing I see, Mr. Perri, in your testimony -- I'm not trying to be critical here, but it says, when you talk about the decisions, "As a result, we tend to err on the side of public safety and issue sidewalk closure permits rather than the placement of sidewalk shelter platforms." But I wonder, is that really the safer thing, given human nature? If people did what they were supposed to do, maybe you're right, but let's face it, as Councilman Kenney, I think, alluded right in the beginning, people do what people do, and they're going to walk on that side of the street even if they're not supposed to. So I guess I wonder if that's really erring on the side -- I'm 32 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 not trying to be critical. I'm just thinking out loud here.

That's a valid point. What I was doing was, I was comparing our Building Code versus the New York Building Code. The New York Building Code has a requirement of 300 pounds per square foot live load. The shelter has to be able to withstand those loading conditions. Our Code is half of that. So there is some reluctance to use a shelter platform, especially when there's high reach-type operations going on. A 150-pound per square foot shelter platform is not going to protect someone from falling glass or large materials from high levels of the building.

But you would support increasing it and making it consistent with New York; would that make sense?

Yeah. I think if we had the option at our discretion to 33 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 say, Well, we'll allow a sidewalk shelter platform, but we want you to -- or the Code requires you to design it for a 300-pound live load, that would allow us to approve more than we otherwise would not have approved.

Okay. I got you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilwoman Miller.

Thank you. I have a question. Is there a maximum amount of time that even a sidewalk shelter can remain in place?

Generally, permits are limited to about a six-month period. They can get extensions. It depends on how long it's going to take to build the building. Some buildings take two years to build, particularly the high, tall ones. Other buildings are shorter and the process can be much shorter and be 34 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 done quickly. But it depends on what the work is, how much time it takes to do the work that's being done.

And if they go over that amount of time -- I have a project in my district that, I swear, it's being built, it's going on three years, and it's not a high rise. It's maybe three, maybe four stories. And this guy has the whole side of the street just blocked off forever. It's the longest development project, I believe, in the City, and it's not a big project. So maybe I can talk to you about that later, because we want to do something to speed him up. We're sick of it.

Right. Well, one of the points of the fees is to get the street back as fast as we can. So there's an incentive for the contractors, constructors to get out of the street and get out of the sidewalk as quickly as you 35 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 can, because we're going to be charging you money to occupy that space. So we want to get them out of the street. We want to get them out of the sidewalk.

Does it ever get to a point where someone says, enough is enough? I mean, this project in my district I think could go on for another year or two.

Well, the one question is, does he have a permit and is it valid, and that's something we can check if you give us that information.

Okay. And in someone's testimony, maybe yours, Dave Perri, you talked about street closures. How often does that happen? I've seen it in Center City, but I don't really see streets being shut down for construction out in the neighborhood, at least not in the district I serve. And I have a request from a contractor to actually close down a street while they're going to build a supermarket. 36 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

We don't close full closures of streets very often. 13th Street currently is for the Convention Center, but the Convention Center is going to span 13th Street. In most cases, it's a very rare experience. We also make sure that the contractor works with whoever the impacted neighbors are to ensure that they get deliveries, they're able to get to and from their buildings, they're able to drive to and from the buildings or have access to those buildings. So it's a very rare experience. And for a typical strip mall or supermarket, it would be highly unusual for us to close a street of that nature. We run into problems when we have high rises, and even on high rises we're able to keep the street open and still have the building go forward and be built.

Thanks for the information. On this particular block, there are no houses. It's just 37 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 actually a supermarket. It's an existing market there and also a middle school, and I had great hesitations about closing the street, and we can talk about that project later. But it's just in discussion. There's been no formal request. So I just took the opportunity, since you're sitting here today and we're talking about this, to ask that question.

Councilwoman, to follow up on your earlier question about the duration of time for work on a construction project, when Licenses and Inspections adopted its most recent Code, there are now time limits for construction projects. So we should take a look at the project that you're talking about, and if it was issued under the newer Building Code, maybe there's enforcement efforts that can be made. Now, the sidewalk closure permits would expire when the building permits expire. So we may have a basis to take enforcement action in that case. 38 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

I'll make sure you get the address. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Jones.

I would just like to reiterate, I need some distinction drawn between Center City large development versus the person trying to renovate or stucco the outside of a house that's adjacent to a lot. How are we drawing distinctions between that kind of construction versus what legitimately needs a lot more safety precautions here in Center City?

The applicant for the permit indicates what type of work they're going to be doing, and based on that type of work, the permit is limited or expanded as necessary to do that work. Most small homes, if you're just redoing a home, there is a lot of material that moves in through the front of the building and into the house. There's 39 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 generally some demolition to start with, so there's a dumpster outside to remove whatever material that you're taking out of the house out of the house. Sometimes some jobs are done by a single person doing the whole thing and that takes a while and makes the work much longer. And I think in those cases, the system has been abused in the past with the fee system that they're not going to want to keep the sidewalk and the street closed. So they're going to change the method of their reconstruction or construction of a house to keep from having the street closed and the sidewalk closed, because they'll be paying for it.

Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Green.

Thank you. It sounds like other than this 300 live load limit versus 150 live load limit that you'd like to go up to 300, it sounds like you have broad discretion now 40 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 in terms of when to allow sidewalks to be open or closed or when to require an enclosure for people to walk through, et cetera. I'm not sure, other than that one issue, what more discretion you need. Do you need more discretion or do you have all the discretion you need?

We do currently have the discretion to either order the closure or the sidewalk shelter platform. We would hope that we don't get put into a position where we have to order a sidewalk shelter platform. We can now or we can ask for a closure. So we would request that the sidewalk shelter platforms not become an absolute requirement for every project.

But you currently have that discretion?

Right.

So what problem are we solving?

Well, we're hoping that there's no ordinances that are 41 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 proposed that say you have to have a sidewalk shelter platform.

Right, which goes to Councilman Jones' question, because it certainly wouldn't make sense for the guy stuccoing the front of his house or versus all the pictures we've seen in Center City. But I'm just trying to define the problem we're trying to solve, and from everything in your testimony, it sounds like you have very broad discretion to allow sidewalks to be closed or not. If it's smaller than 15 feet, you may close the sidewalk. If 16 it's not -- I mean, what additional 17 authority do you need in order to enforce 18 the laws or in a common sense way? 19

Well, I think with 20 the fees that we're proposing, they'll be 21 an incentive for contractors and builders 22 to not use the sidewalk if they don't 23 need to. They'll find different ways of 24 staging their construction operations. 25

So fees are 42 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 one thing we can do to change the current. So right now there are no fees?

That's correct.

Okay. So what you're proposing is a fee system as one additional measure of authority we can give you?

That's correct.

So that's same discretion, but you can charge a fee for it that I guess would be set by ordinance or would we give you discretion to set it by regulation?

The proposal would be to allow us the authority to set the fees by regulation.

Okay. And then the only other thing I heard that perhaps we need to give you the authority to, unless you can already do this, is, I heard that the sidewalk closure permits or street closure permits can run or do currently run coterminous with the building permit and perhaps people should 43 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 be required to put an application in for how long the sidewalk will be closed that is a stated time period, which if they want to extend, they would have to file 6 an extension request versus making it, say, automatically coterminous with -- the sidewalk closure automatically coterminous with the building permit.

I think -- and we haven't fully explored this, but there may be ways to also put into the City Code more specific time limits for durations of sidewalk and lane closures.

I think that's what I just said.

Right.

So is that authority you need now? I mean, are you required to have the sidewalk closure permit be coterminous with the building permit or is that just practice?

Well, it would be practice. I don't believe it's clarified. 44 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

So could you give a sidewalk closure permit for whatever period of time you wanted right now? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Excuse me. I've been letting this go. You need to identify yourself, if you don't mind, before you give testimony. Thanks.

Charlie Denny. We don't give the permit unless they have a building permit as well, but it depends on the job and what they're doing. They can get -- they don't have to have the permit for the entire length of the job.

But your previous testimony was that the sidewalk closure permits are for the length of the building permit.

We sometimes limit them for a six-month period and make them come in and reapply. So they're always not only for the total length of the job. It depends on the job. A big, tall 45 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 building, we know that they're not going to finish for quite some time, so we'll let that go, but --

I got it. So you are currently exercising discretion in terms of the length of how long the sidewalk can be closed?

The length of the sidewalk and --

Is there a separate specific permit application for sidewalk closures?

Yes.

And in that do they have to say how long they need it closed and give reasons that you can then make a decision based upon? The length request is part of that application?

They request a length, and we review it and we either allow that or we shorten it.

Okay. So other than fees, I'm not sure what -- it sounds like you guys have the authority 46 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 to do whatever you want, and perhaps some of the examples we've seen are and some of the -- like Councilwoman Reed Miller's example sounds like you're not necessarily enforcing even your own deadlines for permits and other things or where things are done, not requiring them to be taken down. Is that authority you need us to give you? Like there was one example up there of already completed construction with a fence around it and there was no apparent danger to the public. Do you have the authority to pull that permit or do you need authority from us to pull it? I'm trying to get to the definition of the problem and then what potential solutions are that we can give you by ordinance that's necessary.

We can pull the permit, but we don't always have eyes on the street to see those cases.

So it sounds like fees, reasonable fees, would allow 47 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 you to perhaps hire some inspectors that could keep track of this from a safety perspective.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Just before I acknowledge Councilman Kenney, two things. There is a two-story house that is being totally renovated on the 1600 block of South 12th Street in South Philadelphia, including a new front, and I'm guessing it's probably been a minimum of three, more likely four, five months that the entire sidewalk, including the parking lane -- and we know about parking in South Philadelphia -- have been fenced off. The front is done. The brick work is up. The demolition was done. The brick work is up. Windows are in place. But for the, I think, steps. The steps are not in yet. Scaffolding is still up. Cyclone fence butts up against the exterior of the property, the house, out 48 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 into 12th Street, just kind of blocks it off. What they're using it for is for their building materials, cement, sand, whatever is being used on the interior of the house, exterior in the yard, whatever. Where I'm going with this is, I know it would be nice to have additional inspectors, but isn't there a periodic inspection -- and this is not to be critical -- that should be taking place by the Department of L&I as it relates to the work that's being done to make sure that it's being done to Code and according to what the permit was originally pulled on?

Mr. Chairman, just point of information. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Kenney.

Not only have L&I been called repeatedly by me, probably every morning I get in my car and drive by the site, which is around 49 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 the corner from my house, that then calls me back and tells me that the Streets Department is going to send somebody out to see how fast the guy can move along to get it done. And as we speak today, there's no work going on, and there hasn't been work going on all week. And in the meantime -- and, Councilman Jones, you'd be interested in this because it affects the neighborhood -- is, this sidewalk is closed and the parking space is gone. So I don't know -- I mean, I don't know how many eyes and ears you need on the street, but you got two pair of eyes that see it every day and make the call every day, and it's still there. I don't know what -- this is not a problem relative to this particular resolution because it's an individual enforcement problem, but it just doesn't go away. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: It ties into the whole issue of pedestrian 50 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 access. And I'm not trying to cite specific things that are relevant to my district or anybody's district, but these things kind of evolve into that discussion eventually. And as Councilman Green, I think, was saying, what else do you need? What more do you need?

