Delaware waterfront advocates, Squilla take opposing stances on height limit

Harris Steinberg fears that Philadelphia’s Delaware waterfront may be returning to the bad old days.

Almost 10 years ago, when Steinberg ran PennPraxis, he presented a civic vision for seven miles of the central Delaware waterfront to a standing room crowd of 1,500 people. It was the culmination of a process that lasted over a year, featured 200 meetings, and was attended by more than 4,000 people.*

The vision PennPraxis presented that day would eventually lead to the creation of a master plan and a zoning overlay to align redevelopment with the master plan for the waterfront between Oregon and Allegheny avenues and east of I-95. The overlay, which gives weight to the principles of the plan, passed City Council in 2013 after two years of talks between Councilman Mark Squilla, waterfront advocates, planners, developers, and property owners.

Now Councilman Squilla has introduced a bill that would substantially revise the height bonuses available under the Central Delaware Overlay.

Currently the maximum allowable height is capped, with bonuses, at 244 feet. (The base height limit is 100 feet.) The plan recommended a height limit, arguing it would help prevent an rapid, over-saturated housing market and incentivize development to be spread along the whole riverfront. Planners and waterfront advocates also feared a cycle of high-cost, high-rise proposals would drive up land values while ambitious and expensive plans floundered.

Why Steinberg says the legislation "flies in the face" of what has been in the works for years, at PlanPhilly.com.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal