Council adds parking minimums to North Central Philadelphia

Philadelphia City Council unanimously voted to adopt a bill that adds minimum parking requirements to the new zoning code for portions of North Central Philadelphia. The bill, sponsored by Councilman O’Neill on behalf of Council President and 5th District Councilman Darrell Clarke, requires developers to provide three parking spots for every 10 units in buildings with 4 or more units in all RM-1 districts in North Central. It also requires a minimum of 425 square feet for each dwelling unit in that neighborhood.

An original version of the bill would have applied to RM-1 districts throughout the city; that version caused some planning advocates to protest. Clarke, who’d worked with Planning Commission staff to develop the original bill, had it amended to apply only to the area bounded roughly by Girard and Lehigh avenues and 9th and 20th streets.

The bill is functionally the first overlay to be added to the new zoning code since its enactment in August of this year.

In other action, Council made an amendment to the Planning Commission’s zoning code clean-up bill that clarifies how many children are allowed in Family Day Care facilities in different areas of the city. An amendment related to such facilities that Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown had added to the code last month included language that the Planning Commission and Council felt could have been misinterpreted.

Contact the reporter at jbrey@planphilly.com and follow him on Twitter @jaredbrey

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