But there are things we need, if I -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'll get to your question.

Let me -- because what happens with this hearing, it starts getting a bit afield because we start talking about specific instances both in Center City and in neighborhoods. My issue with this whole resolution and what I want to try to accomplish is a couple things. Number one, from our meetings that we had relative to preparing for this hearing, the issue of fees came up, and certainly the increase in fees will speed up whatever projects need to be 51 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 sped up, both from a dumpster storage or from a sidewalk closure or from a lane confiscation, I call it. This is not about street closures. Street closures, in my mind, are a different thing coordinated with the Streets Department and the Police Department and it's usually for a short period of time while delivering large amounts of material or chillers for the roofs of big buildings and all that kind of stuff, or if Gas Works or some other utility needs to tear up the street, the street is closed. This is about primarily sidewalk closures, sidewalk closures that evolve into bike lane, parking lane and travel lane confiscations. This is not about closing a street. The issue on the fees are very important, because that will give you some teeth to move this thing along. The issue on the 300-pound live load from 150 is an issue that we discovered as a result of our conversations with the 52 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Department and are memorializing in a record today. And we also learned from our meetings with Mr. Haigler and from today that if we go to the state for approval for something at least or more as it relates to public safety, we'll most likely get it. So those are three steps right now we need to change that are not in existence, that need to be changed to help address this problem. Fees, live load and the state agreement. What I want to try to accomplish is -- because what your testimony says tells me anyway, my interpretation of it, is the Streets Department falls down on the side of a street closure more than usual, more than they would, because the live load is not enough. You get the live load, you're going to be more likely not to close the sidewalk and require a shelter. Mr. Chairman, the other part of this hearing, which is what we're trying 53 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 to accomplish here, is that in addition to our conditions as exists today, there are additional standards that are in place in other cities that create a much more friendly and pedestrian-friendly environment and bike-friendly environment than we have today. From my perspective, a Cyclone fence taking up a sidewalk with a hand-painted sign like the Our Gang comedy "Street Closed" in like sloppy letters, "Cross at Corner," is not acceptable. Now, it may be an issue of ordinance. It may be an issue of state approval. It may be an issue of enforcement. But it's also an issue for me as standardization. There are two places I can send you to today, that you can go across the street to the Masonic Temple or go to St. John's Church at 13th right below Market, and see what should be done, is what my vision of the problem's solution is. Now, Mr. Perri says he would 54 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 not opt for shelters as a requirement for every project, and I tend to agree with you, but I would like to see shelters, lighted shelters, safe passages, more places than not. Now, again, I'm going to go back to the initial reasoning as to why it's the way it is, is because of the load and it's because of safety. You figure, Well, you know, close the sidewalk, keep the people off it in case something falls off the site, we do have the load capacity to keep them safe.

But we also don't have the capacity to keep them safe when we force them into the street, because in addition to the sidewalk being closed and the bike lane being confiscated or the parking lane being confiscated, now I have people who may not get knocked out with a piece of concrete, but may get run over by a bus. So that's my balance. In cities like New York, which have been doing this kind of standard 55 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 shelter and pedestrian concerns for construction sites, they've been doing it since 1920. 1920. I mean, we're talking about it in 2008. And fine, better late than never. But that's the problem. And the problem that I see not only in the neighborhood around the corner from where I live or in Councilwoman Miller's district where they're doing a four-story project or in Center City where it's either a big high rise or renovations or condos, is, you can't walk around here without being inconvenienced and being put in danger. Now, all of the things that we need to address, whether it's passage of legislation, whether it's enforcements, with it's state approval, whether it's fees, all these things together I hope to accomplish in a package of legislation as a result of these hearings that we can introduce and deliberate. All I want is people to be able to walk down the street in the neighborhood or in Center City in 56 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 safety. I want to see construction sites continue to be pushed and promoted and built, and I don't want to see people taking lanes and taking sidewalks because it's their convenience to do so. And that's the purpose of the hearing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. And, Mr. Haigler, I know you want to respond. In the interest of time, I hope to indulge everyone. I'm going to move the panels around a little bit. We do have some folks here that are on Panel 2, I believe we want up, as well as Panel 4. There's Mr. Derek Lee, who is visiting us from Queens Borough, New York, from the Borough of Queens rather of New York. He's a Commissioner for New York City Buildings Department. And, again, in the interest of time, if you'd all just allow Mr. Lee to come forward and get his testimony on, as I would ask for the second panel, which is George Holiday, James Saylor and Stewart 57 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Hughes -- no. Just Derek Lee. Okay. The other folks can sit back and relax. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, Mr. Lee. Thank you for your patience. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Absolutely. Thank you, Councilman, for being so gracious and let me catch my train back in a little bit. While my colleague is setting up the machine, my name is Derek Lee. I'm the Queens Borough Buildings Commissioner for the New York City Buildings Department and I reside or sit in a county where 2.4 million inhabitants reside, and I also have double duty on the weekend over the entire five boroughs of New York. Let me just take this moment to thank my host, Councilman Kenney. 58 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

Thank you.

I have to be careful in my speech, because apparently he did his homework and researched about sheds in New York City. So as soon as the slide is ready, I will start with presentation to the Councilmembers of the Streets and Services Committee. To start off, the Buildings Department of New York's mission is to ensure the safe and lawful use of buildings and properties in accordance with the Building Code and zoning. Today I will talk about one aspect of that, and, that is, a sidewalk shed. What, why, when, how to apply and how to build a sidewalk shed. A sidewalk shed is erected over a City sidewalk to protect pedestrians from fatal accidents caused by debris and also injuries from overhead material falling onto the street. We have a number of instances due to the age and 59 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 infrastructure in buildings of the City that lack of maintenance and occasional storm damage do lend itself to unexpected collapses and other accidents that would require the immediate installation of sidewalk sheds. Generally, a sidewalk shed is a structure that is built to maintain the clear passage of the sidewalk and also a passage for entering and exiting buildings and businesses along that particular sidewalk while construction is still ongoing above the sidewalk and the public is safeguarded. Typically when constructing a new structure or an alteration, any time when a structure is 40 feet or more, a sidewalk shed is required, and there is an escape clause or there is a waiver on that, which is spelled out in that lower box. I'm not going to go into that. Essentially, if you do not want to place a sidewalk shed in front of your property, you must set back your building 60 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 half the distance to the height of the property, meaning if your building is 40 feet high, you have to set back the front of your building by feet. 6 Another requirement for 7 sidewalk shed is when you deconstruct or 8 demolish a building. Any building 25 9 feet or more when it's being 10 deconstructed or demolished will require 11 a sidewalk shed. And, again, the same 12 rule applies. If the existing building 13 is set back half the distance to the 14 height, a sidewalk shed would not be 15 required, only an eight-foot fence would 16 be required to be installed to protect 17 the public. 18 And when you altered the facade 19 or do facade restoration to a lot of the 20 terra cotta that I see in your lovely city or any masonry pointing, you would require to provide a sidewalk shed if any of that work is above 40 feet or more. Or if you are doing facade work to part of a building and demolishing part of a 61 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 building that's feet or more, you're also required to construct a sidewalk shed. A sidewalk shed is also required when you are moving building material from the street to a construction site by use of a crane, and, of course, these days we all know about cranes, especially in New York. When you are lifting, hoisting, moving any material that may fall on a pedestrian, you are required to provide a shed to protect the sidewalk. Here's some statistics from 2005 to 2008 about the number of permits issued for sidewalk sheds in the City of New York, and you see a gradual trend on the first graph, that we issued approximately 5,700 shed permits in the City last year, and that translates to approximately 152 linear miles of sidewalk in New York. And this second graph shows the distribution of sidewalk sheds in the 62 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 five boroughs of New York. We have approximately a total linear feet of -- linear miles of 12,750 miles of sidewalk in New York, and of those 12,750 miles, we issued -- we are covered by 152 miles of sidewalk sheds in the year 2007. And from last count, the distance from New York to Philadelphia, it's 94 miles. So we went from New York to Philadelphia and partially back with sidewalks.

And as Councilman Kenney pointed out, that we have been issuing sidewalk sheds since the '20s, and the number of sidewalk sheds or the linear mileage of sidewalk sheds, rough estimate, are enough to circumvent the earth one and a half times since the issuance of sidewalk shed permits. The procedure to apply for a sidewalk shed permit, it's in two different methods. An architect or an engineer can file for a sidewalk shed through a regular application to the Buildings Department and perform the 63 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 inspection upon completion of the shed or a contractor on smaller-scale projects can apply for a smaller-scale sidewalk shed used for the construction site based on standardized modular system. And on the right column you see the standard filing fees for a sidewalk shed. The fee starts at $130 for the first linear 10 feet of the sidewalk shed and $10 for 11 every 25 feet of shed thereafter. So for 12 a sidewalk shed that's 50 feet long, the 13 fees would be $140, plus an additional 14 $35 for the permits when the permit is 15 issued at the time of approval of the 16 shed. 17 This next slide shows a typical 18 New York City application, indicating the 19 location, the contractor, the applicant, 20 if it's the same person, and specifically 21 on the right, it show the type of shed, 22 whether it is a light-duty or heavy-duty 23 sidewalk shed. 24 This page shows a typical plan 25 for a sidewalk shed. On the right you 64 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 will see the site plan and the dimension of the sidewalk shed, and on the other two sketches are typical details of the construction and the makeup and specifications of a sidewalk shed. Realizing that hiring an architect or an engineer to file for a sidewalk shed is a great expense, the City-ordered Standards and Appeals, which is the highest technical court in the city, approved a series of typical shed components in 1974 permitting general contractors to file for sidewalk sheds using the modular components listed on this particular sheet in terms of dimension and height, span and loading. This following slide shows a typical job site permit sketch, and a sidewalk shed permit is one of the items that's required. Typically on any construction work, the Buildings Department would not issue a construction permit for the structure until the sidewalk shed permit or a fence permit, 65 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 if that's applicable, is issued prior to any building permits. Public safety is a great concern of the City, and so we need to be sure that the public is protected before any construction work can go forward. The sidewalk shed permit is good for a maximum of one year. Upon the expiration of the shed, an architect or an engineer will have to perform an inspection and issue a statement to the Building Commissioner outlining if the shed is still in safe condition and an estimate of the duration that the shed will be in place obstructing the sidewalk and giving the reason for such obstruction, and the same fees will be applicable for the renewal of the sidewalk shed. This is a photograph of the historical building in New York where there is a scaffolding and a work platform on top of the sidewalk shed. This would be considered an engineered 66 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 sidewalk shed where there are heavy loads impacting on the shed. So this type of shed is permitted by application by an architect or an engineer, and the loading will have to be a minimum of 300 pounds per square feet on this particular sidewalk shed. Typically, there are two types of sidewalk sheds in New York City. A light-weight sidewalk shed, which has a minimum live load of 150 pounds per square feet, and no storage is permitted on the deck of a sidewalk shed. The second type is a heavy-duty sidewalk shed with a minimum design live load of 300 pounds per square feet or more, and storage is permitted on this particular type of sidewalk shed.

