This is my three-minute testimony before the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on June 2nd, 2021, in favor of a proposed development in my neighborhood. The project at the intersection of 48th Street and Chester Avenue in West Philadelphia had become the subject of some notoriety, earning the moniker the “poop building” for very weird and funny reasons that can be read about here. Ultimately, thanks to the work of a smart community organization and (I hope in part) the persuasive testimony of neighbors who stood up for affordable housing and more affordability, the project was approved.
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Good afternoon. I live a block away from the project site. I want to start by sharing some contextual information about my neighborhood.
The project site and my apartment are both in the same census tract. From 2010 to 2019, the median annual income in this tract increased by over $7,000. The population of the tract that identifies as White increased by 201, and the population of the tract that identifies as Black decreased by 162. This tract has, over the past decade, experienced a textbook case of gentrification.
This change cannot be blamed on new development because there has been none. In fact, in that same period, the US Census Bureau estimates that the number of housing units in the tract decreased by 93. My neighborhood has seen displacement without development. More people have wanted to live here, but there are fewer spaces available for them, and so prices have increased and people who cannot afford the new rents have been forced out.
I support this project not because I believe it will solve this issue alone, but because it will help. This project proposes to build fifteen new homes that will be deeply affordable for decades. It proposes to build sixty-one new homes that will be available at extremely standard rents for the neighborhood, and rental apartments will always be a more affordable way to live here than home ownership. There are no homes currently on the project site, so this project is an example of development without displacement, and that should be celebrated and embraced.
I believe the ZBA should grant this variance request for two reasons. First, it will help the City of Philadelphia achieve specific public policy goals as described under the “Thrive” vision of the Philadelphia 2035 plan. This project will add affordable housing, it will add a mix of housing at different income levels, it will provide housing adjacent to high-frequency transit, it will reuse a vacant lot, and it will add to the property tax base. These are all goals enumerated in the plan.
Second, I support the request for a variance because the existing zoning creates an unnecessary hardship, by which the property owner is disallowed from building a building that is contextual to the neighborhood and equivalent in use and form to the multi-family buildings that previously existed on this site and exist today on the immediate blocks. The existing map that limits this site to single-family attached housing is a classic example of exclusionary zoning. To uphold the zoning of this site would be to endorse as city policy that that the only people who can live in this neighborhood are people who are wealthier than those who lived here before. It would also punish a property owner who is attempting in good faith to build an attractive, context-sensitive project that directly meets neighborhood needs far better than what the existing zoning allows.
For these reasons, I urge the ZBA to approve the variances for this site. Thank you.