Parker lets five school rezoning bills, including Lankenau's, become law without her signature

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker returned five zoning bills to City Council unsigned, in letters read at the Oct. 29 stated meeting. Each bill changes the zoning of a School District of Philadelphia property to SP-CIV, a special-purpose district for civic, educational and medical uses. Under the Home Rule Charter, a bill the mayor neither signs nor vetoes becomes law without her signature, as WHYY has explained.

This matters because the district plans to close 17 schools starting at the end of this school year. Zoning decides what a school building can become if the district stops using it. Housing, offices or stores would need a variance on these sites.

The five properties

According to the mayor's letters:

• Lankenau High School, Upper Roxborough: Bill 260298, from Curtis Jones Jr., from RSD-3 residential to SP-CIV (letter).
• Parkway Northwest High School: Bill 260342-A, from Cindy Bass, from RSA-2 (letter).
• Ada Lewis Middle School: Bill 260343-A, Bass, from RSD-3 (letter).
• General Louis Wagner Middle School: Bill 260344-A, Bass, from RSD-3 (letter).
• Fitler Academics Plus School: Bill 260345-A, Bass, from RSA-3 (letter).

Each letter gives the same reason. The bills limit "the potential future use" of the property, and Parker wrote, "I question the prudence and potential long-term unintended consequences" of rezoning school-owned properties this way.

The fight behind the bills

Lankenau, the district's environmental science magnet, is slated to close, with its programs moving to Saul High School, PhillyVoice reported. The district has said it will keep the 17-acre site and plans an environmental education center there. It had earlier planned to give the property to the city for housing. When Jones and at-large Councilmember Nina Ahmad introduced the bill in April, Ahmad called the closure a "grave mistake," and the Inquirer noted that Parker had endorsed the facilities plan and wanted former school sites for her housing plan (Inquirer).

On the same day the letters were read, councilmembers and union leaders rallied outside district headquarters and urged Parker to get involved in the closures. "Step off the sideline," Education Committee chair Isaiah Thomas said, Chalkbeat reported. The mayor's office did not respond to Chalkbeat.

What our records add

• Passed on consent. All five bills were "Passed on Consent" at the Oct. 15 session. Our record shows no separate roll call on any of them.
• Long path. Jones introduced 260298 on April 9 with Ahmad and Thomas as co-sponsors. Its posted documents include an amended version from committee dated May 13, and it got its first reading Oct. 8. Bass introduced her four bills alone on April 16. The Rules Committee reported them Sept. 29, they were read Oct. 1, amended on the floor Oct. 8 and passed a week later.
• Not a veto. Parker has not vetoed the bills. A veto would have gone back to Council, which can override with a two-thirds vote, the Inquirer reported in April. She signed five other bills passed Oct. 15, including the City Hall bike lane bill (letter).
• More on the way. Jones introduced a new remap Thursday for an area bounded by Ridge Avenue, Sunset Avenue, Harner Street, Port Royal Avenue, Hagys Mill Road and Cathedral Road in Roxborough (Bill 260924). The title does not say whether a school site is included.

What's next

Our records still list the five bills as "In Mayor's Office" and will show them as enacted when the city updates their status. The letters do not change the district's closure timeline. Councilmembers have also raised the idea of an elected school board, which Parker has not addressed publicly, according to Chalkbeat.