A sidewalk shed on a building that's under construction or facade restoration is required to front the entire length of the property so that the entire sidewalk, including the corners, are protected. And in historical 67 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 buildings, the shed contractor is required to respect existing historical artifacts of the building, such as the sculpture on the lower right of this photograph, so that the building itself is protected from the sidewalk shed. A sidewalk shed nowadays in New York consists of a modular system where major shed contractors do have them in stock and ready for delivery, whether it is for installation of new construction or for an emergency construction. The deck of the sidewalk is tightly closed so that debris cannot fall down on the pedestrian. There's a minimum requirement of eight foot clear above the sidewalk for passage of persons and materials on the particular sidewalk, and the width of the sidewalk must comply with ADA standards. In this photograph, sidewalk sheds are required to have side protection so that any material coming down from up top will be protected from 68 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 scattering onto adjacent property that is not protected by the sidewalk shed. When a sidewalk shed is protecting a building over 100 feet tall, the sidewalk shed is required to extend another feet beyond 7 the development or the construction site 8 on both sides of the sidewalk. 9 The underside of a sidewalk 10 shed is required to be illuminated 24 11 hours of the day, whether by natural 12 lighting or artificial lighting, in 13 vandal-proof housing. All lighting must 14 be installed by a licensed contractor, 15 and the lighting must be grounded or 16 bonded, depending on the type of conduit 17 being used, and GFI protection is 18 required at the panel. 19 This slide shows a shed that an 20 inspector would have to issue violations for inadequate support, inadequate bracing, insufficient cover and insufficient light protection. So this is something that is probably done without a permit, and our inspectors 69 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 would issue a violation to this type of a shed. For all sheds, the contractor is required to provide contact information. In the event of a storm or wind damage, the contractor can be contacted immediately, and they generally would come to repair the shed within 10 hours. 11 Signage is not permitted on 12 sheds except for a small display of the 13 existing business that's being covered by 14 the shed. 15 This graph shows the category 16 of violations that our inspectors issue 17 to sidewalk sheds, specifically lighting. 18 There's no plants on the side, lack of 19 permits, parapets, so on and so forth. 20 We do have street closings in 21 New York. All streets in New York are a 22 very valuable commodity. Street closings 23 are determined by DOT, and, in general, 24 they are closed because of safety reasons or for staging for contractor material 70 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 delivery. We do not permit contractor parking on any city street without special permits. So if a contractor vehicle is parked on the street, if it's for the site safety manager, what-have-you, they would also require a parking permit where parking is not permitted in addition to the street closing permit. Some pedestrian protection, as you can see here, on both sides of a sidewalk shed is required. The photo on the left shows a standardized plastic cover. The one in the middle shows foam protection with duct tape. And on the right, when push comes to shove, your good old coffee cup and duct tape will also do. That only happens after lunch. That concludes my sidewalk shed presentation. Before we go to the questions, I'd like to go to the next slide. These are links to everything that I've discussed in my brief presentation, and it also refers you to 71 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES.

080088 the entire volume of the New York City Building Code and all the applicable sections of sidewalk sheds in the City of New York. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr. Lee. Very thorough demonstration here in your report. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.

Thank you very much, Mr. Lee, for coming down to testify before us. I really appreciate you taking the day and your department permitting you to take the day to come spend some time with us.

It's a beautiful city.

Thank you very much. As is yours. The presentation you gave us was very thorough and illuminating, and I also want to thank you for that. I had a couple of questions. 72 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 The 150 versus 300 load, you didn't mention that that was dependent upon the height of the building, just whether or not they were going to use it for --

Yes. In general, the sidewalk shed is required to have a 300-pound load. The exception to that is if the building is under 100 feet tall and also if you do not plan to put any material storage on top of the shed, such as a pallet of brick or cement. So those are generally used when contractors demolish a building where they don't anticipate putting any material on top of the shed. You can go down to 150 pounds per square feet.

I have notes here and perhaps you can remind me what they mean. I have 20 feet beyond 100 feet tall.

Yes. When a building is taller than 100 feet during construction or demolition, in addition to protecting the front of the particular 73 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 building, the sidewalk shed must extend another feet on both sides so that if 4 material do fall down from the edge, it 5 will be covered by that 20 feet. 6

Okay. So 7 most of the pictures you showed were sort 8 of in a city-like setting or some 9 neighborhood settings. Say in a row home 10 area of Queens where the street is very 11 tight, there's a 12-foot sidewalk, 12 something like that, 16-foot sidewalk and 13 the row homes are all lined up on the 14 street and there's one row home that is 15 going to have construction and work done 16 that could cause some falling debris, 17 either roof work or stucco work or 18 something like that. Would you typically 19 require a shed there? 20

No. No. In suburban or more non-urban settings, the sidewalk shed requirement kicks in only when the building under construction is 40 feet or more in height. Now, if the building is set back half that distance from the 74 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 sidewalk, you do not need to provide a sidewalk shed.

So in a typical neighborhood where it's a three-story building, row homes --

You would not require a shed for the construction, but you may require a shed for its demolition work.

Okay.

Because our demolition requirement is feet. 13

I note in 14 your notes, though, you say it's required 15 over a sidewalk or temporary sidewalk 16 that is not closed to the public. So the 17 other thing you might do in that 18 circumstance is close the sidewalk to the 19 public for a couple days while they knock 20 a building down. 21

Well, we -- 22

In a 23 neighborhood setting versus -- 24

Right. We would 25 rarely do that unless there's a special 75 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 circumstance. Knowing especially in New York, it's a very big tourist town and closing a sidewalk even in suburban areas, it's not recommended. Generally in the outer boroughs, you would find the sidewalks are rather deep. So as long as you have the two-to-one ratio from height to the front yard, you would not need a sidewalk shed when you're doing construction of a building.

Okay. So for construction, no sidewalk shed over 40 feet?

So for construction, it starts at 40 feet. If you're within feet of the sidewalk, you will require 18 a sidewalk shed. For demolition, it 19 starts at 25 feet high building. If 20 you're within less than 12.5 feet to the sidewalk, you would require a sidewalk shed. Otherwise, an eight-foot plywood fence would be sufficient to protect the pedestrians.

Thank you 76 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 very much. I really appreciate you coming down and your testimony.

You're welcome. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Kenney.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Lee, for your testimony.

You're welcome.

We really appreciate all your efforts here. You made no mention of the issue relative to parking within the area of the construction site that's being taken, either the sidewalk and the bike lane or the sidewalk and the parking lane. What's your experience with the parking of vehicles in those areas in New York?

Well, if you come to New York today, you will only find either concrete trucks or delivery vehicles in those closed-off areas, even on a large 77 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 construction site. The City would only permit one or two trailer length of closed sidewalks -- of closed streets, and you will find that the sidewalks are open under a shed. So when a truck pulls in with the load, the crane or the truck crane would actually pick from the truck over the shed and deliver the material onto the building or the property site. So the pedestrian would be continually walking underneath that sidewalk. Once that's done -- and we try to ask the contractor to schedule it so that delivery time is non-peak hours, and it is also to the advantage to easy in and out of New York City.

But in some of the slides you've seen here that we've taken, the parking of pickup trucks and private vehicles -- I saw one car was a BMW. I doubt that it's got anything to do with the --

Well, our Traffic Enforcement Unit would love to see that, 78 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 because it's 120 bucks a ticket.

So workers and other people with private vehicles park where office workers park?

They all take the subway.

Subway?

Yes. So do I.

Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Greenlee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Mr. Lee. It was great testimony.

Thank you.

I know one of the other concerns a lot of people have on these construction sites here in Philly are the dumpsters, and they may be in various places they shouldn't be. What's the rules in New York as far as any kind of dumpster? 79 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

New York City dumpsters, if the dumpster is located on City streets, it first goes to a review process at the Mayor's Office to see if there's a pending presidential motorcade, movie shoots and whatnot. If they pass that screen, they go to DOT. And permits are issued for every 30 days for dumpsters. Sidewalk closing permits are every 90 days. So our enforcement agents do go back and issue citations to people who do not renew or who extend their terms. And what we do is, we would -- DOT would go and sometimes confiscate dumpsters if they are blocking the streets or issue tickets to them. Essentially, everybody pays in New York.

Okay. We'll take note of that. But are there designated areas where they can put the dumpster?

Every dumpster location is designated on a plan that's submitted to DOT, yes. 80 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

You're embarrassing us. You're too thorough. Thank you.

Sure. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: If we open up our sidewalks, we may have the Pennsylvania Society here some year. That's just an --

Well, if you want to increase your city revenues, I can send my team down here for a month. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We may take you up on that. We may take you up.

Our enforcement unit includes the Sheriff's Department. They go out with our inspectors and they do effect arrests if things are required, and they do carry side arms. So they are well respected in the community. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lee. Any other questions for this witness? (No response.) 81 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you again, sir. Welcome to Philadelphia. We appreciate your testimony.

Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to coming for a visit very soon to the lovely city. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Panel No. 11 2, George Holiday, James Saylor and Stewart Hughes. Ms. Cutler I see is in the audience today. Ms. Cutler, will you be testifying? DEPUTY

No, sir, I will not be. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Oh, okay. I didn't see your name on the schedule, so I just wanted to double-check. DEPUTY

I'm protecting them from you guys. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Does anyone feel the need to keep the first panel here? 82 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

I have maybe two minutes of questions for them based on what I just heard. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So after this, we'll bring them back up. Thanks. (Witnesses approached witness table.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, gentlemen and pet. Would you please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony, sir.

Yes, sir. My name is George Holiday, and I thank you for being able to come in and testify on this resolution. I am the President of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind, and this issue with the walking around the City is very important to us as far as being visually impaired. I am a guide dog user and there has been times when I would go to turn up a street and get halfway and there's a fence in my way. Yes, my guide dog is trained to be able to take me out in the street if I 83 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 command him to, but because of the traffic situation, it's very dangerous to do that. So I would have to turn around and go back and cross the street at the intersection and turn up on the other side of the street, and hopefully there's not a fence there. But with the covered sidewalk, that will be very beneficial for myself and even persons just walking with a cane. I am having a Board meeting this week and I would like to ask the Committee Chair, this resolution, would I be able to take this to my Board? Because this is an issue that we need to address all over the State of Pennsylvania. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Absolutely, and we'll have a copy provided to you before you leave. Councilman Kenney, who is the author of this resolution, would certainly be glad to accommodate you as well.

I have a copy. 84 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Would you permit me to duplicate it? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Absolutely.

I missed it. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: He would like permission to duplicate the resolution. Which you can, because it is public information. So feel free to duplicate it.

Thank you. I'd like to thank the Committee to speak this afternoon, and if there's any questions, I will answer those at the end of our testimony. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Next gentleman.

Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity. I too am -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Please state your name for the record.

Stewart Hughes 85 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 speaking. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you.

And I too am a member of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind. My blindness is what I call acquired, meaning that I was not born blind. Seventeen years ago I was driving. Forty years ago I was a sharp shooter in the Marine Corps. Very suddenly this very rare ocular disease destroyed my optic nerve. I had a whole lot to deal with in a short period of time. In a matter of two weeks, I was declared legally blind, with some sight. And, by the way, most blind people do have some vision. But I had to acquire a whole lot of skills in a short period of time to regain my independence and become a productive member of society again. One of these skills was traveling. Being a driver, I knew nothing of riding public transportation. I had to learn SEPTA. I had to learn what they call orientation 86 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 mobility, how to travel with a cane, how to feel the sidewalk drop off at the curb, how to recognize curb cuts, how to use my ears to cross streets safely. And more and more as I walk the streets of Philadelphia to do my shopping, for entertainment, for exercise, I too am running into these situations that Mr. Holiday related. One thing that the gentleman, Mr. Lee, from New York mentioned was ADA and make these sidewalks, these sheds compliant with ADA, and I wonder what that entailed. I'd like a little clarification on that. But if we as the visually impaired could have some warning what's coming up halfway down the block is an obstruction that's going to cause us to go out into the street, I wouldn't even travel that. I wouldn't waste my time traveling that distance. So if some thought could be given to prior warning so we don't waste the time and put ourselves in danger, 87 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 that would be appreciated. I'd like to offer my time to get involved in the Committee, make myself available for questions, for expertise in traveling and what might help us. I'm available. I appreciate the time to testify here, and thank you all. Jim, I'll pass it on to you. Oh, I beg your pardon. There's one thing I'd like to add. I work at Children's Hospital, and as we all know in Philadelphia, that's been under construction since day one, and at the intersection of 34th and Civic Center Boulevard, there is an aid that we use. That's an audible crossing signal, which does make my life easier and a lot safer. It's an automatic timer. Mr. Denny, who testified in the early beginnings here, and I have been acquainted, along with some of his co-workers, and he's made adjustments to that over time and had it work when it's supposed to go off, and these are a great assistance to us and 88 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 we'd sure like to see more throughout the City. But right now we're talking about access of sidewalks, but that's kind of related. But I just wanted to add that and thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr. Hughes, for your testimony. Thank you for being here obviously today. Mr. Lee from New York has left the Chambers. I'm sure that Councilman Kenney and/or his staff will follow up on the ADA issues that Mr. Lee raised and you would like some further explanation of. They'll get that to you. And that will certainly be important to us as we move through this process. Let the record reflect also that the Vice-Chair, Councilwoman Quinones, is in attendance. And the gentleman to Mr. Holiday's right, Mr. Saylor, would you please identify yourself, sir, for the record and proceed with your testimony. 89 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

Yes, sir. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon, members of Council. My name is James A. Saylor, S-A-Y-L-O-R, and I am currently the President of the Philadelphia Regional Chapter of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind. I want to start by stating my conclusion, and, that is, while I have heard testimony here this afternoon and I have read over the resolution and I continually hear and have seen the word inconvenienced used, and I do not want to di minimize the fact that it certainly is an inconvenience to all pedestrians. For the visually impaired pedestrian -- and I'll use visually impaired in the context of including both totally blind and partially sighted -- it is a matter of life and serious injury and the possibility of death out on the streets of Philadelphia as things currently exist today with respect to the inconsistency that surrounds construction sites. And I 90 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 want to applaud and commend all of you for Resolution 080088 and holding these hearings, because it's been far too long since this issue has been addressed. Very briefly, a short time ago I had the opportunity on a very, very nice spring afternoon to traverse Chestnut Street in a westerly direction. I'm walking along with my cane. It's a beautiful afternoon. The pigeons are out cooing. The street people seem to be in a good mood. Everything is very copacetic, until I come to the intersection of 12th and Chestnut. The light was in my favor. I started to cross that intersection. I crossed the intersection, so I thought, and I immediately slammed into a fence, which that was, of course, set there for purposes of protecting pedestrians from a construction site. My foot became locked underneath of the fence. My cane became entangled in the fence, and at that 91 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 moment, of course, the person who was in the automobile on 12th Street rolled down the window and informed me, You can't go that way. Would they have said that approximately 30 seconds or just a little bit earlier that than. Another pedestrian across the street said, You have to go over there. Well, off the record, Mr. Chairman, "over there" for the visually impaired in the City of Philadelphia generally means South Jersey. So what I'm describing to you is a bit slapstick, but at the same time I want you to understand the chaos it's created for individuals in our position. What we ask for is consistency and what we ask for is notice. Consistency in that the type of construction or sidewalk guides that may be put in place, whether they be of a covered walk nature or a cattle chute, something which would be consistent with respect to the type of construction which 92 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 is taking place and the type of consistency Mr. Lee showed in his presentation that would put us on notice as to what to expect. The visually impaired pedestrian cannot look down 10th Street off of Market and see what is taking place and know what's taking place in order to avoid that construction site. We don't know until we encounter it. Our canes don't give us advance warning. The guide dogs don't give advance warning until you encounter the site, as you heard testimony from Mr. Hughes and Mr. Holiday. We need that consistency so that we can prepare ourselves. And I think all pedestrians really require that consistency so that they can know exactly what is taking place when they prepare to come to work or leave work, which is one reason why if we're going to come here and state that there's a problem, we offer a solution, and, that is, that the 93 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 local media station or radio stations be contacted. If we can provide to the drivers of this City and around the City information on what roads to take and not to take and what to avoid, I cannot understand why we can't do the same for our pedestrians. I feel they have a right -- we certainly have a right, all of us, to that information.

I really cannot stress to you enough the indignation and the embarrassment caused when we go to go down a street and we encounter one of these barriers physically, and far too often this is what happens. And, again, one of the issues, which, unfortunately, is presented to us far too often, is that construction is taking place at the site as we approach it and you, of course, have that noise, jack hammers, crane boom being moved. Now you're faced with having to possibly walk into a street, not being able to see what's coming at you or behind you, and 94 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 the additional concern of not being able to adequately hear what may be coming in the general direction. That would be my testimony, Mr. Chairman. I have provided to you and to the Committee a letter outlining my testimony and the points that I wish to raise here today. Again, I thank you for the time and the opportunity to appear before you, and I certainly am prepared to answer any questions. And I join in with Mr. Holiday and Mr. Hughes in making our association available to you to work with you to at least work on the portion with respect to what is necessary and would be appropriate for a visually impaired pedestrian. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr. Saylor, for very informing testimony. I can only imagine what it's like. Fortunately for me I have full sight, and I have a difficulty sometimes trying to figure out how you get from Point A to 95 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Point B. So one can only imagine what you have to go through. Councilman Kenney -- do you have any questions? I'm sorry.

No. 7 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Any questions from this Committee for these witnesses? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Again, thank you, gentlemen, for coming in today. We do appreciate it, and I'm certain that Councilman Kenney will be following up with you on your offer to provide expertise and information that will be helpful as we move this issue forward. Thank you.

Will you accept the letter, Mr. Chairman, as part of the record for the Committee? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Absolutely. We do have your testimony, but any additional information that you 96 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 think is important, please provide it to my office and I will make certain that the Committee members and all members of City Council receive a copy.

I've just been informed that you do have the letter. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You got it. Thank you. Next panel, Paul Levy. I don't see him here. Is someone from Center City District? Kyle Gradinger and Sara Stewart from the Bicycle Coalition. The panel I just called up, if you would not mind just sitting on those chairs against the rail. We do need to get the City folks back up, and then you come. Just stay on this side of the rail in those black chairs. Thanks. First panel, Mr. Haigler, Mr. Perri, Mr. Denny, would you please come back to the witness table. Councilman Green has a follow-up question or two. 97 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Thank you very much. It really gets back to the question that Councilman Greenlee asked prior to Mr. Lee's testimony, and, that is, what are our current rules about when sidewalks close, sheds. And we had very specific information provided by Mr. Lee from the Borough of Queens of New York City, and I'm wondering -- and you don't have to answer me now, but can you provide us a similar presentation that explains exactly what the City's requirements are compared to what we saw from New York in terms of when sheds are required, when sidewalk closings are permitted, in that kind of presentation so that we can compare apples to apples in terms of what their regulations are compared to our regulations? For example, the 150 versus 300 when you're requesting 300, but you notice the distinction that he made about 98 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 when 300 is required, only 100 feet or above, unless they're going to put materials on top of it, the feet 5 beyond for over 100 feet, do we have 6 similar requirements in the City of 7 Philadelphia. 8 With respect to specifically 9 parking, do the permits you provide for 10 sidewalk closings permit parking on the 11 sidewalk by contractors or is that -- 12

Charlie Denny. 13 No, they don't permit parking 14 on the sidewalk or parking behind a fence 15 in the street. 16

Do they 17 permit parking on the site? 18

Out of the 19 right-of-way? 20

Yes.

If they are spaced off out of the right-of-way where they can park, yes, but not within the right-of-way.

So we could 99 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 currently ticket cars that are on the sidewalk at construction sites or parked behind the fence but on a sidewalk, or is the sidewalk no longer the right-of-way once it's closed by the permit?

Parking on a sidewalk is not permitted under any case.

So we currently don't permit what we see evidence of all over the place. And why don't we enforce that rule today, and who would enforce it?

If it's observed, then we inform either the PPA or the Police. It is enforced, but it all depends on whether it's seen.

So the Parking Authority -- I mean, if we told the Parking Authority they could give tickets for that, they'd give tickets, don't you think?

They've been told that they can give tickets for that, yes.

Okay. Well, 100 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 so -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Bottom line is, they're afraid.

Maybe they need to go out with the Sheriff on that one. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Maybe.

Okay. Just generally, without going through each specific item, how similar are the regulations he described to your processes in terms of sidewalk closures when sheds are required, et cetera?

I'm not sure the last time we did a coverage over a sidewalk. I think it was on Market Street on 21st Street. So I don't actually know where our regulations are and how they compare to New York City's. I would have to look at both.

