Copyright (c) 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
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October 26, 2006
Planners hopeful on
city's role in slots Philadelphia has apparently won its campaign to keep control of slot-parlor development. Next question: Can the city handle it? The state legislature this week gave up efforts to control planning and development of the slots-casino sites, allowing the city to enforce a new zoning code and planning process. The hope is to avoid the haphazard waterfront development of prior decades. |
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"We have a chance to get it right, and that's exciting," said Harris Steinberg, executive director of Penn Praxis, the urban planning arm of the University of Pennsylvania. It has been hired to assist the effort. The state Gaming Control Board will decide the two locations that get a casino, but the legislature's move frees the city to govern site development according to its new Commercial Entertainment District. Five companies have applied for the two casino licenses authorized for Philadelphia - four firms have proposed sites on the Delaware River, one in East Falls and Nicetown. The CED sets standards for building height and density, traffic, parking, public river access, and signage, and prevents pawnshops and strip clubs from springing up around gambling halls. Matt Ruben, a member of the newly formed North Delaware Avenue Unity Coalition, which monitors waterfront development, said the legislators' response to complaints about state preemption is a reason for optimism. "People in communities up and down the river have been putting development issues on the front burner for the last couple of months, and elected officials have started to listen," Ruben said. "I think that's a really good sign." The CED also gives the city's long-marginalized planning department a central role in casino development, while preventing the city bureaucracy from needlessly delaying projects. The streamlined CED system would avoid the lengthy zoning appeals process, which has slowed other developments for years. Gov. Rendell and key legislators want the slot parlors up and running quickly so they will generate a projected $1 billion in annual tax revenue needed to finance property-tax cuts around the state; the city will see wage-tax cuts. Under the new rules, casino plans require approval only by the Planning Commission and the City Council. The process has public comment built in, and the city would have to act within 90 days. Both houses of the legislature have agreed that any appeals would go directly to the state Supreme Court and bypass the Zoning Board. "We don't lack talent here, we lack authority because of the way the planning process has been fragmented," said Janice Woodcock, the commission's new executive director. "It seems like city planning is being brought back to its rightful role as planners," said Colleen Puckett, a former president of the Queen Village Neighbors Association. Street appointed career planner Woodcock to head the Planning Commission and develop a waterfront master plan. The city is hiring Penn Praxis to give the department extra muscle for the task, and there will also be a 45-member advisory panel. Philadelphia land-use lawyer Marc Brookman - a critic of the city's arcane zoning process - said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the CED would allow orderly development of casinos. For Irv Ackelsberg, cochairman of the Southwest Germantown Neighbors Association and part of the Multi-Community Alliance, zoning control is secondary. The Multi-Community Alliance doesn't want the TrumpStreet casino in East Falls and Nicetown, period. But if the TrumpStreet is licensed, he said, city control "will allow very unhappy communities to raise various issues about the site." Brian P. Tierney, The Inquirer's publisher and chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., The Inquirer's owner, is a partner in TrumpStreet. Four of the slots parlors, each outfitted for up to 5,000 slot machines, said they designed their projects with the CED rules in mind. Casino operators said they were prepared to work under whatever rules apply. "We'll leave the politics to the politicians," said John Miller, spokesman for SugarHouse Gaming, which plans a casino for Delaware Avenue. Pinnacle Entertainment, which wants to build along the river, could not be reached for comment. But with casino licenses due to be awarded in December, and the city having no control over that decision, some remain unhappy. "I think it's a problem that the sites are chosen before the planning process is under way," said Marc Stier, a Mount Airy resident and member of the citywide activist group Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks. It means the city must plan around choices made by the state gambling regulators. Steinberg said the casinos would ideally be part of a master plan being developed, but they are only part of seven miles of waterfront. Philadelphia's authority was restored when both the House and Senate passed measures that eliminated preemption of Philadelphia's zoning power. A final bill, which includes other revisions to the 2004 slots law, is still to be voted on, but Philadelphia's zoning powers are no longer an issue, said Stephen MacNett, counsel to Senate Republicans. The Senate will return tomorrow to consider the gaming and lobbying reform bills approved by the House on Tuesday. The two chambers still differ on whether casinos will be subject to local smoking bans, and who controls the sale of state-owned waterfront rights along the Delaware. Contact staff writer Jeff Shields at 610-313-8173 or jshields@phillynews.com. |
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Copyright (c) 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer |