COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON RULES Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, February 27, 2024 10:04 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON ALSO PRESENT:
240020, 240063, 240064, 240065 240066 - - -
Good morning. This hearing is called to order. Members and guests, please take their seats. This is the Committee on Rules and today is Tuesday, February 27, 2024. I'm going to ask Madam Clerk will you please call the roll to attendance. Members that are in attendance, please indicate that you are present when your name is called.
Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Rules regarding Bill Nos. 240020, 240063, 240064, 240065 and 240066. Madam Clerk, will you please read the titles of the bills.
Bill No. 24 240020, amending Title 14 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Zoning and Planning," all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240063, amending Title of The Philadelphia Code, 5 entitled "Zoning and Planning," to 6 create a distinction between 7 hospitals and alcohol or substance 8 use rehabilitation facilities. 9 Bill No. 240064, to amend 10 the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by 11 changing the zoning designations of 12 certain areas of land located 13 within an area bounded by Salmon 14 Street, Ontario Street, Richmond Street and Westmoreland Street. Bill No. 240065, to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by Holme Avenue, Academy Road and Willits Road. And Bill No. 240066, to amend the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by Wood Street, 4th Street, Vine Street and Lawrence Street.
Thank you. And I do want to take a moment and acknowledge that we've been joined by Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson. Thank you, Councilwoman. Before we begin, I want to announce for the record that Bill 13 No. 240063 is being held at the request of the sponsor. Madam Clerk, will you please call the first panel that we have to testify this morning on Bill No. 240020.
Michael Gall, Senior Legislative Planner of Philadelphia City Planning Commission; Rachel J. Pritzker, Esquire; and Judith Robinson.
Please approach the Witness table if your name's been called. Queen Judith Robinson. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Yes. Okay. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Good morning, members of the Rules Committee. My name is Michael A. Gall. I'm the Senior Planner on the Legislative Team for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240020 introduced into City Council on January 25, 2024 by Councilmembers Bass, Phillips, Lozada and Brooks. Bill No. 240020 amends the Philadelphia Zoning Code by amending Chapter 14-300, Administration and Procedures. This bill will amend the Registered Community Organizations sections by clarifying that RCO leadership in the 8th and 9th Council Districts must be a full-time permanent resident or residents whose primary address is within the geographic area of question. While we understand the intent of the bill, we have questions on how this shift would impact different categories of community-serving entities about how leadership is defined and regarding the practicalities of how RCOs will be identified as meeting the requirements. The Planning Commissioners voiced specific concern at the February meeting about the unequal distribution of the bill's impact which will now create two sets of rules for RCOs in different geographic areas, specifically without addressing the issues with RCOs that overlap multiple districts. They raised practical questions regarding the program administration and implementation by PCPC staff, including the issues surrounding the inequity of changing the requirements part of the way through the RCOs' two-year registration terms. Additionally, the Commissioners question the lack of specificity in defining leadership, especially in light of the diverse variety of civic groups, political wards, commercial CDCs and other types of entities that are currently permitted to register as RCOs. While the Planning Commission staff is investigating the bill as introduced, there are ongoing and productive conversations regarding potential amendments that the Council Office is drafting. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission considered Bill 3 No. 240020 at its public meeting on February 15, 2024 and held the bill 5 for a 45-day review. I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank you. We're going to hold the questions until all the testimony is heard. Councilwoman -- Ms. Pritzker, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. I gave you a promotion there. I think it was a promotion.
