-By Janet Kalter

Old City Business Collective (OCBC), Old City Arts Association (OCAA), and Old City Civic Association (OCCA) have only volunteer staff, no paid staff. In Part 2 of this series of articles, the committees that each of these organizations has formed were listed. As you might expect, OCBC has committees that are focused on the welfare of the business community, and the OCAA has an agenda to keep a strong arts community in Philadelphia, Old City in particular. Remember, as you think of the activities and events that they sponsor, they are volunteers. They're the ones who give up their time to make things happen. If you're dissatisfied with the outcome, think of joining them to make it better.

OCD's committees cover a wide range of community concerns. There's a new spirit in the making. More on this in a future article.

The committees that seem most confusing to the Old City community are (1) the OCCA's Developments Committee and (2) the OCCA Liquor Committee. The OCD's responsibilities for Clean and Safe seem a point of confusion, also. Let's take each committee, one at a time, and see if we can de-mystify them.  In this article, we look at the Developments Committee.

 

OCCA Developments Committee

The mission of the Developments Committee is consistent with that of the Old City Civic Association: to help build, preserve, and promote a cohesive community among residents, businesses, and institutions for the welfare of the entire community, enhancing the quality of life for all members of the Old City Community. In addition to serving as liaison to federal, state, and municipal agencies in land-use and zoning matters, the Developments Committee works to preserve the unique historic character of the neighborhood.

 

The meetings are held on alternate Tuesdays at 8:00 AM in the Christ Church Neighborhood House. All members of the community are welcome. For your convenience, the complete protocol has been published with this issue of the newsletter, so that you can become completely apprised of the requirements and procedures of the Committee.

There are three types of presentations heard by the Developments Committee:
• A "courtesy" presentation This business or project is a type that is not restricted or prohibited by any regulations and does not require relief from the Zoning Code. The intent of the meeting is to introduce their business/project to the community and to inform the neighborhood of their presence in Old City. Of course, this does not require a Committee vote.

• An information presentation is made to the Committee when the project will, most likely, be required by Licenses and Inspections (L&I) to secure a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustments (ZBA), but the project has not yet been submitted to L&I, and the project developer has not yet received a refusal from them. In this case, they are usually trying to understand how the community might respond to their project, and to inform the Committee of their plans.
There is no vote taken in response to this type of presentation. Another type of informal presentation is when a letter of support is sought. That letter would be used to illustrate community support as the project plans go through various city offices such as the Historical Commission or Art Commission and no variance is required.

A formal presentation and vote - When permit application is made to L&I and the applicant meets with a refusal, the applicant presents it to the Developments Committee, hoping to secure support for a variance. They will also be required to appear before the Zoning Board of Adjustments to make their appeal for the required variance.

The Committee schedules the applicant for a meeting and prepares them for the requirements of their presentation. After their presentation to the Developments Committee, the applicant and non-voting attendees leave, and the project is discussed during Executive Session among the members of the Committee who have earned voting rights. (Please refer to the protocol to learn how voting rights are established.) There is no limit to the number of community members who may become voting members. It is the goal of the Committee to have voting members who are well-informed by attending meetings regularly.

It is possible that the vote will not be taken at this meeting. The discussion may be tabled in order to acquire more information.

When the vote is taken, the applicant will receive a letter informing them of the decision.

It is important to note that, only after L&I has determined that there is cause to deny the application for the zoning/use permit, and the applicant decides to appeal the L&I's decision and request a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustments, is an applicant directed to come before the Developments Committee and seek its support for the variance. Their project requires a variance because they are requesting an exception to the law.

More often than we would like, the ZBA does not support our voted positions.
Some decisions are made by the ZBA that the Developments Committee believes are not in the best interests of the community. Although there is the opportunity for OCCA to appeal a ZBA decision through the courts, and we have done that, it is a very expensive process.

In land-use matters, communities have no authority and very limited influence. But in excercising that influence size matters. It is important to have a strong membership in the OCCA so that the powers-that-be have reason to believe that the Committee is representing a good portion of the community. It's also important for concerned residents and business-owners to appear at the ZBA hearings to support the Committee's stated position. There is no requirement to be a member of the OCCA to appear at a hearing.

To clarify some misunderstandings:

The Developments Committee cannot limit the number of liquor licenses in Old City. This will be discussed further in the next part of this article when the activity of the Liquor Committee is presented. There is a prohibition on new restaurants in Old City, and only restaurants and hotels may apply for liquor licenses (there are some unusual exceptions). Those of us who have been in Old City for a while know that most individuals open restaurants with the best of intentions, but we have watched many restaurants morph into bars, often nuisance bars. So, with restaurant applications we proceed with caution. It is the responsibility of the Liquor Committee to work out the details of locations that already have an established food use license, but they do not have the authority to determine who may buy a liquor license. More on that in the next article.

The Developments Committee is not anti-development. Many businesses open in Old City with the full support of the Committee. (Of course, those aren't the ones you hear about!) And keep in mind that the ones that do come before the Developments Committee are those applicants who have encountered a permit refusal from L&I because they require a variance; that is, they are asking for an exception to the law.

Sometimes projects simply do not come to fruition. Often, the Developments Committee is blamed and people become angry that the building has remained vacant. Most frequently, though, the problem is not the result of decisions or efforts made by the Committee. It's often a matter of financing or indecision on the part of the developer. Sometimes an agreement with a partner falls through or financing is unattainable. Obviously, there are many possible reasons for the failure of a proposed project. Blaming the Developments Committee is just an easy way to gripe about it.
In some cases, the property owner wants to increase the value of the property by securing zoning permits, by way of variance, to go ahead with a project that exceeds the standards of the zoning code. This is a way to add value to a property at the community's expense. Like a Ponzi scheme, it was never the property owner's intention to deliver on the proposal.

The Developments Committee is composed of volunteers who are willing to attend meetings twice a month to work on making good decisions for the community. The goal is simply good development...development that is good for the community, residents and businesses alike.

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The next article: Old City Civic Association's Liquor Committee.