Committee on Rules backs rezoning around Roosevelt Boulevard to allow two‑family attached housing

The Committee on Rules voted to report Bill 250,493 with a favorable recommendation and to suspend the rules to permit first reading, clearing a zoning remap for an area bounded by Roosevelt Boulevard, Ninth Street, Erie Avenue and Broad Street in the North Planning District.

Paula Brumbelow Burns, director of legislation for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, told the committee the bill is “a direct result of the community remapping program” and that the commission “recommended the bill for approval.” The change would place an RTA‑2 (residential two‑family attached) district on the city zoning map for the identified blocks.

Brumbelow Burns said the neighborhood’s existing zoning traces to the city’s first zoning code in 1933 and that the remap aims to concentrate density near transit, “right‑size zoning to match the scale of existing residential neighborhoods,” and encourage redevelopment or reuse of underutilized industrial parcels. The bill was introduced in council on 05/08/2025 by Councilmember Young and was presented to the Planning Commission at its public meeting on 06/05/2025, according to Brumbelow Burns.

Councilmember Scuola moved that the committee report the bill with a favorable recommendation and that the rules be suspended to allow first reading at the next council session; the motion was seconded and the ayes carried. The committee record shows the motion passed; the transcript records only the committee voice vote and does not provide a roll‑call tally.

If enacted through the council process, the map change would alter permitted residential density and development form on the specified blocks. The committee did not take additional amendments during the public meeting and did not specify implementation steps beyond referral for first reading.