Apartments over corner stores clear a Council committee, but the 8th and 10th Districts opt out

A citywide zoning change meant to put more apartments above and inside small commercial buildings cleared City Council's Rules Committee on Tuesday. Two district members won carve-outs for their own areas at the same hearing, the Inquirer reported.

If you live near a corner store or a small commercial strip, this is the zoning that decides what can be built there. The change would affect properties zoned CMX-1, the city's smallest commercial mixed-use category. Most of that zoning covers corner-store buildings.

What the citywide bill does

The bill is Bill 260516. Our records show it was introduced May 14 by 3rd District Councilmember Jamie Gauthier on behalf of Council President Kenyatta Johnson. The Inquirer describes it as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's proposal and part of her goal of adding 30,000 homes.

The bill text would:

• allow single-family and two-family homes in CMX-1 as of right;
• allow multifamily buildings on a lot that keeps a non-residential use along the whole ground-floor frontage, for the first 30 feet of depth, with at least 750 square feet of lot area per apartment;
• drop the 2,000-square-foot cap on ground-floor shops and offices, and the ban on businesses above the first floor;
• allow child care centers, community centers, schools and take-out restaurants as of right, and sit-down restaurants by special exception.

The Inquirer reported that the administration first estimated 7,000 to 12,000 possible units citywide. A housing research group, Build Philly Now, put the figure at about 17,000, with almost 5,900 of them in the 10th District.

The two carve-outs

The exemptions come through district overlay bills that were already on Tuesday's agenda:

• 10th District. Bill 260704, from Brian J. O'Neill, merges two Northeast overlays into a new Tenth District Overlay. The text allows one dwelling unit at most in CMX-1 there, bars accessory units, caps buildings at 35 feet and three stories, and rules out density bonuses in CMX-1.
• 8th District. Bill 260709, from Cindy Bass, amends the Eighth District Overlay. Its text also limits CMX-1 lots to one residential unit and/or one commercial unit.

O'Neill's district has unusually large CMX-1 parcels because he rezoned much of its neighborhood commercial land to CMX-1 in 2022, the Inquirer reported. Planning officials told the paper one of those properties covers 16 acres. Bass told the Inquirer the exemption is "really about community control."

Paula Brumbelow Burns, the City Planning Commission's director of legislation, told the committee there is a lot of vacant first-floor commercial space that "just can't be occupied," according to the Inquirer. At-large Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson said areas such as Wynnefield face the same problem. Gauthier urged colleagues to keep the focus on adding one or two apartments to empty commercial buildings, the paper reported.

The Planning Commission endorsed both exemptions as part of the larger overlay changes, the Inquirer reported. The mayor's Oct. 20 transmittal of the commission's recommendations lists both overlay bills among those it reviewed.

What our records add

• All 16 bills on Tuesday's agenda were reported favorably, according to the Rules Committee meeting record. That includes Bill 260516 and both overlays.
• Each carries the status "Reported Favorably, Suspension." That points to a request to suspend Council's rules so the bills can get a first reading at Thursday's session. Without a suspension, they would wait for a later first reading.
• Bill 260516 waited 166 days between its May 14 introduction and Tuesday's hearing.
• The overlay bills were introduced Sept. 17, 40 days before the hearing.
• If both pass, the citywide rules would apply in most districts. The 8th and 10th would follow their own overlays. Under councilmanic prerogative, the mayor has little practical power to override a district member on local zoning, the Inquirer noted.

Our earlier preview of the Oct. 27 hearing is here.

What's next

The full Council could take final votes on the citywide bill and the exemptions as early as Nov. 12, the Inquirer reported. Our calendar lists Council sessions on Oct. 29 and Nov. 12. Bills that pass go to the mayor. Votes will appear on each bill's page after the session.