Councilwomen, Rachel Pritzker. I'm the CEO of the Pritzker Law Group, the City's only certified women-owned law firm focused in real estate, business and government relations. I'm here today as a member of the Board of Directors for the Building Industry Association as an attorney who has practiced land use and land development in this City for over a decade. The BIA is in support of Bill 240020, introduced by Councilwoman Cindy Bass and Councilman Phillips and applauds their efforts to make the Registered Community Organization, RCO, process more transparent, fair and consistent requiring that RCO leadership actually reside in areas in which they are hosting meetings and advocating and influencing community members related to various government projects in our city. With investment leaving our city and the housing crisis consistently being spoken of, efforts like this help make our city-imposed processes seem more fair, transparent and align with the spirit of inclusivity and community that we are trying to lift up. The BIA welcomes efforts like this and is hopeful that other changes to the development process and the RCO process in the City will be looked at by this body as well and will include much needed change for the betterment of all involved. We look forward to working with you and supporting these efforts. Thank you for this first step.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. We do want to call forward Queen Judith Robinson at this point. While she's coming forward, I do want to note for the record to my colleagues that there are productive conversations as was mentioned by Mr. Gall, that there are productive conversations that are happening now between our office and the City Planning Commission so that we can make some changes. There are amendments that have been circulated which you'll find in your documentation there, and we will continue to have conversations to make it a more perfect bill. Thank you. Okay. Queen Judith Robinson, state your name for the record and proceed.
Thank you. Judith Robinson for this hearing today on Bill No. 240020. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I'm going to say something. This is amazing. I've been testifying here in City Council since I was in my, like, 30s, 30 years, you all. I'm probably the citizen who's testified more than any other citizen in modern times. Okay. I call myself the Town Crier, yeah, whatever. But this is the first time that a Councilperson has called me to testify. Usually I'm doing it on my own volition, so I appreciate that. I thank you. That's a first. Okay.
So I'm Judith Robinson here as a citizen of North Philly, y'all know I love North Philly, and as a real estate broker of nearly 40 years. They say I wear many hats. I do. I believe in having citizens be self- sufficient so I do try to do everything I can in my North Philly neighborhood where I love, born and raised, you know. I bring all my experience of my many years and I'm a senior now. And I'm just happy to be alive to witness, you know, like I'm going to say this transition. So I'm going to talk about my experience as a facilitator for the 32nd Ward RCO. That's why I brought this today, you all. You see this big ole award. I don't get many awards. We don't get many awards. Black women don't get many awards. But this big ole award came from Preservation Alliance. And I brought it here today, lugged it here today so that I can tell you all my experience and culminate my testimony with what the heck is going on right now with Preservation Alliance, 32nd Ward police facility, all that. So let me get to it because I appreciate the time. So I'm going to say after all of these years of being a facilitator and being a very conscious person, well-read, I love to do all of these things as it relates to the RCO and any other things as it relates to our great city and moving forward, per se. So when the RCO process was first announced through the Planning Commission I really was against it. If you go back to testimony, we had a big hearing over at the Free Library and it was a long line of us saying, no, it's going to take away our voice, you know. And I wanted to make certain that it did not take away my voice as a citizen because I didn't need anybody to give me permission to come and testify or to show up at a City Council meeting, a Planning Commission meeting, and I always encourage people to follow through and come through also because here is where public participation is so important. That's what I say to everybody. I continue to say that. I am a talk show enthusiast I'll call it, okay, under Jamilah. People know me by my voice more than my face because they would hear me telling them, yeah, come down here, you all, let me tell you about this, that or whatever. So to have this process of RCO wrap us around advocacy I'm going to say was kind of curious to me. And a family member who's studying economics at Georgia State said, listen, yeah, they're just trying to wrap you all up, you know, because we talked about this in class, how they going to pick y'all off like this. I said, oh, really, don't worry about it, I'm going to still have my advocacy, whatever. So fastforward to we get the process started, you pass the bills and we're under Susquehanna Clean-up Pickup, we're just an interest-based group. Didn't do all the meetings, we just got documents all over the City, so they cut that out just unceremoniously. Just cut out the interest-based groups. So we flipped over just about this time through some strangeness. I became a committee person for the first time in history. I never was a committee person. I was always maybe on the outer side of the politricks I'm going to say. So I became a committee person. My ward, 32nd Ward. They were going through issues with the Ward leader. I went to them and said, hey, listen, this RCO process is here, we need to get in where we fit in, we need to make that we are trying this process that's new. All right. So two things happened: The Zoning Code changed at the same time that this was going on. And then the Zoning Code gave the developers 38 fee, fees that citizens were not even aware of. So I'm going to give some solutions because I don't want to get too far off of that without doing that. So I'm going to say everybody needs notification. There's no way you should be holding this information to a small group of people who I say do not have the expertise.
