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December 4, 2013
TO THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA:
For the reasons set forth below, I hereby return to your Honorable Body as disapproved Bill No. 130770, which passed on November 21, 2013.
This Bill would amend the Zoning Code to provide that "Medical Dental and Health Practitioner (Solo Practitioner and Group Practitioner) uses are prohibited" in all commercial and industrial zones in the Sixth and Tenth Councilmanic Districts. Effectively, this means solo and group medical, dental, or other health practices (for instance, a physical therapy office) cannot be established as of right in these two districts.
Let me repeat that. This Bill effectively bans the establishment or expansion of medical, dental, or other health practices as of right in these districts. Quite simply, this is why I am constrained to disapprove this Bill. At a time when access to healthcare should be expanding for all Americans, this Bill carves out two Councilmanic districts where that evolution toward a better, healthier society will face an undue hurdle in the form of zoning rules that are exclusionary in nature.
For residents, this Bill has the potential to adversely impact their access to healthcare and their choice of providers. For doctors, dentists, and other health professionals hoping to open or expand a practice in the Northeast, this Bill sends a discouraging message by making their task more costly, complex, and uncertain.
If there is a particular concern about a specific practice, or an objectionable characteristic common to medical, dental, or other health practices, it should be dealt with using precise and generally-applicable rules; not by means of an exclusionary ban of healthcare practices-small businesses that no one would argue are anything but appropriate and essential.
It may be argued that the use of variances will allay all of the concerns engendered by this Bi...
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