Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Real Estate Law Blog

Last Thursday, the Philadelphia City Council made a far-reaching change to the city’s new zoning code when it voted to override Mayor Nutter’s veto to….

City Councilman Brian J. O’Neill, in a recent victory for gardeners in Philadelphia, recently dropped a proposal to change the city’s zoning code that would have made it more difficult for farmers and gardeners to operate within the city. The proposal would have required that community gardens and farm obtain special permission from the Zoning Board of Adjustment in order to operate.

As our readers know, the city has updated its zoning code and is now working to develop 18 district-level plans. So far, three of the 18 district plans are now complete. The whole plan is expected to come to completion in 2035

Some time ago, we wrote about a proposal to create a 50-foot buffer zone for streams and rivers in the Philadelphia area. That proposal sparked what was the first big conflict to come out of the new zoning code, pitting environmentalists concerned about protecting waterways against developers worried about the impact of a buffer zoning on their businesses. Last Wednesday the controversy was resolved when City Council reached an agreement on the matter.

In our last post, we wrote about a controversial bill that would require developers to provide parking in some residential and mixed-use areas where they don’t have to under the current code. The bill would also change certain lot sizes. The bill, as we noted, is an attempt to address the problem of significant parking shortages in certain neighborhoods of Philadelphia.

A controversial bill introduced by Council Brian O’Neill on behalf of Council President Darrell Clarke seeks to address the serious problem of parking shortages in certain neighborhoods of Philadelphia. The bill, which received committee-level approval earlier this month, would require developers to provide parking in some residential and mixed-use areas where they don’t have to under the current code. The bill would also change certain lot sizes.

On Monday, October 29, the Philadelphia City Council will hold a hearing on the issue of the city’s new zoning code, under which neighborhood block organizations no longer have any input into zoning decisions. The new law reserves that task to Registered Community Organizations instead, which must claim a service area of at least five blocks.

As a result of Pennsylvania’s new gas drilling law, the city of Philadelphia is set to receive nearly $1.3 million. That number was released on Monday by Governor Corbett’s office, along with the amounts every municipality and county will receive under the new law. The proceeds of the impact fee mostly go to the communities where drilling will take place, but some also goes to all counties for of conservation, beautification and other purposes.

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus Shale drilling law-the one that, among other things, removes local zoning power from municipalities-was under consideration by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. As our readers may know, portions of the controversial law were overturned in July.

On Thursday, the Philadelphia City Council approved a resolution opposing Philadelphia’s natural-gas drilling law, which was passed earlier this year. That law, as our readers know, superseded local zoning controls. The resolution, which has been endorsed by anti-drilling activists, supports a recent decision by the Commonwealth Court that overturned the section of the law which restricts municipalities’ ability to zone for oil and gas drilling.