I'm rare in that I'm coming to this process with 40 years or years or any 8 amount of years with real estate 9 background where I can decipher 10 what's going on. This is about land use in the middle of gentrification and they wrap us up in these little groups with no expertise, check them out and see. So notification for everyone. Everyone should have notifications. It's no way you should be holding it with some groups that do not even tread the information. We're not equal in that regard. I learned something very early from going to Planning Commission when Rich Redding was here, some of you old-timers might remember him. He always talked to me about public participation, public participation. So if you're trying to get the public to participate, why are you holding it now to some small groups? People are not paying attention or if they are, they're picking and choosing. They're pitting people against each other. Groups against each other in small groups, small neighborhoods is dangerous. It's dangerous.
I'm sorry. I don't mean to cut you off, but I do want to ask you a question.
It's dangerous because freedom of information and freedom of speech are being hampered. Okay. So the Zoning Code is about land use so we need education. We need education of everybody, all citizens who are interested who -- or make it more prominently, we need more information and education. We are encountering things like underpinnings and zoning code changes, land use that we don't have information on. And I'm saying that for people who are not as well-educated. The Planning Commission, I'm glad the Mayor is requesting that these groups come back. There's a lot of shenanigans going on over Zoom. We're being cut off. Jack Camore is very dangerous. I'm going to call names. Yes, I am going to say that because these folks are in one group and then they're running over to our Commission and shutting people down. It's a lot of dangerous stuff going on. And COVID, I'm going to call it the COVID phase or whatever. I'm going to do this and say this, finish up because I really appreciate your time, I do. But I want to get this out because in the hearings we get a chance to really let you hear what's going on. So Licenses and Inspections, people don't have the expertise about underpinnings and all these dangerous things going on. And land use, I'm going to get to this. So here we run this award June of 2021 because we saved our historic corridor Diamond Street, the first historic corridor in the whole city of Philadelphia when history is selling and tourism is a billion dollar business. So we have this historic corridor. We thought we saved it. They said in this award booklet, Judith Robinson, under her leadership of the 32nd Ward RCO -- I'm calling myself 32nd RCO Representative Emeritus because now our ward, the 32nd Ward RCO doesn't exist under the process of RCOs because of the political shenanigans to try to put a police station on our historic corridor. They have done everything to shut our community down. It's political. So we've got to be careful of the RCO process. If you can take out me, the person who has more knowledge of real estate I'm going to say in my little ward -- let me say this in my 13th Division of 32nd Ward, let me just go right there, 300 feet where the police station was proposed, they did everything they could to try to usurp my expertise. It's not going to work. We have them under appeal for our historic corridor. The BLIR is under appeal. We'll meet them in Common Pleas Court. We're ready to battle for North Philly. To be continued you all because I appreciate your time so very much.
But you need to understand we are in the middle of gentrification.
You cannot play games with White fragility, okay, because they have many, many tricks to battle us, to take away the basic human rights. Black women are 70 percent of Philadelphia yearly evictions. We're walking past PHA houses that are boarded up. We need to do more to really unwind these issues. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Thank you. And just to clarify, I want to make sure that you were stating that you were in support, opposed to the bill or you're in support of the bill?
Let me say this to you. I never say when I sign up for City Council whether I'm in support -- thank you, whether I'm for or against a bill.
This is for your District. I'm telling you about the 32nd Ward because I cannot really speak on your District. But I did hear testimony from the attorney from Planning Commission, a part of the shenanigans, who said that we shouldn't have different laws or rules for different districts. I agree with that. We're doing a lot of that with the overlays, spot, spot, spot. I was told by Richard Redding you shouldn't be spot zoning, but we're doing a lot of that now. People trying to protect themselves but let's protect everybody. Thank you.
