![]() These were only to be granted if “a literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance will result in unnecessary hardship.” (Such bodies were a common aspect of zoning codes because they allowed such ordinances to avoid a full-on clash between the police powers of the state and the rights of property owners.)īecause the zoning code became a site of contest from the beginning, Pennsylvania courts were forced to make a series of rulings to clarify the ordinance. Philadelphia’s ZBA was meant to consider appeals to the code. The ZBA was comprised of five members, appointed by the mayor. If the request for a permit was denied because it did not accord with the specifications of the ordinance, the applicant could appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA). If the project accorded with the zoning map, then the permit was granted and allowed to proceed. Under the code, any new building constructed in the city, or any substantial alterations to old buildings, first required the developer to obtain a zoning permit. But these building types had to conform to the typology of the surrounding buildings and meet requirements for air and light-which often prevented the construction, for example, of, large apartment buildings in rowhouse neighborhoods. Because the types of residential zoning were relatively few-today there are over twenty-multifamily housing was not often entirely zoned out of neighborhoods as it was in the suburbs. Block-by-block zoning maps were established along with the ordinance. ![]() In the beginning, there were twenty different zoning districts, including nine residential, four commercial, and a variety of other uses, including shopping centers and park land. ![]() Philadelphia’s original zoning code created a series of residential, commercial, and industrial classifications that largely accorded with the existing built environment. (These areas of early suburban development were of a density unusual to later suburban developments and confronted many of the same dynamics as the city itself, albeit on a smaller scale.) At the same time, many of Philadelphia’s inner-ring suburbs-from Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County to Springfield Township in Delaware County-began to consider zoning for fear of increased density and the possibility of new working class-and possibly non-white-neighbors. ( )īy the early 1920s residents in the neighborhoods to the west of the University of Pennsylvania were gathering for meetings about the application of zoning in West Philadelphia in response to high-rise development. A zoning notice, placed outside a building at Rhawn and Jeanes Streets in Philadelphia in 1966, announced a public hearing regarding the zoning of the area. Zoning proponents did not want “incompatible” uses (industrial or cheap housing) or certain people (of lower classes and non-white races) in close proximity to their homes and businesses. The purpose of the new policy was to allow local governments to control land use, a marriage of Progressive Era good government ideals and a conservative effort to protect the interests of the upper classes and business owners. Zoning emerged first in early twentieth century New York, although West Coast cities began experimenting with the concept a few years earlier. In its multiple uses, zoning helped determine what jurisdictions were and what they could become. ![]() The policy generated results both noble, like removing noxious industrial development from residential areas, and vicious, when it was used as a means to prevent African Americans and lower classes from moving into wealthier and whiter areas. By empowering neighborhood groups and local politicians with power over land use in their communities, zoning brought such groups in Philadelphia and elsewhere into contest with developers, industrial concerns, and sometimes with other people who wanted to move into their neighborhoods. ( City of Philadelphia)įrom its inception, zoning became a fraught subject. Philadelphia, the Place that Loves You BackĮssay A zoning map of Philadelphia in 2017 shows the many categories under which a property can be classified throughout the city based on its use. ![]()
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