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December 14, 2011
To The President and Members of
The Council of the City of Philadelphia:
For the following reasons, I am returning to your Honorable Body without my signature Bill No. 110662, which was passed by Council at its session on December 1, 2011.
Bill No. 110662 modifies an existing zoning overlay that regulates use controls on the Chelten Avenue and Germantown Avenue commercial corridors in Germantown. The modification will allow the operation of "variety stores," as long as such stores are larger than 7500 square feet. The immediate practical effect of this bill is to permit a proposed large Dollar Tree store within a larger development currently under construction at Chelten and Pulaski Avenues. The bill, however, would also liberalize the overlay's zoning rules to permit such large variety stores in the remaining parts of the overlay area.
The larger development currently underway is positive for Germantown. Part of the development - a new supermarket - opened last week and replaces a poorer quality market owned by the same operator several blocks away. The remainder of the development includes the renovation of the former Fresh Grocer supermarket on the site and will include a variety of tenants, among them the proposed Dollar Tree, which will occupy approximately twenty percent of the entire proposed development area.
Although I am supportive of the fact that this development overall will create jobs, I have some concerns about this specific bill. This legislation follows an initial zoning permit application process in which the applicant was not originally forthcoming about the intended use of the property as a "variety store" and would allow a use that is the subject of much disagreement in the community. Moreover, the bill would allow the creation of other large variety stores in the overlay area that may be out of character with the other commercial activity along those corridors. For these reasons the Planning ...
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