Okay. Well, thank you for your testimony. And I want to state for the record though that we did offer this bill 8 to all members of Council, all District members of Council. And I know some members are still weighing in on adding their Districts through amendments. It's not a done deal yet. We're still having multiple conversations. And at the end of the day, we think it's most important that the people who live in the community have the ultimate say and have the ultimate right about what's going to happen, what's going to happen in my neighborhood. I just firmly believe that someone in Northeast Philly shouldn't have say about something that's happening in Germantown. And somebody in Germantown should not be telling Northeast Philly what to do and so forth and so on. So that's what this bill is really trying to achieve, and we are continuing to work on the actual language to make it a more perfect bill. So thank you very much. Any questions from the Committee? Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson.
Yes. I just wanted to thank you, Councilmember Bass, for this legislation. I did have a chance to read through the amendments and understand and have received many complaints from several constituents across the City relative to individuals who do not reside in their neighborhood who are taking positions of leadership and responsibility within RCOs. They are having a say around the development projects that are happening in their local communities where these individuals do not reside. And I think this speaks to a larger issue that we have to continue to address city- wide as development continues to move throughout the City, because neighbors should be able to have a say in the projects in their communities. And lastly, you can't be for us without us. And so, we have to ensure that a local community resident have a say in their area. So I wanted to thank you for this legislation and look forward to the additional information that will be provided as you all continue to talk to other members.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your support. Is there anyone else to testify? Any other questions, comments from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Seeing none, we're going to ask Madam Clerk, will you please call the first panel we have to testify this morning on Bill No. 240064.
Michael Gall, Senior Legislative Planner, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
I am Michael A. Gall, Senior Planner on the Legislative Team for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240064 introduced into City Council on February 1, 2024 by Councilmember Driscoll. Bill No. 240064 amends the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of land in an area bounded by Salmon, Ontario, Richmond and Westmoreland Streets in the Port Richmond neighborhood of the River Wards Planning District. This bill will change the zoning of the Alternative Middle Years or AMY at James Martin School from RSA-5 to the new SP-CIV, Special Purpose - Civic, Educational and Medical District. The change in zoning will allow the Philadelphia School District to reconstruct the school. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission considered Bill 21 No. 240064 at its meeting on February 15, 2024 and recommended the bill for approval. I will be happy to answer any questions at this time and we have representatives of the Project Team here for any technical questions as well.
Thank you for your testimony. Any questions, comments from the panel? (No response.)
Okay. I don't think that anyone would be opposed to changing what's now designated as a home into a school when it's been operating as a school, so thank you very much for your testimony and support of this project.
Is there anyone else here to testify on Bill No. 240064? (No response.)
No? Okay. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the next panel to testify this morning on Bill No. 3 240065.
Michael Gall, Senior Legislative Planner at Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Good morning, members of the Rules Committee. Again, I'm Michael A. Gall, Senior Planner on the Legislative Team for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240065 as introduced into City Council on February 1, 2024 by Councilmember Driscoll. Bill No. 240065 amends the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of certain areas of land located within an area bounded by Holme Avenue, Academy Road and Willits Road in the Torresdale neighborhood of the Lower Far Northeast Planning District. This bill will change the zoning designations of the Thomas Holme School from RSA-2, Residential Single-Family Attached, to SP-CIV, Special Purpose- Civic, Educational and Medical. This change in zoning designation will allow the Philadelphia School District to reconstruct the school building. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission considered Bill 16 No. 240065 at its public meeting on February 15, 2024 and recommended the bill for approval. I will be happy to answer any questions at this time. And again, we do have members of the panel here in case you have any technical questions.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions from the panel? (No response.)
