COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON RULES Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, May 21, 2024 11:15 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS, CHAIR COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR.
Good morning. This hearing is called to order. Members and guests, please take your seats. Madam Clerk, please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance will please indicate that you are present. And this is the Committee on Rules to hear Bill Nos. 240241, 240242 and 240336. Madam Clerk.
Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and the hearing is now called to order. And this is the public hearing of the Committee on Rules regarding Bill Nos. 240241, 240242 and 240336. Madam Clerk, will you please read the title of the bill.
Bill No. 23 240241, amending Section 14-704 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Open Space and Natural Resources," by changing the applicability of steep slope protection requirements for certain stream restoration activities, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240242, amending Section 14-500 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Overlay Zoning Districts," by amending Section 10 14-524, entitled "/FDO, Fourth District Overlay Districts," to establish use regulations on medical facilities, all under certain terms and conditions. And Bill No. 240336, amending Title 14 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Zoning and Planning," by adding definitions; and creating a new Chestnut Hill Lower East /NCO in the area generally bounded by the SEPTA Chestnut Hill Eastline, Cresheim Valley Drive, Germantown Avenue, Winston Road, Moreland Avenue, Devon Street, Ardleigh Street, and Springfield Avenue, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Before we begin, I want to announce for the record that Bill No. 240242 is being held at the request of the sponsor. Madam Clerk, please call the first panel we have to testify this morning on Bill No. 240241.
Paula Brumbelow Burns, Director of Legislation, Philadelphia City Planning Commission. (Witness approached Witness table.)
Good morning. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Good morning, members of the Rules Committee. I am Paula Brumbelow Burns, Director of Legislation for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I am here to testify on Bill No. 240241 introduced into City Council on April 4, 2024 by Councilmember Jones, Jr. Bill No. 240241 amends the Philadelphia Zoning Code by amending Section 14-704 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Open Space and Natural Resources," by changing the applicability of steep slopes protection requirements for certain stream restoration activities. This bill will streamline the review of stream restoration projects in the steep slope protection area by creating an exception for projects that have been reviewed and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to protect against erosion and do not increase impervious coverage. It will eliminate redundancies in permitting and advance environmental goals related to stream and watershed protection. Development projects within the protection areas will be subject to review. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission considered Bill 5 No. 240241 at its public meeting on April 18, 2024 and recommended the bill for approval. I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Any questions from the panel? Chair recognizes Councilwoman Kathy Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Very quick question. I just wanted to ensure that this bill will only be related to the stream restoration projects and it would not increase any of the impervious coverage at all? Because sometimes you know there are cases that we've had where there's been conflict relative to the DEP decisions as it relates to the overall planning of the District Councilperson as an example. And I just want to make sure that I mention that and that that's okay.
Yes. And when we were drafting this bill 12 along with the Water Department Stormwater Unit, that was a specific thing where we have seen some of the situations in the past and it was how to put forward a solid stream restoration program that will prevent flooding but without causing side effects into the neighborhood. So it was something we were very cognizant of working on.
Okay. I figured that with the level of specificity that's here. I just wanted to put that on the record because I know in the past we have had some issues where we were in conflict, but I think with the specificity here it covers what we're seeking to address. Okay. Thank you.
Yes, we used one particular case as an example that you had been involved on.
Understood. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Okay. If there are no other questions from members of the Committee, thank you very much for your testimony. And is there anyone else here to testify on Bill 240241 whose name has not been called? (No response.)
All right. Seeing none, I want to thank you for your participation on this bill. Thank you very much. Can we have the Clerk please call the first panel we have to testify this morning on Bill No. 9 240336.
Paula Brumbelow Burns, Director of Legislation of Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Thank you very much. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
I am Paula Brumbelow Burns, Director of Legislation for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 240336 introduced into City Council on April 25, 2024 by Councilmember Bass. Bill No. 240336 amends the Philadelphia Zoning Code by creating a new Neighborhood Conservation Overlay, known as the Chestnut Hill Lower East NCO. It is in an area bounded by the SEPTA Chestnut Hill Eastline, Cresheim Valley Drive, Germantown Avenue, Winston Road, Moreland Avenue, Devon Street, Ardleigh Street and Springfield Avenue in the Chestnut Hill Neighborhood of the Upper Northwest Planning District. Additionally, it creates definitions of a Dormer and a Mansard roof that are used within the NCO. This bill will create an NCO that regulates RSA-3, Residential Single-Attached, properties in a small portion of the neighborhood and will apply zoning and design requirements to residential neighborhoods. The primary objective of the proposed NCO, as stated by the nominators, is to safeguard the existing walkable and aesthetic character of the 100 blocks of East Mermaid Lane and East Moreland Avenue, a key aspect of the neighborhood's identity. The additional zoning regulations are related to building setbacks, building height and massing, parking and roof decks. The design standards will address habitable rooms on the ground floor, screening of utility meters, HVAC equipment, refuse Enclosures, exterior materials and landscaping of front yards. The design standards will be applied during the building permit review. There are five criteria for an area to become an NCO. And while the applicant meets four of the criteria, it does not meet that the NCO must possess a consistent architectural character as a result of a concentration of residential buildings of similar character or a continuity established by an overall plan. The residential buildings lining the north side of East Mermaid Lane were built between roughly 1850 and 1876. They are mostly detached, with large lots befitting the semi-rural nature of this section of the City in the 1800s. By contrast the residential buildings to the northwest of Mermaid Lane were mostly built after 1900 as streets were platted. They demonstrate the greater density of form that was typical of development in outlying neighborhoods in the early 20th century. The institutional and industrial buildings to the south of Mermaid Lane are entirely unrelated in both form and function to either era of residential development on the north side of Mermaid Lane. Given these are three disparate historical development context and resulting building forms, PCPC's staff do not believe that they provided documentation sufficiently demonstrating consistent architectural character. The staff recommendation for this bill was not for approval as it does not meet all of the NCO criteria within the Zoning Code. The Philadelphia City Planning Commission considered Bill No. 14 240336 at its public meeting on May 16, 2024 and recommended the bill 16 for an additional 45-day review so the neighborhood can meet with the larger RCO within the area. I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time.
Thank you because I have some questions. So the first that I want to clarify is my understanding that just today after we had some conversations with City Planning, that that 45-day hold was going to be removed?
It cannot be removed -- it can only be removed as early as June 6th when the Planning Commission next meets and they would vote on it.
It is our impression it is going to be on -- should be on the agenda.
But that is the agreement, is that at your June 6th meeting that we are going to lift that 45-day hold at that meeting. And therefore, we, City Council, will be able to pass this bill before the end of this legislative session?
I would love to say yes, but it's the Planning Commission members that vote and we are only staff -
-- but we are looking to put it back on the agenda so they could vote.
Right. But your recommendation -- I want to just be clear. Your recommendation is for the removal of the 45-day hold, correct?
Okay. All right. So that is what you're going to be recommending to the voting members?
Yes. We will still recommend no but also to remove the 45-day.
No, that's okay because we want to be absolutely clear as to what we're doing here. And we understand the Planning Commission's no on this matter. Listen, we hear you, but we very much vigorously disagree with you. And that's okay. I as the bill's sponsor certainly intend to move this bill 10 along and vote it out of Committee today with a favorable recommendation. But first, we need to hear from the rest of our witnesses. Is there anyone else -- Councilwoman, did you have a question?
Okay. I do want to recognize the presence of Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier. Any questions?
Okay. All right. And seeing no 2 other questions from the panel, thank you very much for your testimony today.
Celeste Hardester, Camille Peluso and Douglas Martinson. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Very well. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
I'm Celeste Hardester. I am the Development Review Coordinator for the Chestnut Hill Community Association, one of the RCOs in Chestnut Hill, and they requested that I make the following statement: The CHCA prefers that Neighborhood Conservation Overlays in Chestnut Hill are reviewed by its Zoning Review Committee, which is staffed by professionals and is used for all RCO zoning reviews. This committee has not reviewed the East Mermaid NCO. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. Hello. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
I'm Camille Peluso. I'm an architect and a resident of Chestnut Hill for 30 years. I am also an elected Director of the Chestnut Hill Community Association as well as being on their Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee. I have two things to say. One is as a member of the Community Association, Director of the Community Association, this NCO has never been put before the Community Association so there should be no 7 conversation about it because we never talked about it at our board meetings. Secondly, we'd like to just state that in due respect to Mr. Ian Haggerty, he is an environmental City planner and we have our team -- writing our NCO, we have a historical architect who helped put together our brochures and all our information. And we believe that with our thorough photographic survey included in our report, it's evidence of a consistent architectural character and these architectural characters include and what she mentioned, so our goal here is to promote a visual harmony in our neighborhood and to preserve our community because we have a lot of valuable properties coming up and we want to make sure that we keep the quality of our village look to our Community Association. And that's why we've gone through three years of working on this, and we appreciate any support you can give us. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
My name is Douglas Martinson. I'm a neighbor on Mermaid Lane. I'm here in support of the NCO. I think fundamentally the complaint that the Committee has from Chestnut Hill is fundamentally wrong. They have the dates wrong. The houses are built and they moved to the date of 1900 and beyond. They're not just in the early 1800s. I think the presentation that was done by our elected group was very thorough and consistent with what was necessary for this NCO and we are trying very hard to keep the character of the neighborhood and to try to have a consistent feel of a more neighborhood feel versus more industrial or large scale buildings. So we want to have things that are more consistent with what's currently there. So thank you for your support.