Well, we've got one right along, as Councilman Kenney mentioned, the Masonic Temple. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: City Hall. 101 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 We have them right out here.

Right on City Hall, yeah.

Yes, I know that, but I wasn't involved in issuing that permit.

So with you today is not the person who reviews these permit requests who can tell us what the law is compared to New York?

No. That person works for me.

If you could provide a comparison to what New York's rules are compared to our current rules or regulations so that we can get a sense of the problem we're solving, if there is a need to solve one, I'd appreciate it if you provide that to the Chair.

Yes.

Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Kenney. 102 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

I'm afraid to ask this question. When I see something that seems to be acceptable and safe on a construction site or a renovation site or historic preservation site, like the two sites we just talked about, the Masonic Hall and St. John's Church, that means the contractor themselves decided to do that? The City didn't require them to do that?

It depends on what the work they were doing and when they came in for the permit, we may have required them to do it. I did not specifically look at the other site you mentioned.

When I look at the Masonic Temple site, for example, I saw that stuff going up. I mean, I was impressed that this is -- especially in light of what we were anticipating at the hearing and getting ready for it. And I got out of my car and I'm looking and I'm saying, this is pretty substantial. I 103 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 mean, I had iron workers out there putting up the scaffolding. You have a lighted length of the building shed. It's got the mesh on there to keep the debris from, I guess, from the street, going into the shed area. And that wouldn't necessarily, without maybe to have to go review the permit, but it seems to me that's something that the contractor may have decided to do because they're an effective and competent contractor, as opposed to some of these guys who throw up these Cyclone fences like they throw up sheets. If Mr. Haigler could...

Again, I'm Otis Haigler, Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. To allude to some of the things that Mr. Lee stated, we do have certain similar requirements from Licenses and Inspections' standpoint to what they do in New York. We don't issue a building 104 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 permit. I think he alluded to the fact that they don't issue a building permit unless there is some sort of a street closure or shelter permit in place prior to the issuance of the building permit. We do the same thing here. Matter of fact, I brought -- and I'll give this to the Sergeant-At-Arms to give to the Committee. This is a form that we have in the Department of Licenses and Inspections. I'll keep one copy for myself so I can read from it. This is a form that we have in Licenses and Inspections that deals with our permit application process. This form is a checklist that our Building Plan Engineers review and go by. This form also contains language that's currently in the Code. So it's like a cheat sheet or a checklist for our Building Plan Engineers when they review their plans prior to the issuance of their permits. And it indicates on there accessibility requirements that have to 105 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 be met. It indicates on there what those requirements are. They're linked to Chapter 11 of the Building Code. It indicates on there the type of shelter platform. If the shelter platform is constructed, it indicates on there what the requirements are for that particular shelter platform, that it has to have adequate lighting, that it has to cover the walkway, shall have a minimum clear height of eight feet, so forth and so on. I'm not going to read through all of this, but we do have a certain process and procedure in place that we do for our building permit applications prior to the issuance of the permit.

Mr. Haigler, I'll let Councilman DiCicco comment on the extensiveness of the list, but what I'm sensing is -- and this is something that I've experienced over the course of years -- is that we seem to be in a situation, at no one's fault here at the table, that one department is 106 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 responsible for one part of the process and the other department is responsible for the other, and somewhere in between we get lost. Is this something that should be either in L&I or should be solely in Streets so that there's one consistent -- and not that you guys don't communicate, but I think there's a different mission and mindset in Streets than there may be in L&I. And it seems that in New York, for example, there is an Office of Building Standards or the Building Department which is in charge of all construction and building and demolition. It seems that there might be some disconnect, unintentional as it may be, between the Streets Department and L&I.

Well, we each have our roles as defined by the City Charter. L&I's responsibility is for building construction and inspections of buildings for safety. Our building inspectors primarily when they go out to 107 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 the site, they're looking at the construction of the building for safety requirements, making sure that the building is being constructed properly. We generally manage a number of about 15,000 building permit applications per year, and we have about 30 inspectors that do that for the entire City. Streets Department, their responsibility is to deal with the public right-of-way. So --

Maybe --

-- we can work together, but I think we still have our roles because of what our responsibilities are.

Again, I guess L&I's main mission is public safety. Perhaps it should be more their decision to require the shed as opposed to Streets. And I don't mean that in a critical way of Streets, because I think you're mostly hampered with the issue of the 150-pound per square foot live load, 108 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 which also leads to another issue, because forcing someone in the street so they don't get hit with a piece of concrete under a shed, you could easily get hit with the concrete in the street. To me, I don't think it matters all that much, because I don't know if stuff -- considering the height of a building, whether it falls straight down or whether -- there's all kinds of ways things can fall, and if it's a crane falling off a building, you could have the shed, you could have the street, you could have the -- if the crane is coming down and somebody is under it, they're going to get killed, God forbid. So I'm just wondering whether or not there's maybe not coordination, but maybe somebody needs to take the ball on this as opposed to having the ball going back and forth between two departments. And, Mr. Chairman, I'll go back to you if you have comments on the form. 109 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I just want to follow up. I'm happy to see this review form, but without, again, being too critical, but for the couple of locations that we've talked about, St. John's and the Masonic Temple, it's obvious because they're so new in the way it's being handled that we haven't been doing in most cases, I would say, what has been required.

Again, I state that that review form is a form that our engineers review at the time of the building permit application and approvals for the building permit. As far as determining whether or not there's compliance with that particular shed or activity there, that's not an L&I issue. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: But when a job is underway -- and we'll take some of the bigger jobs -- aren't there periodic inspections by the Department of License and Inspection? 110 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

L&I does do periodic inspections of the construction activity, issuance pertaining to that building permit that was issued. Our responsibility is to inspect the activities related to the building permit. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: But wasn't the permit somewhat predicated on the compliance for the shed and/or scaffolding? I mean, don't they go hand in hand? Isn't this one of the reasons that you get a permit, because you agreed to comply?

Generally, you're agreeing to comply with the requirements of the Building Code. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Then why do we have them fill out this form?

It's as a prerequisite approval, as we issue prerequisite -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Prerequisite approval? 111 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

We require prerequisite approvals for many activities prior to the issuance of the building permit. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So the prerequisite, you fill the form out, you get the perit because you agree to comply to all the purposes of the permit. So now I go out and I decide to put up a 30-story building and I don't meet the requirement, the prerequisite requirement, for getting the permit in the first place. Why do we allow it to continue without having been cited or stopping the job? Let the record note that Mr. Haigler nodded his head in the affirmative.

Let me respond to that -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm not trying to --

-- more firmly. We do stop -- 112 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Just hold it. I'm not trying to get in an argument here, but it just doesn't make sense if we're telling people that this is what you need to do before you get the permit, but after we issue the permit, you could basically ignore this form and not have to comply. I mean, we're at fault here. I'm surprised we're not getting sued on these things.

L&I does issue stop work orders when we do find that there are issues of non-compliance or if the issue is referred to us by some other jurisdiction that has some jurisdiction over that activity. If there's something that's referred to us, if they're not in compliance with The Philadelphia Code, we would issue a stop work order on that particular job. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Are you suggesting, then, that you do not or could not or cannot issue a stop work order because the contractor or the 113 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 developer did not comply with this form that spells out exactly what --

I am not suggesting that, Councilman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Do you know of any cases where you have shut anyone down because they didn't comply to the form that they originally agreed to?

Not personally, but we can look into that.

Can I ask a question, Councilman? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilwoman Quinones. Thank you.

What is the correlation between this prerequisite application and your on-site inspection? Because you issue -- this is the premise in which people are issued a permit. When I'm an inspector, I visit a site. What's the correlation between this form that we're authorizing people to do and what we inspect on site? 114 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

The requirements of that form primarily comes from the Building Code. I apologize that my -- the person that I was going to bring with me, he could have probably answered this question a little bit better than I can, Mr. Maenner, who is the Chief of our Building Construction Services Division. He had to be called out for an emergency inspection prior to the hearing. He couldn't be here. But the correlation is that our inspectors when we go out, we inspect to determine compliance with the Building Code requirements. Now, when our inspectors go out, they're inspecting the construction of that shed. We require a building permit for the shed, and if we were to go out, we're inspecting to make sure that the shed that's being constructed is being constructed in accordance with the requirements of the Building Code and basically what's on this sheet here as to the construction of 115 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 that shed. That's it. That's the limits of what L&I's responsibility is related to whether or not a shed is being placed or whether or not the street is being closed.

I would ask for the record if you can submit to the Chair a flowchart of this process and the correlation between our forms, what we're giving people permits for and what we actually inspect, and see if there's a connection. My assumption is that there is a flowchart that follows this and that every form that we're requiring people to do prior to construction is what we check during construction and is what we check off after construction. So I'd like to see all those forms, including what your folks see, what they're required to submit on the ground. If you could submit that to the Chair, that would be helpful.

Sure.

Thank 116 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Green.

One thing that's still not clear to me from this whole back and forth is, who is it that decides whether or not the sidewalk is going to be closed or a shed is going to be required? That's not L&I; is that correct?

That's correct.

That's Streets?

That's correct.

Okay. So all you're doing is giving them this information?

That's correct.

And when you show up, there's either a shed or the sidewalk is closed. If the sidewalk is not closed and there's no shed, then you issue a stop work order or whatever? Just give me a yes/no. 117 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

Yes.

Thank you. Okay. So Streets -- I think what the question Councilman Kenney was asking that sort of began this whole dialogue on this topic is, what are your specific requirements for people in deciding, or for yourself, in deciding when a sidewalk should be closed versus a shed could be constructed? Did that properly frame the question, Councilman Kenney? Yeah. So if you could -- I mean, if you don't know exactly the answer to that question, let's not continue to discuss it. If you could just provide it to the Chair.

Councilman, Dave Perri again. What we'll do is, we'll meet with the examiners that make that determination. We'll put a list together of what the criteria is. We'll compare 118 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 that to New York and we'll compare that to the Philadelphia Building Code so we can see what we're doing now, what's actually in the Code that we could enforce and things that are in New York that perhaps could enhance our local process.

And let me just make two quick suggestions for that. Number one, a dumpster can't be on the street for more than 30 days. Do we have the ability to do that or would you need legislation, without an extension being required every 30 days?

I would have to look and see whether or not we need any --

If you could report back to the Chair. The other is, 90 days for a sidewalk closure and your permit expires. That addresses the neighborhood situations that Councilman Kenney and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller were 119 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 discussing and Councilman DiCicco. Every 90 days you have to reapply and justify the further existence of that permit. If you haven't been doing anything at the site, you're not going to get it extended and then you're going to have to reapply when you actually get active again. There are lots of stopped construction projects with fences around them in the City of Philadelphia, Northern Liberties, other places. It sounds like a few in Councilman DiCicco's district. Let's pull those permits and have them reapply once they're ready to start work again so that people have access to their public sidewalks.

