South Street West Civic Association News Letter

Neighbors

The city is in the process of rezoning. The proposed changes in our immediate area (part of the Central District) are mostly to rezone to what exists. So, for example, some homes that are single family will be rezoned to single family from multi-family and new parks south of us will be rezoned to parks.

We would strongly encourage everyone interested to attend the meeting on July 23^rd at 6PM at the St Charles Senior Center, 1941 Christian Street with SOSNA. This will provide you with a chance to provide input before these changes become law. You can also go to the SOSNA office to look at the maps ahead of time. See the link with details below of the proposed changes.

http://southofsouth.org/events/public-meeting-pcpc-presentation-and-discussion-proposed-zoning-re-mapping-changes

Please attend even if you are north of South Street – this type of rezoning will not be done again for decades. City Planning includes all of you as part of the Central District plan. If you do not provide feedback now (positive or negative), you are not likely to have a voice for decades. While the proposed zoning changes do not seem to contradict what most of you have said is important to you over the past years, you should communicate that. This is the time to be heard.

The discussion at other locations has also included a discussion of transit. You can review comments from prior meetings on line.  Given concerns many have raised about congestion in our area and concerns about balancing safe bike and pedestrian lanes, enough loading for our small neighborhood business district and parking concerns (particularly by those who do shift work and those trying to avoid being the “free” parking lot for non-residents using restaurants and entertainment in Center City or who work in University City) it would be a good time to communicate those concerns.

We recommend that you attend if possible, as there will be feedback stations about various aspects of the plan with both district council people and City Planning personnel. If you can not attend, please contact Kenyatta Johnson’s office with feedback. His e-mail is Kenyatta.Johnson@phila.gov  You can also send feedback to City Planning.