Tuesday, November 18, 2014

South Street West Civic Association Newsletter



ZONING FOR 2308a Naudain
There will be a zoning meeting for 2308 Naudain Street held jointly with CCRA. These are two of the units destroyed in the fire. There will be a public meeting at CCRA where you can see the plans, speak with the developer and speak up as a near neighbor. The CCRA meeting is 2111 Sansom (the church) at 7 PM on Tuesday the 25th. We urge you to try to attend if you live within 2 blocks. Near neighbors are invited to speak after the zoning board questions the developer at the CCRA meetings. The developer should have notified you directly, and has indicated that he is willing to speak with neighbors prior to that meeting. He wants to replace the 2 family unit that was there with a 2 family unit. Zoning only permits single family units at that location, so the developer needs a variance. Our board member Keisha Usher-Martin is likely to attend on behalf of SSW Civic Association. A copy of the current plans are attached, and the developer has told us he is reaching out to near neighbors for input. If many people let us know ahead of time, Keisha can also raise the concerns at the meeting and let the CCRA board know how many people share that concern.

Since CCRA does not do petitions, will you please also let us via e-mail know if you approve, are neutral or oppose this development and give us your address when you do so? That way, we can submit a spreadsheet to the Zoning Board and Councilman Johnson with our letter. If you are opposed, please include your reasons for opposition. Please respond no later than Wednesday, November 26th. We will include that with our spreadsheet.

Zoning for 408 S. 25th
We don’t have additional information to date, but there is also a zoning application at the very northern end of our area for 408 S. 25th Street. If we hear from members that they want us to take a role in this, we will. Otherwise, we will defer to CCRA on this property:
"PERMIT FOR THE ERECTION OF AN ADDITION ON THE FIRST FLOOR LEVEL AND A BAY WINDOW OF THE SECOND FLOOR REAR OF AN EXISTING ATTACHED STRUCTURE; FOR THE USE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOUSEHOLD LIVING AS PREVIOUSLY APPROVED. SIZE AND LOCATION AS SHOWN IN APPLICATION/PLAN." 

Trash
We want to warn that the Streets Department has some new rules about trash
Mattresses must be in a bag when they are put out. You can buy the bags at hardware stores. Unbagged mattresses may not be picked up. The city fears a bedbug problem
Plastic bags from places like the grocery store are recyclable, but they jamb the city equipment. Please do not use them instead of regular trash bags or put them in your recycling. Sometimes trash put out in a grocery store bag will be left. It is best to take these bags back to the store. Also, please put pizza boxes in the trash instead of the recycling – recycling should be clean material only.

Bike Coalition Survey
There is a link to a Bike Coalition group’s draft report online. We’d like you to read and respond if possible. We are not sure how people feel about eliminating church parking on Sunday. We have also got a lot of new bike lanes in our area over the past few years – not all of our members are happy. Our board members have heard concerns that cyclists do not take bicycle riders’ responsibilities to follow traffic laws (not run red lights, go with the traffic, not keep passing cars who have already passed them), stay off the sidewalks, not park where handicapped people need to unload, or other such things into account. So we are interested in your feedback. At the same time, we have tried to make sure cyclists can get around safely including work on the plans for the South Street Bridge. Please provide feedback to the bike coalition.

PINNING 2015 MAYORAL CANDIDATES DOWN ON BIKING, WALKING, PARKING ISSUES:  COMMENT DEADLINE 11/21
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia held a "listening session" this past Monday to discuss their "Better Mobility 2015" draft report, a series of recommendations the Coalition and other groups intend to give to the 2015 Philadelphia mayoral candidates.  Before the meeting, BCGP released its draft report online. About 20 people came to the meeting and shared their thoughts, including the following suggestions:
  • More Bike Parking: It was noted that there are certain sections of the City where there simply aren't enough bike racks.
  • New Infrastructure: Things like protected bike lanes (lanes physically separated from the street) and bicycle-only streets were high on the minds of many in attendance. Studies have found that when protected bike lanes are implemented, they improve the safety of not just cyclists, but drivers and pedestrians, as well.
  • A Vision Zero Policy: The Bicycle Coalition and its partners have a goal of zero traffic deaths in Philadelphia. While zero is the goal, the Coalition believes the benchmark of cutting the number of deaths in half by 2020 is achievable.
  • Sunday Parking: Some cyclists believe churchgoer-parking in the Spruce and Pine bike lanes on Sundays sets a bad precedent.
You can read a report of the meeting here. The Coalition is taking additional comments on the draft report through November 21. Email them at bike@bicyclecoalition.org  or tweet them at @bcgp using the hashtag #BetterMobility2015.

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Everyone have a great holiday. We have no updates about past zoning to share at this time. Please start thinking about issues you might want us to address going forward (in addition to parking & CHOP, which are on our list). We will have an annual meeting in February to set priorities, review bylaws and elect board members.

Barb on behalf of Barb, Peg, Keisha & Mayva

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