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. Good morning.
Good morning, Councilmembers. My name is Mark Badstubner. This is my son Joel. Thank you for allowing him to be here today to see this. We are long-term residents of Mermaid Lane, a very near neighbor. We have been in our location for years. Just to give you a sense of perspective, the home that we live in has been in our family since his grandfather was his age and was an Italian immigrant. And the Italian immigrants who -- they were stonemasons and built a lot of Chestnut Hill. I say that because while I know that development is always inevitable and I understand that. I think that there is something to be said about aesthetic and responsible development. All that I would ask for is to not destroy -- all I want to do is to preserve the character of the neighborhood, and whether that's how many houses that is. I think you can -- if you walk through Chestnut Hill, you'll see a lot of Wissahickon schist. You'll see -which is kind of cool because my wife's relatives put that there. So I just want to say that I am in support of the NCO and I think it's important to keep the character of neighborhoods, not just in Chestnut Hill, although that's very close to my heart but the City as well. So thank you very much. I appreciate your time.
Well, thank you for being here. We could not agree more, the character absolutely matters. Joel, did you have something you wanted to add to that?
Good morning, Rules Committee. I'm Robert Caserio. I live on Mermaid Lane. I've been a resident there for 30 years. I want to see Chestnut Hill preserved as a unique part of the city with a character of its own and a character that should be available in the future to anyone who is a resident there as well as to all of us who've been there for a long time. So this is not merely a self-centered business. I have been perplexed about rules that don't seem to be in play as they should be and, that is, as I understand it an NCO does not have to be approved or even initiated by an RCO. And what perplexed me at the most recent meeting was that RCO members were there objecting to our plan because it hadn't been reviewed by the RCO. And this bewilders me because RCO members were at a community meeting on February 8th and did not tell us that they needed to review the NCO before we could proceed. So I hope you will keep that in mind. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you for bringing that to our attention. That's something that we should look into as we're just trying to make sure that all of these things go smoothly. And so, that's something that we can definitely have some conversation about in the future try to figure out how to minimize any sort of confusion around what's happening, who reviews, who's at the table, all those kinds of things. So thank you for bringing that to our attention.
Good morning. My name is Steve Megargee. I live on East Mermaid Lane. And a lot of us are talking about the review, no 2 review needed by the RCO for the NCO. According to what I saw in the Zoom meeting last week for the Planning Commission, the Planning Commission attorney stated that "RCO review is not required for an NCO," for what that is worth. And then the other thing about the RCO and their, I'll call it, representation of the community, they are the Chesnut Hill Community Association, I'm a 33-year member of the Community Association. They never asked me what I thought, so I don't know who they're representing. And then what I have to say I'm going to go a little bit off of procedural script here. Can I see a show of hands of people who have actually been in Chestnut Hill, everybody? If I could -- no, I'm serious. (Raised hands.)
And show of hands of people who think that it's kind of a nice place. (Raised hands.) MR. McGARGY: Yeah, that's why I'm sitting here today because I wanted it to continue to be a nice place for people. I'm going to be dead long after, long before, whenever, I'm going to be dead for a long time, and the decisions that are going to be made here and about this, they're going to live on.
My friend in the furry cap is going to be paying the price for the decisions that are made about this and that's what I have to say.
Thank you. And, listen, to address your point these decisions are lasting and they will be in effect for a very, very long time. It's unlikely that they would be changed. And so, we have to be thoughtful. We have to be very thoughtful and deliberative about what we're doing around all neighborhoods. And so, listen, everybody knows Chestnut Hill is a great place, it's a beautiful place. And as we work to make more of our neighborhood sort of emulate what Chestnut Hill is and has to offer, we want to protect what we have there as well. So thank you for coming down today.
Okay. Next panel. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Hello. My name is Anne Williams. I'm a lifelong resident of Mermaid Lane. My family actually bought their house at the close of World War II and we've enjoyed many, many wonderful years and times with family and good relationships with my neighbors. And it's an old block. All the homes are different, the surrounding homes that enjoy nice yards and opportunities for children to run and play. I want to preserve that. I want for future generations to be able to enjoy the lifestyle that I've enjoyed on this street and just protect this going forward. Once it's gone, it's gone. It's hard to bring back and it just seems to be a new building culture today where bigger is better and builders are building from lot line to lot line. And I just want to protect the beauty of our neighborhood, the beauty of our street to keep it having that small town feel that it has. It's just so important to me. And having an NCO that can offer protection for our homes, for our neighborhood, it seems that that's what's available to us and I feel that we should take this and just move forward with it to give us the protection and the stability that we need for today. Thank you very much, Councilwoman Bass. I appreciate you.
Absolutely. Thank you for being down here and for just expressing how important it is and the generations of your family that have been impacted by just the environment of Chestnut Hill, so we want to preserve that. So thank you.
Good morning. I'm Cornelia Sterner and I live on Mermaid Lane. We moved in about 5 years ago. And when we considered 6 where we wanted to move in Chestnut 7 Hill, we had no idea it would end 8 up being Mermaid Lane. But I 9 remember us driving around, walking 10 around looking at the different 11 streets in Chestnut Hill and really 12 loving what it was. 13 And I lead with that to say 14 my feeling is what happens on one 15 street affects all the streets 16 around it, affects the 17 neighborhoods. And we can see that 18 in the negative when there is 19 unchecked development happening, 20 which what appears often externalized costs to the neighbors where the developers may not live in that neighborhood and have more of the benefit and the costs go to the neighbors. So we've had the Quaker Meeting House develop their property directly opposite of my husband's and my house, and it seemed to have been responsible. It's a beautiful building. I think it adds value to the neighborhood far beyond just my husband and I. So I think I would like to -- I'm supporting the NCO, not because it just benefits my family, but I think it benefits the community as a whole and it would benefit anybody looking to live in a place in Philadelphia. And so, I hope that this goes through in the way that we're hoping for. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Thank you for being here for your testimony. And I'm glad that you chose Chestnut Hill. So thank you for being here. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Hi. My name is Christopher Jacobson. I've lived on Mermaid Lane for about 30 years. I'm a great fan of Mermaid Lane. I'm also a great fan of Philadelphia. And I think one of Philadelphia's greatest assets is the fact that throughout the city in every different community there are pockets of architecture that are intact buildings that have the history of Philadelphia writ large. You can go and you can stand in places and you can say, I can see the Revolutionary War, I can see immigration, I can see patterns of population changes. All of those things I think are incredibly important to this city because I think it's unique to this city as big cities go. You can't do this in quite the same way in New York or Boston, et cetera. But I also think that this is under threat in this city, not by development, per se, but by developers who come in and have no 3 sense of responsibility for what they're moving into, no sense of commitment to this. They're there for profit. They're there for all sorts of reasons which are fine, but in the process things are getting lost. I support this NCO. I wish it wasn't necessary. I wish we didn't have to do such things because I wish developers would come in with their own sense of responsibility but that's not happening. So I support this. And I just want to finish by saying I find it somewhat ironic that the Chestnut Hill Community Association has any objection to this since it itself right now with other community organizations in the process of creating an overlay for the Germantown Business District to do precisely what we're doing, trying to preserve what makes Chestnut Hill special, not to get rid of development, not to be NIMBYs, but to preserve something for the future which once it's lost, as people have said it's lost, and Philadelphia loses little bits and pieces every time this happens. Thank you.
Well, thank you for being here. And, listen, overlays can be really good things. The more the merrier. Right, Paula? Paula says yeah. Okay. Is there anyone else who is here to testify for this bill whose name has not been called? (No response.)
Okay. I'm sorry. Were there any questions by members of this Committee? (No response.)
All right. Hearing none, 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 this Committee today. Thank you for your patience. We'll now go into a public meeting. And the Chair recognizes Councilman Mark Squilla for a motion on Bill No. 240241.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 240241 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended and submit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson seconds the motion. It's been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 240241 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 it and the motion carries. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Squilla for a motion on Bill No. 240336.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 240336 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended as to submit the first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson seconds the motion. And it's been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 240336 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 it and the motion carries. And if there are no 6 additional remarks, this concludes the business of this Committee on Rules today. Again, I want to announce for the record that Bill 10 No. 240242 is being held at the request of the sponsor. Thank you all very much for your attendance. Thank you, everyone. (Committee on Rules concluded at 11:46 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