Okay. Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. And is there anyone else here to testify on the bill whose name has not been called? Queen Judith Robinson, you want to step forward? (Witness approached Witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Judith Robinson. You know what, I just want to make sure that we are giving average citizens the time to express ourselves. There are no 21 citizens here. And I want to just take this time to talk about the Planning Commission, education, public participation and public information. Whenever changes are made like the overlays and all of that, it needs to be a wider reach to make certain that citizens know what's going on. You're asking us in the middle of gentrification to kind of fast-track all this information. The Civic -- what is it called -- Citizens Planning Institute, you have to pay. It started off being free. Now, you have to pay. It's no way that should happen. How is someone taking public information and then turning it into their little, I'm going to say, program, okay. I'm calling it a hustle because -- and they're picking and choosing who they allow in. It should be open. It should be more money put into information right now.
Making sure citizens get as much information as possible. I'm just taking --
Well, let me just say I agree with you on those points. But this is a specific hearing for these specific bills so --
I got you. I understand that. That's why I'm just coming to try to add this in.
I came all the way down here for this. I want to make sure you all are clear about what the need is. Not just for me, because I'm okay. But you're asking -- where are the citizens with all these changes, you know? That's all I'm saying. Thank you.
I understand. Absolutely. Thank you for coming down. We appreciate you. Is there anyone else here who wanted to testify whose name has not been called? (No response.)
Hearing none, I want to thank the witnesses for their participation on Bill No. 8 240065. And now, can we have Madam Clerk please call the first panel we have to testify this morning on Bill No. 240066.
Michael Gall, Senior Legislative Planner, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
I am Michael A. Gall, Senior Planner for the Legislative Team for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240066 introduced into City Council on February 1, 2024 by Councilmember Squilla. Bill No. 240066 amends the Philadelphia Zoning Maps by changing the zoning designations of an area of land bounded by Wood, 4th, Vine and Lawrence Streets in the Franklin Bridge North neighborhood of the Central Planning District. This bill will change the zoning of a property at 401-19 Vine Street from ICMX, Industrial Commercial Mixed-Use, to CMX-3, Commercial Mixed-Use. The zoning change will align this one property with the surrounding neighborhood that is all currently zoned CMX-3. The Central District Plan also recommended this zoning designation for the property. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission considered Bill No. 1 240066 at its public meeting on February 15, 2024 and recommended the bill for approval. I will be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Okay. 10 Seeing none, thank you for your 11 testimony. 12 And is there anyone else 13 here to testify on this bill whose 14 name has not been called? 15 (No response.) 16
Okay. 17 Seeing none, I want to thank the 18 witness for participation on Bill 19 No. 240066. 20
There 23 being no further witnesses, I will 24 ask if there is anyone else here in 25 chambers that wishes to testify on any of the bills before the Committee today? (No response.)
Okay. All right. We want to thank everyone for their testimony. And hearing that there's no 10 one else here to testify, this concludes the public hearing. We will now go into a public meeting shortly to consider the action to be taken on the bills before the Committee today. And I want to thank you all for your patience. One moment. Thank you for your patience. We will now go into a public meeting. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore Richardson for an amendment to Bill 23 No. 240020.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 240020. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 7 240020 be approved. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 12 240020 be approved. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore Richardson for a motion to Bill No. 25 240020 as amended.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 240020 as amended be reported from the Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Gauthier seconds the motion. It's been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 19 240020 as amended be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
Okay. The ayes have it and the motion carries. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 13 240064.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 240064 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record that Councilwoman Gauthier seconds the motion. It's been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 6 240064 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of this motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
Okay. The ayes have it. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson for a motion on Bill No. 24 240065.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 240065 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record that Councilwoman Gauthier seconds the motion. It's been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 17 240065 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All of those in favor of this motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have -- anyone opposed, I should ask? (No response.)
Okay. The ayes have it and the motion carries. And finally, let the record reflect that Bill No. 240063 is being held at the request of the sponsor. And this concludes our public meeting, the business of the public meeting for the Rules Committee. We want to thank all of you very much for your attendance today. Thank you for coming.
Thank you. (Committee on Rules concluded at 10:40 a.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL