Quote:
Originally Posted by McBane
I feel like a broken record but....with all the red tape and committee reviews that developers must go thru, is there not a single city representative looking at these projects thru an economic lens? You know, someone who might say, "Hey I know this exceeds FAR coverage and height requirements but all the extra apartments/condos will net the city $xyz in additional income a year." For a city with as many fiscal problems as Philadelphia has, it might be wise to start to consider the cost of constantly requesting developers build less units. Just sayin.
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Somewhat related, when a project needs zoning variances and/or other special allowances from L&I or City council I wish that part of the discussions as to why those requests should be granted very much included the question 'what does the public get out of granting those requests?' McBane puts it in terms of additional income for the City but I'd like to see more trade offs, like ok Mr. developer you want to build a 20 story apartment building where the code only allows to build a 10 story building, how many of those additional units are you willing to make available to tenants on limited income, or how much money or will you be willing to contribute to the local public school/park/rec center/etc.?
If the City controls to some degree who can build what, and where, then granting permission to build outside of those established limits should be worth something and not be 'free'. I think that the design of the building should be considered as part of those negotiations.