Rules Committee adopts amendments and reports a package of zoning and code bills to full council
October 21, 2025 | Philadelphia City, Pennsylvania
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The Committee on Rules considered a broad list of bills affecting zoning maps, overlay districts and targeted code changes and adopted amendments on several items before reporting the entire package to full City Council with a favorable recommendation.
Paula Brumbelow Burns of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission provided brief, bill-by-bill summaries for many items. Highlights of the package included:
- Bill 250648: A zoning map change in the Spring Garden neighborhood to allow the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA) to convert the former factory at 642 North Broad Street into 66 units of affordable housing for seniors and to retain a senior center open to the public. The Planning Commission recommended approval.
- Bill 250767: Repeal of a prior 2024 zoning change in Eastwick (bill 240415) that had redesignated an area bounded by Island Avenue, the Delaware Expressway and Bartram Avenue; 250767 returns the zoning to CMX-3 consistent with the Philadelphia 2035 comprehensive plan. The Planning Commission recommended approval with amendments adopted on the floor.
- Bill 250800: Amendment to the zoning code to prohibit drug paraphernalia sales as a primary use in certain industrial districts, leaving I-3 as the only district where such sales are allowed as a primary use; accessory sales in licensed medical marijuana dispensaries would remain allowed. The Planning Commission recommended approval.
- Bill 250802 and 250803: Technical clarifications to the FDO Fourth District Overlay (Wissahickon neighborhood) removing a demolition moratorium that expired and clarifying allowed commercial uses in commercial review areas.
Other bills in the package included technical cleanups to the Center City Overlay (250808), revisions to the mixed-income housing bonus standards (250810), a zoning map correction in East Mount Airy (250811) and the repeal of an earlier ordinance that would have organized an Arena Services District Authority (250577). The committee adopted amendments to several bills on the record and then, by voice vote on a bundled motion, reported the package to full council for first reading under suspension of the rules.
Where the Planning Commission offered recommendations, those recommendations were noted and Planning Commission staff indicated many of the zoning items were recommended for approval. The committee’s actions were procedural: amendments were adopted on the floor and the full package was advanced to full council.
Paula Brumbelow Burns of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission provided brief, bill-by-bill summaries for many items. Highlights of the package included:
- Bill 250648: A zoning map change in the Spring Garden neighborhood to allow the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA) to convert the former factory at 642 North Broad Street into 66 units of affordable housing for seniors and to retain a senior center open to the public. The Planning Commission recommended approval.
- Bill 250767: Repeal of a prior 2024 zoning change in Eastwick (bill 240415) that had redesignated an area bounded by Island Avenue, the Delaware Expressway and Bartram Avenue; 250767 returns the zoning to CMX-3 consistent with the Philadelphia 2035 comprehensive plan. The Planning Commission recommended approval with amendments adopted on the floor.
- Bill 250800: Amendment to the zoning code to prohibit drug paraphernalia sales as a primary use in certain industrial districts, leaving I-3 as the only district where such sales are allowed as a primary use; accessory sales in licensed medical marijuana dispensaries would remain allowed. The Planning Commission recommended approval.
- Bill 250802 and 250803: Technical clarifications to the FDO Fourth District Overlay (Wissahickon neighborhood) removing a demolition moratorium that expired and clarifying allowed commercial uses in commercial review areas.
Other bills in the package included technical cleanups to the Center City Overlay (250808), revisions to the mixed-income housing bonus standards (250810), a zoning map correction in East Mount Airy (250811) and the repeal of an earlier ordinance that would have organized an Arena Services District Authority (250577). The committee adopted amendments to several bills on the record and then, by voice vote on a bundled motion, reported the package to full council for first reading under suspension of the rules.
Where the Planning Commission offered recommendations, those recommendations were noted and Planning Commission staff indicated many of the zoning items were recommended for approval. The committee’s actions were procedural: amendments were adopted on the floor and the full package was advanced to full council.
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