In early 2019, the Philadelphia Housing Authority issued an RFP seeking a development partner to construct 77 affordable units across seven scattered City-owned sites in Strawberry Mansion. Pennrose, an experienced affordable housing developer, was selected before the end of that same year to build the project known as Strawberry Mansion Village. In the years that followed, Pennrose and PHA worked together and met with stakeholders in the community, leading to material changes in the project. The latest and hopefully final iteration calls for 57 affordable rental units across ten sites, with rents at or below 60% of Area Median Income (AMI).

You can see, some of the units will be individual homes and others will be located in small to medium sized apartment buildings. While a few of the properties can be developed by right, others require a zoning variance before they can move forward. Everything that needed a variance went to the ZBA last week, and everything got approved, aside from the biggest part of the project. Rather than getting the green light, the 21-unit building at 3230-38 Diamond St., designed by architects WRT Designs, was placed on hold and asked to return at a later date.

So… what’s happening here?

The long vacant corner lot across from East Fairmount Park is zoned for multi-family use, so the density isn’t an issue. Instead, L&I issued refusals for height and the lack of a 9′ rear yard. While the building itself is within the permitted height, the expanded pilot house servicing the building’s elevator adds extra height which isn’t allowed by the code. The elevator, which we wouldn’t typically see in a building of this size, is included to increase accessibility in a property that will likely target seniors. Gotta love a situation where increased accessibility results in a trip to the ZBA. In addition, the code requires a 9′ rear yard but the proposed courtyard in the southeast corner of the property is absolutely the best way to integrate the new building into its surroundings. Alas, the code doesn’t care.

Remarkably, representatives from the local community group spoke out in opposition to this project, as did Councilmember Jeffrey Young, who represents the 5th District. The primary complaint from community members was that they want affordable housing for sale through the Turn the Key program, not rentals. Councilmember Young stated his opposition because the coordinating RCO never held a community meeting. Per the developers, they tried to hold a community meeting but the RCO refused to schedule one. Incidentally, the head of said coordinating RCO is listed as a member of the staff in Councilmember Young’s office.

This whole situation crystalizes Philadelphia’s desperate need for RCO reform. For over a dozen years, we have lambasted the rules and regulations in the zoning code around community representation. Anyone who goes to the trouble of writing bylaws and holding an occasional public meeting can start their own RCO in this town, with boundaries as wide as they’d like, and they get a seat at the table for any zoning matter under their “jurisdiction.” It doesn’t matter where they live, where they work, whether they represent anyone but themselves, or how they go about their business. This is just the latest example of a broken system that desperately needs to be fixed. Sadly, councilmanic prerogative goes hand in hand with a busted RCO system, and we don’t expect that either will change any time soon.

As for the proposal at 33rd & Diamond, the development team was receptive to the ZBA’s feedback and we imagine the revised plans will be approved this week, despite the pushback. More than six years after PHA first released the RFP for this project, we worry that any additional delay could pose a threat to the project’s tax credits, so we really hope that we’re correct in our prediction. While we look forward to celebrating (hopefully) final zoning approval, we will at the same time lament the fact that it’s taken half a dozen years and there are still no shovels in the ground. We applaud Mayor Parker’s aggressive housing plan, but until she can get RCOs and district council members on board, we fear the city will fall far short of its housing goals for the coming years.