We can check on what we can do in that regard.

And, once again, can you limit it to 90 days or do you need us to take action? Or maybe we should take action so that becomes the rule. Those are the questions. Thank you very much. 120 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Councilman Kenney.

Mr. Chairman, if you would be so kind, I'd like to make a formal request that instead of providing this information to the Chair, that at the conclusion of this hearing, we recess to the call of the Chair so that we can have another hearing. I think we need another hearing on this, because what happens is, then when information is provided to the Chair through a budget hearing request or this kind of request, we don't always know where it goes. I'd really like to have this. And what Mr. Perri offered to do, to come back and kind of talk about what improvements or changes can be made, I'd rather have a dialogue on this than just paperwork. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Absolutely. So noted.

Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Any other 121 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 questions for these witnesses? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you all. Frank Baxter, Director of Public Safety for L.F. Driscoll, and Mr. Sklaroff. Is there anyone else after these two gentlemen who would like to testify? Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. Mr. Sklaroff, Mr. Baxter, just hold it. I forgot we jumped ahead again. I apologize. I got to go back to the third panel. I apologize. (Witnesses approached witness table.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Please begin by stating your name for the record and presenting your testimony.

My name is Kyle Gradinger. I'm an urban planner and transportation planner for Wallace, Roberts and Todd. I specialize in public 122 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 transportation and non-motorized modes of transportation, biking, walking essentially. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on the topic of sidewalk obstructions in Philadelphia. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to take a moment just to reemphasize the role that sidewalks play in our overall transportation network. I would like to begin by quoting Vukan Vuchic, a noted transportation expert and Penn engineering professor. He wrote once that, "The character of cities depends to a great extent on the treatment of pedestrians. " Philadelphia, with its quaint streets, compact land use and human scale architecture, is the most walkable city 123 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 in North America. Sure, Cambridge can say that, but the evidence supports this boast. Philadelphians are nearly three times more likely than the average American to walk to work, and in Center City alone, 37 percent of residents walk to work, more than in any other large American downtown. In fact, pedestrian traffic can easily outnumber vehicle traffic on many Center City streets during commute times. But sidewalks are much more than transportation corridors. Sidewalks and public squares are the great democratic spaces of cities where people of all backgrounds can meet, mingle and share opinions. Philadelphia's lively sidewalks offer our city a competitive advantage over other cities, which are attempting to emulate the activity and authenticity found every day on the streets of Philadelphia. Today, I will focus on the critical role that Philadelphia sidewalks 124 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 play in terms of transportation, public safety and economic development. Transportation is about two things essentially, mobility and access. Without mobility, people and goods cannot move from place to place. Without access, land has little value. In terms of mobility, Philadelphia's sidewalks play a very important role in getting people and goods to their final destinations. Traffic engineers often measure the flow of vehicular traffic using a term called "level of service," or LOS. LOS ranks a street from A, free flowing traffic, to F, major delays. Streets that are ranked D, E and F quickly work their way to the top of regional transportation funding priority lists. In the 1980s, transportation planners in New York City took the LOS ranking for cars and adapted it for pedestrians in order to create sidewalk design guidelines. I've been informed that the 125 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 City of Philadelphia did study using LOS for pedestrians in the 1980s, but is not a common practice today. Imagine for a moment that the City of Philadelphia did use LOS. Picture 15th Street north of Locust on a weekday morning after a PATCO train arrives at the 15th and 16th Street Station and discharges hundreds of passengers into Center City. Those PATCO passengers become Philadelphia pedestrians as soon as they leave the train and begin the final leg of their journey to work. Akin to a school of fish, the platoon -- yes, that's an actual traffic planning word -- works its way north on the 12- to 15-foot-wide sidewalks, flowing around news racks, food carts, street furniture and cars waiting to get into parking garages. Eventually the sidewalk cannot contain all of the pedestrians and they begin to spill out into the street against oncoming traffic. 126 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Traffic engineers ranked this sidewalk as level of service C or D. It usually flows well, but there are problems. Now think about the pedestrian heading south against these people, headlong into the platoon of PATCO passengers. The sidewalk for this unfortunate individual has temporarily reached level of service F, total breakdown.

The individual has no mobility on the sidewalk and is forced to choose another route or even walk in the street. If traffic engineers did in fact measure pedestrian level of service the way that they measure vehicular level of service, this poor-performing sidewalk would find itself on top of the regional transportation funding priority list. In the cards would be sidewalk widening and a signal timing program to ensure that the pedestrians leaving the PATCO train would hit all the green lights on their way to work. To highlight the importance of 127 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 access, I turn again to the corner of 15th and Locust to provide a telling example of how a sidewalk obstruction exacerbates the impedence of pedestrian mobility and threatens personal safety. On the northeast corner of 15th and Locust sits the Aria, a former office building that was recently converted to condominiums after a lengthy construction period. A construction fence blocking both 15th Street and Locust Street was erected soon after renovation began in 2005. No accommodation was made for pedestrians, so they were forced to cross to the west side of 15th and the side south of Locust Street to continue on their journeys. The construction fence remained in place for two and one-half years, entirely blocking one corner of the intersection of 15th and Locust. People in wheelchairs or pushing strollers who weren't aware of the sidewalk closure -- and as we now know, blind people as well 128 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 were not aware of the sidewalk closure -- were forced to backtrack an entire block to find an ADA-compliant curb cut. Pedestrians who didn't need a curb cut would often walk brazenly into traffic, squeezing themselves between a jersey barrier and moving cars. Those who were unwilling to backtrack or unable to cross without a curb cut were effectively denied access to the public sidewalks at 15th Street and Locust Street for years. Just north of the Aria on 15th Street, halfway between the crosswalks at Locust and Walnut Streets, is Hausbrandt Cafe. Hausbrandt Cafe is a popular neighborhood destination with a cozy atmosphere and a loyal customer base. During the renovation of the Aria, these loyal customers would cut across traffic on 15th Street, making a de facto crosswalk mid block through traffic. Hausbrandt Cafe weathered the storm of Aria construction because its dedicated 129 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 customers were willing to take risks to get there. On the other hand, lengthy sidewalk closures can be detrimental to some businesses. On this point, I offer a personal anecdote. I walk past Sue's Produce Market on the west side of 18th Street between Walnut and Chestnut every day. I used to stop at Sue's on a regular basis -- or a whim, actually, just to pick up a piece of fruit in the morning or to get a snack on the way back from lunch. Located on one of the busiest sidewalks in Center City, Sue's probably relies on a lot of customers like me, the kind who buy fruit when the opportunity arises, not because it's on the grocery list. However, I haven't been to Sue's in over a year. There's nothing wrong with the produce at Sue's. It's great. But the problem is that the western sidewalk on 18th Street has been blocked for over a year because of the 10 130 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Rittenhouse construction project. I am a reasonably fit adult who could handle walking back and forth across 18th Street, but I have no need to because produce is an undifferentiated commodity that I get all over the City. Ever since the Rittenhouse construction project 9 redirected my commute to the opposite 10 sidewalk, Sue's has fallen off of my mental map. If a reasonably fit adult is not willing to go out of his way to get an apple, imagine how unlikely it is that someone using a wheelchair or pushing a baby stroller will negotiate a sidewalk closure.

In this case, the sidewalk closure on 18th Street has not only limited the mobility of pedestrians on the sidewalk, it has created access problems for a small business that relies on foot traffic. This argues for reconsidering how the City of Philadelphia mitigates the numerous impacts that construction sites can have 131 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 on Philadelphia's pedestrian realm. In closing, I would like to reiterate that we are all pedestrians. Whether we arrive in Center City by walking, taking SEPTA or driving a car, we all finish our journeys on foot. The last leg of any trip is a critical part of our transportation infrastructure and we must ensure that it functions as well as any road or transit systems. In order to encourage the continued improvement of the quality of life in Philadelphia, we must consider the needs of pedestrians in all of our actions. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Good afternoon, ma'am. Please proceed with your testimony.

Hello. My name is Sara Clark-Stewart and I work for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. I just want to make a brief statement. 132 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 The Bicycle Coalition is a private non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to promoting bicycling as an environmentally friendly, healthy and economical form of transportation and recreation through advocacy and education. We are working with the Planning Commission on the City's forthcoming Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan, and in our view, the bills being discussed today will enhance the City's ability to make its streets more safe for pedestrians and ultimately for bicyclists as well. We applaud the introduction of these bills and we urge City Council to support them. Temporary street and sidewalk closures are important for public safety during construction projects, but they also wreak havoc on pedestrians and bicyclists who need to bypass these sites, in addition to causing severe economic hardship for adjacent businesses. These points have been made 133 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 today, so I will not belabor them. But all too frequently they occur for many, many months, with little accountability. They force pedestrians into the streets, cyclists out of bike lanes and cause pedestrian, cyclists and vehicles to all share the same travel lane, creating very unsafe situations. The more the City can do to control street and sidewalk closures and ensure that they're made safe as possible for pedestrians and bicyclists, to minimize them as much as possible, the better. We expect that permitting these closures with fees as proposed by these bills will increase the likelihood that closures are made safe and do not exist for excessive periods of time. We encourage Council to increase the City's control over construction sites so that they don't prevent the City from being a livable and walkable city. And we concur that enforcement is extremely important and 134 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 must go hand in hand with these bills. So we thank you, and we'll answer any questions. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any questions? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you both and thank you for waiting. I appreciate your time. Mr. Baxter and Mr. Sklaroff. Is there anyone else besides these two gentlemen who would like to testify on this resolution? (No response.) (Witnesses approached witness table.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Gentlemen, decide who is going first. Mr. Sklaroff?

