Planning Commission hears about South District public feedback

City planner Nicole Ozdemir presented the Planning Commissioners with a detailed look at the DRAFT Philadelphia2035 South District Plan Tuesday afternoon.

The PCPC hosted three public meetings in the district which is commonly known as South Philadelphia and comprised of historic smaller neighborhoods including Grays Ferry, Whitman, East Passyunk, Pennsport, and Point Breeze.

The meetings were designed to solicit ideas, priorities, recommendations, and feedback at various stages of the planning process. These public meetings were open to all interested citizens, and attendance was well over 100 people for each meeting. 

The first meeting for the South District Plan took place on December 4, 2014 at South Philadelphia High School. The meeting attracted over 100 attendees to the school located at 2101 South Broad Street. The focus of the meeting was to obtain community input on planning preferences and priorities to create a foundation for district plan content. After a presentation about the planning process and existing conditions, Planning Commission staff led small group mapping exercises to garner community input. The mapping exercise enabled residents to identify the important physical attributes of their community: strengths, weaknesses, barriers, and opportunity areas. After these four attributes were identified, trace paper was laid over the maps so that groups could identify potential planning Focus Areas.

The second meeting for the South District Plan took place on February 9, 2015 at Philadelphia High School for the Creative & Performing Arts. The meeting attracted over 125 attendees to the school located at 901 South Broad Street. This meeting served a dual purpose. The first was to update the public about the planning process for the South District Plan. The second was to obtain community input on proposed plan recommendations and Focus Areas. Focus Areas are areas where multiple layers of public intervention can come together to create positive momentum and revitalize specific intersections, corridors, or neighborhoods. After a presentation about the planning process and focus areas, Planning Commission staff facilitated conversations and recorded comments at twelve stations.

The final public meeting was a Draft Plan Open House PCPC hosted at the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School on April 16, 2015. Participants spoke individually with PCPC staff, viewed graphics and maps and reviewed draft recommendations. Existing conditions, planning focus areas, priority recommendations from THRIVE, CONNECT, and RENEW, and future land use and zoning recommendations were presented at various stations. Staff documented comments for each topic, which helped define the plan prior to it being finalized.

View the full video of the PCPC presentation of the South District plan below.