Title
January 23, 2013
To The President and Members of
The Council of the City of Philadelphia:
For the following reasons, I am returning to your Honorable Body as disapproved Bill No. 120889, which was passed by Council at its session on December 13, 2012.
Bill No. 120889 amends the system of notice to registered community organizations ("RCOs") established by the new Zoning Code, which became effective August 22, 2012. The new Zoning Code formally codified the existing practice of public sign notice for zoning variances and special exceptions. It also added rules for how RCOs could register with the City Planning Commission, and added a new requirement for the zoning applicant to notify, and conduct a single meeting with, the registered RCOs whose boundaries include the development property. The new Code further added a similar RCO notice and meeting requirement for major development projects that would be subject to a newly-created Civic Design Review process.
Bill No. 120889 would require the RCOs themselves in the area of a project, in addition to the zoning applicants, to provide individual, written notice to each near neighbor of the project (on various block faces in the vicinity of the project). The bill would also allow for the possibility of mandatory multiple meetings with RCOs that have overlapping geographic boundaries; would repeal the authorization for the City Planning Commission to establish minimum RCO qualifications, beyond the limited information expressly authorized in the Zoning Code; and would expand the composition of the Civic Design Review Committee to include a seat for a designee of the local district councilmember and a second local RCO seat.
Community involvement in development matters was the single issue, of all the issues that received attention in the five-year Zoning Code process, that received the most debate and attention. The registered community organization system put forth by the new Zoning Code rep...
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