I think the honor is mine. Good afternoon, members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity of addressing you on this subject. My 135 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 name is Neil Sklaroff. I'm an attorney and I represent Rittenhouse Square. 4 10 Rittenhouse Square has been the object 5 of some of the testimony and certainly 6 the object of some of the photographs 7 that you've seen up to now. 8 I have provided you with a very 9 short statement that I'm going to make, 10 as well as photographs of the site. Those photographs are somewhat random, in that they were not taken for the purpose of this hearing, but do illustrate, importantly we think, what the purpose of using sidewalks and travel lanes or parking lanes in streets is for. It is not merely for the convenience of the developer, but is a product of necessity in Philadelphia. I'm sure, as you have heard the testimony today, you have seen the great boulevards they have in New York and some very wide sidewalks, and that's wonderful, and when we have that in Philadelphia, perhaps we can mirror 136 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 what's done there, but most of Philadelphia was laid out long ago and we have narrow streets and narrow sidewalks. As you know or as you may know, the Rittenhouse Square project is 7 located on Sansom Street, 18th Street and 8 Walnut Street and it sits directly across 9 from Rittenhouse Square. It is currently 10 under construction, and construction has required the extended closing of one sidewalk and one lane of both 18th Street and Sansom Street in areas immediately adjacent to the construction site. The use of the closed areas does not allow for pedestrian access. Sidewalks across from 18th Street and Sansom Street are open and generally unaffected by the construction. The preservation of the facade of the Rittenhouse Club on Walnut Street, in addition, has required the partial closing of a portion of the sidewalk on Walnut Street. While we would have hoped that 137 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 our efforts in arriving at the current site configuration would actually serve as a process model for development along Philadelphia's tight street system, we are surprised to learn that our project might have been the target of some critics. I think any developer who would have been here today would have said, But my site is different and my project is different. Like all properties, 10 Rittenhouse Square site is unique and has its own particular challenges. For instance, the property is in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District with buildings individually designated on Philadelphia's Register of Historic Buildings and subject to the Historic Preservation ordinance. The former Rittenhouse Club was in such disrepair that only its facade could be saved, and that task requires that superstructure and that fence that you've seen on Walnut Street. Due to the preservation of the 138 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 facade of the Rittenhouse Club, there is no access available from the Walnut side of the project. The project is only accessible for construction from Sansom Street and 18th Street. Because the project has underground parking, extensive sheeting and shoring was necessary under the adjacent sidewalks. The hole was more than 30 feet in depth. The project's new building covers 100 percent of the property and has no setbacks, a condition that was favored not only by the consulting and approving agencies but most of the groups with whom we spoke. That is, in Philadelphia, we build to the property line, up to the sidewalk, and, therefore, in this site, as many others, there is no 21 other area on the site to place construction materials or to have machinery that is necessary for construction. In our case, Sansom Street is 139 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 only feet wide and has sidewalks that are only 10 feet wide. 18th Street is 26 feet wide with sidewalks which are 12 5 feet wide.

6 The sidewalk and street lanes 7 allowed by permit to be fenced are 8 strictly used for material delivery, 9 storage of materials and use of 10 construction machinery, such as cranes 11 and elevators and concrete pumps. 12 Vehicles that come in are loaded with 13 materials or concrete trucks, and they 14 move in and out, as you'll see from the 15 photographs that you have. We have a 16 large sliding fence on Sansom Street and 17 vehicles are maneuvered in and out for 18 delivery of materials on a constant 19 basis. 20 The project required and received the approval of the Historical Commission, the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Throughout the design and approval process, ARCWheeler enjoyed the support of the Center City Residents 140 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Association, the Preservation Alliance and many Walnut Street merchants. The Streets Department issued permits approving the sidewalk and street closures. Enclosed with the testimony, as I've said, are photographs of our site. We hope that you will agree that using the sidewalks and some lanes is necessary in order to construct this project at all. It is not possible to provide a pedestrian access without closing another lane of 18th Street and entirely closing Sansom Street. We didn't get to this street and sidewalk configuration without some public discussion. When the well-respected Turner Construction approached our client with the idea to close a portion of 18th Street and all of Sansom Street for a couple of years, we questioned the general contractor and then immediately reached out to the community, the neighbors and the business 141 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 persons along Sansom Street, as well as Councilman Clarke. There were many, many meetings, and construction was delayed through this process for many months. Eventually we came to an understanding that added a very significant expense to our client's costs to developing this project. In the end, I guess nobody was completely satisfied with the compromises made here. The developer had significantly more costs. The contractor had much less room in which to -- much less room than it would have liked in order to maneuver, and the neighbors have one less lane and only one sidewalk on each street in which to travel. We continue our dialogue, however, with the community. Each month we notify the neighboring land owners, CCRA and Councilman Clarke's office of the site logistics and every relevant permit with regard to closing the streets and the sidewalks. We provide monthly updates of our construction progress, the 142 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 project layouts and schedules of major construction activities, including temporary lane closures that will have to occur due to construction. I think my point is that in this particular situation -- and I'm sure there are others -- the ability to build the project as permitted, as desired in Pennsylvania, with no setbacks, with narrow sidewalks and narrow streets, compelled us to be able to close a sidewalk and a lane. To have put a covered sidewalk here would not have been practical. One other comment about covered sidewalks where you have a sidewalk that is close by across the street. This project will have almost 1,100 panels that will have to be craned from trucks and applied to the side of the buildings. I hope you would agree that it is wiser to do that where it won't fall on anything, where there's nothing below where it will be craned than if we had to 143 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 put a structured sidewalk below. I don't have the answer to many of the questions and criticisms that were raised today, but I wanted to show you this example of what we think was a concerted effort to come up to the best way to be able to construct the building and protect the safety of our neighbors and residents. Thank you, and I'd be pleased to answer any questions. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr.

Sklaroff, and I will be one to agree with your assessment, understanding the size and shape and the limitations that we have in our City compared to some of the other cities, because most of our streets are much more narrow. I'm not speaking for the author of this resolution, but I think we're all reasonable people and we understand that, but there are -- I think what we're looking to do is where there are or there is the potential or the ability to 144 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 provide a public walkway, secure public walkway, in those instances I think that we all agree that we should do that. But I'm familiar with this project, and there are some other projects that probably fit into the same category where it's virtually impossible to try to do all the things we'd like to do. And I think that that may be part of the public process or the permitting process, if you will, and the discussions with the local community and elected officials on a project-by-project basis. But I think you heard me earlier, when we have a form that is required before a permit is issued -- and I would suggest that in many cases -- and I don't have a number, but there are a number of cases out there where a pedestrian shed, walkway, illuminated walkway, would have been possible without interfering with the construction activities -- is being ignored. So this is kind of like we all 145 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 got to get together, and with a meeting of the minds, I think reasonable people could come up with reasonable solutions.

I agree with you, Councilman. I think that what we experienced was a heightened level of scrutiny by the folks that issue these permits of the Streets Department. We have no quarrel with them, but they scrutinized what the effect of our closings would be, what we were going to do, and participated in many public meetings, and we can only thank Councilman Clarke and his office, as well as the Streets Department in coming to the resolution we did. No doubt there are instances where you could do the covered sidewalk, and that would be appropriate there. I guess what I'm urging is that we not set up a standardization that is so strict that we can't have exceptions without having to go to another board and create a procedure or a process that would 146 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 further burden development in Philadelphia. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I understand and I appreciate that, and I don't think that's our intention here, but gathering this information and at least putting out in the public forum the fact that we do care and we are concerned and we want to be responsive collectively with the Building Industry Association and others who are looking to do business in the City, I think we can work through these things. I mean, Councilman Kenney and I talked about a very small project in South Philadelphia, a two-story row home, but that's kind of reflective of some of the larger developments that are going on in the City of Philadelphia where sidewalks continually remain closed for pedestrian access long after the necessity to keep them closed has passed. I mean, there's nothing but interior work going on in this two-story row house. 147 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 There are no cranes that are necessary. It's all brought in by hand, but yet they choose to close the entire sidewalk and take one parking spot for several months. So, again, that's just a small example of what, in my opinion having seen a lot of this stuff, that reflects some of the larger projects as well.

We have no 11 dispute with your assessment of those situations. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Do you having something for this witness?

Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Okay. Councilwoman Quinones.

Obviously you feel targeted because it was cited. A question in this case, because you don't show the other angles, and I was at Stiletto's the other day, not because I was buying, but I was at an event -- 148 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I was going to ask --

I couldn't walk on those shoes. Did you take the walkways on all sides of this building?

Well, there are only the two sides of the building, except for Walnut Street. We neighbor 1845 with an entire length of the building, but --

But on Samson Street did you take the length of your building?

I think the photograph has most of it. We only -- some people wouldn't like the word "only" there. The street is closed and the sidewalk is closed for the 163 feet that is adjacent to the property that we own. So we don't go any further. But if you were coming from Sansom Street, you would, unfortunately, as was explained today, you would find -- I hope there's a 149 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 sign there. I don't have the photograph. You can see there are some signs here. I think you would find it -- it would fence. You can get up to our property and no further. And if somebody has suggestions on how we can better what we're doing, we're welcome to do that.

My only point --

This is all of the Sansom Street --

Yeah. The Councilman showed it. My only point is that I think that -- and I would hope that we're not going to be so rigid in this standardization, especially since this would be something new that we wouldn't be flexible, but I think my point is, without some protocols around this, you have situations like this where you don't even consider if we're going to infringe on the walkway, which one do we do where we have the minimal impact based on our 150 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 traffic patterns. And in this particular case, you're in a commercial corridor. So I guess we appreciate your feedback and we understand that there can be these exceptions, but without any discussion on this, then it's open. Because I would think that if we had had some standards and we say to you, You could only take one of those sidewalks, you figured it out. You would have to figure it out.

You mean if we could only do one of the sidewalks well?

Right.

That was certainly a challenge that was presented to us by the neighbors, and I hope we were able to convince them -- we almost came to a written agreement, the terms of which we continue to follow even though it was never signed. But I think we were able to persuade people in a project of 33 stories, covering what almost is half a City block, that we could not have done 151 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 this with just one sidewalk and one lane. There's just too much going on, too much -- I imagine we could do it if we wanted to build the project in six years, but I think that's not the alternative that the neighbors would have wanted. So we looked into all of those alternatives, and you can imagine with 10 or so neighbors and many meetings, that 11 every possible configuration was 12 presented to us as a challenge. 13

Thank 14 you. 15

Along with 16 putting a covered walkway and storing 17 materials on top of that, which we were 18 able to persuade them wasn't the best of 19 worlds. 20

Well, since we've almost finished developing Center City, as you guys move to the 7th Councilmanic District, you're not going to have as much of a problem with the sidewalks. 152 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 But I just think -- and, again, both Councilmen DiCicco and Clarke I know have been actively involved in some of this thing. I think that we're too big of a city not to have some standards around this, and we're going to have some challenges around this, as you heard previously, just trying to get our Streets Department and our L&I Department to coordinate this. So we understand there's some challenges. So we appreciate the feedback, but we're a big city and this is -- I heard the testimony of New York and I was a little embarrassed that we're so behind. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Baxter.

I'm sorry. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm sorry. Councilman Kenney. I apologize.

I just have a couple of questions relative to -- let me just say at the outset, the reason 153 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 that we're here is because, in my view, kind of the pendulum swinging so far this way and very little, if any, consideration for the pedestrian or the vehicle, your project aside, just in general terms.

And the bicyclists. Don't forget the bicyclists.

And the bicyclists. It seems that we're now swinging back this way to get some common sense back to the process. And it always happens like that. When people get -- and me personally, when I get annoyed at seeing some of the stuff that goes on on our City sidewalks and streets during construction projects and then -- I don't know if you heard earlier -- then I go to another city and I say, damn, this is -- I mean, you're doing more construction than we're doing and I can get around Manhattan easier than I can get around Center City. I recognize the peculiar 154 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 problems relative to this particular project in Rittenhouse House, the historic area, narrow streets. I get it. But there's a period of time that I recall -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- that there was no work going on there whatsoever, that there were periods of work where there's kind of a hole and then we still had the sidewalk gone. And I don't know what the length of time was, but I traverse that area a lot. There was a period of time I remember no work going on at all. Was there a period of time when that was the case?

There was a period of time when -- there were two periods of time in which there was no 19 work going on. The first period of time, if my recollection is correct, only the property was fenced and not the sidewalk. Then there was a period of time in which -- and we may have captured some of the sidewalk at that time, because work had begun, in which we were negotiating 155 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 what road closures would take place. I don't think I'd be exaggerating if we lost six months while we were negotiating and talking with the City.

But during that six-month period --

Now, prior to that -- I'm sorry, Councilman.

During that six-month period, did we need to have the sidewalk taken?

Well, we would have needed -- we were doing what work we could. We didn't know what day we would get the approval. Our general contractor had already checked with the City and had anticipated to be able to go in timely and getting all of Sansom Street closed. We decided we were not going to push that at that time and we entered into discussions.

I have no 24 problem with the process that delays you or the City. I mean, I understand that 156 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 it's not exactly a pleasant process, and when you have a controversial project, there's even more delays involved, but there's periods of time during that project's life where people didn't have to walk in the street. I mean, there was nothing going on. There was not stuff being -- there wasn't cement being delivered. There wasn't things being craned up. There was nothing. There was nothing there. And my point of view is, if you want to kind of mitigate the complaints, during the periods of time where you don't need the sidewalk, you should give it back.

I will find out for you the dates, Councilman. It is my recollection that the property but not the sidewalk was fenced during the so-called downtime. The other time is from digging the hole. But you may be right, and I will find out and I will inform the members of the Committee and you, sir. 157 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

And your project may be the exception to the rule. It may be one of those projects that, geez, we just can't figure out what we can do to make this work, so we got to close the sidewalk and take a lane. And I'm certainly willing to accept that. My problem is not as much with you, unless you could have opened it and the guys didn't, but that aside, it's more with the City not having any kind of standard as to what we do. I mean, there were other projects in Center City at that time, there was one at 15th and Locust, that went on like the Pyramids. It went on forever. I mean, I had restaurant guys coming to me saying, People can't get to my restaurants, it's nuts. And there are other projects similar to that where -- the one out across from the Curtis Center, that project going on behind the Warwick, or maybe it is the Warwick. I mean, that's the sidewalk, the lane on a pretty busy street, on 158 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 Locust Street. So we just need some standardization and at least some process that we can figure out does this make sense or not. So, I mean, I'm glad you guys built Rittenhouse. I think it's a 9 terrific project. I think it's going to 10 bring people to the town that's going to get a tax abatement perhaps, but are going to spend money and do the things that we want everybody who lives in the City to do. I just want to be able to make it as convenient for everybody as we can. And the cost to the developer, I recognize that, but when developers decide they're going to do a project of that scale, of that price, in that location, I mean, you know your numbers. The people you represent are successful developers. They're not going to do something they're going to lose money at generally, unless something happens to the economy that's unforeseen. But the 159 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 extra costs associated with making people safe I think are worth it, within reason. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Baxter. And I would remind everyone that immediately after the conclusion of this hearing, the Committee on Economic --

Oh, I apologize. I didn't realize there was another hearing. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: No 15 problem. -- will be convened. Mr. Baxter.

Good afternoon. F. Driscoll Company, a member company for the General Building Contractors Association, GBCA. I would like to thank the Chairman and this Committee for allowing me to testify and Councilman Kenney for your interest in pedestrian safety near construction 160 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 projects. While we understand the desire to try to keep sidewalks open and available to public as possible, the member companies of the GBCA are concerned about the attempts to limit sidewalk closures during construction projects in the City of Philadelphia. Over the years, there have been several instances where even after great diligence, things fall from buildings, which can create major hazards. Even with properly constructed canopies or sheds or shelters, as some people have called them, built to acceptable engineering standards, there is no 18 guarantee that large items do not fall. Just a look at the recent crane accidents in New York City and Miami, where the only way to prevent fatalities would be to assure that everyone was kept completely away from harm, not just underneath a shed. Keeping sidewalks open can also 161 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 be a problem, as it might cross paths with vehicle access to the job site. On larger job sites, the daily traffic of concrete trucks, steel deliveries and dump trucks could be as high as 100 trucks a day, trucks an hour or one 8 every five minutes. 9 Primarily, it seems we are 10 focused on the street -- primary it seems 11 like we were forced into the street 12 because the buildings are designed with foundations that come right up to against the curb. Because of the nature of construction, building a foundation of the building, putting in soldier piles, lagging for excavation, making room for a the foundation walls, it is not possible to build without disrupting the sidewalks. This lack of space requires us to request closure of lanes for deliveries of building materials and the removal of construction debris. The nature of an urban environment forces the construction beyond the perimeters of the 162 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 site. If you drive in New York City, you will note sites are sometimes even given two lanes of traffic, one for staging of construction material and one for pedestrian canopy. But you still find with the canopy people walking in the middle of the street. Even in Philadelphia, we have some jobs with properly installed sidewalk canopies and you still see the public walking in the street. One such example will be the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where sidewalks were kept open along South Broad Street because the Streets Department was willing to give us enough room for the canopy. Even with the canopy being built, people still continue to walk in the middle of the street. Likewise, even when there was a sidewalk on the opposite side of the construction site along the entire length of Spruce Street, we observed many times pedestrians refusing 163 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 to use the sidewalk and walking along the fence line. There are various other hazards that exist keeping sidewalks open, even covered, because the law of gravity. Many years ago in University City during a renovation project, there was a shelter built for pedestrians to an acceptable standard. In spite of the effort, during off hours a sandstone cornice fell from the building. A student on a bicycle was hit by the aluma-joist as the canopy was actually broke apart. Fortunately for the young man, he was not injured, but the result could be worse. It could have been fatal. Recently, in another location, a piece of heavy equipment several stories fell onto a shelter that was crushed by the impact. Had the canopy been for pedestrian use, possibly many innocent civilians would have been injured or worse. Several years ago while 164 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES.

080088 building Liberty One, during a severe wind storm swing scaffolds, which were hung from the building to install glass, broke free from its moorings and were smashing against the exterior walls on several floors above the street level. At that time, the entire workforce stopped what they were doing, went to the ground and assisted the Philadelphia Police Department for any pedestrians from walking in the area where the glass was showering down. Even so, with the construction workers and the police officers, they still had pedestrians insisting to walk down the street and be possibly showered with glass. Our position is that the safest configuration to the public removes pedestrians from the possible harm from a construction site, not just creating a canopy or a shed. New York, Washington and San Francisco have street configurations that are much wider and much amenable to building shelters in a 165 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 lane of traffic. We do not have streets as wide as 6th Avenue or Broadway in New York City, which have six lanes. We have, at best, four lanes of traffic and normally only two lanes of traffic. Thank you again for this opportunity to testify. Also, Mr. Chairman, I have a typical layout of a construction site to give some of your examples, if you would.

Mr. Chairman? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilman Kenney.

I just have one. It's not your position, is it, that having a 300-pound per square foot live load capacity is actually in fact dangerous to pedestrians? I mean, to hear you tell it, you would think that these people, God forbid, they should ever be under there ever. I mean, New York seems to have this down to a 166 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 science, and I will stipulate for you the sidewalks are wider and there's certain streets that are wider, but not every street in New York is wider than every street in Philadelphia. But some of the examples that you were giving would lead one to believe that somehow a properly constructed pedestrian shed is more dangerous than walking in the street.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's more dangerous. If I may use this example, here is a current project in the City of Philadelphia at 1706 Rittenhouse Square, and if you can see where the crane is and the trucks, that's the job site itself. And with real estate being the premiere factor here, the building is built curb to curb. There is no place to go. Currently, we have a lane closure along 17th Street. If the resolution possibly went forward, we would have to keep that lane closure and the sidewalk open along 17th Street, 167 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 where right now the trucks are there.

Sorry. This is 17th and where?

17th and Rittenhouse.

Between Locust and Pine? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That's down the street from Davio's.

I'm trying to -- on 17th or on Rittenhouse?

If you come right past Rittenhouse and that's Rittenhouse Street, it's right there at 17th Street.

So it's just south of Locust?

Correct.

Now I know where you are.

So as a construction industry, it would be very difficult for us to do our work and actually make the deliveries needed. And another main issue would be actually 168 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 every time the truck pulls out, they're crossing the pedestrians. Another case in point, which wasn't in my testimony, but building the Apollo, there was a time where Broad Street, North Broad Street, was remained open, and every time a truck would come out, we would have a laborer stopping all traffic, and the majority were students. A lot of times they would be persistent and not want to listen to our flag men. In one case, one was walking across the walkway. We had to stop him. He refused to stop. A tractor-trailer came up. The gentleman actually got his foot crushed and lost his toes. So if we could have had Broad Street shut down and everybody diverted to the other side in that case.

So what you're telling me is shutting down a sidewalk on Broad Street and requiring pedestrians to cross Broad Street --

At the closest safest -- 169 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

-- in larger volumes than they would normally, because you wouldn't have everybody crossing, is safer?

It's safer in the sense that they would not be actually conflicting or crossing, if you would, construction with trucks coming in and out.

Are you required to have a flag person out there all the time?

Absolutely.

All the time?

When there's traffic.

No, no. 20 When the construction site is active, is there a flag person on 17th Street?

Oh, this one? We have a street closure permit.

My point is that the trucks still go in and out? 170 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088

Oh, absolutely. They are -- yeah, absolutely.

Do you have a flag person there?

Absolutely, yes.

You have a street closure permit, right?

Yes.

And you have trucks going in and out. You have a flag person on --

We will have a flag person. This is --

Because let me tell you something before go, I've been by that site times, never saw a 18 flag person. My understanding is in 19 other cities, the flag person for that 20 situation is absolutely required and is 21 on site the entire time the site is 22 active. 23 So why will you have one soon? 24

Well, what I'm 25 saying is, like this configuration here, 171 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 we're not there yet. Right now we're only digging the hole. Once we get into the mode where concrete trucks, one after another after another, will be showing up.

So then why is the street closed? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Could I interrupt for a minute?

Absolutely, sir. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You're digging the hole. Are the trucks hauling away the material?

They are. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You have a flag person there?

Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: All right. Thank you.

I'm sorry. I have no more questions. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for your patience. 172 4/3/08 - STREETS - RES. 080088 This concludes the hearing on the Committee of Streets and Services. This hearing will be held to the call of the Chair. Thank you. (Committee on Streets and Services adjourned at 3:50 p.m.) - - - 173 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on April 3, 2008, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)