A neighborhood association hires a design firm to suggest changes to a developer's plans for a condo tower on top of a parking garage.
"The story of 1919 Market's metamorphosis is an instructive one that reveals how planning works - or, doesn't work - in Philadelphia right now, as it grapples with the city's biggest apartment-tower boom since the 1929 stock market crash."
"[T]oday's developers [tend] to plunk extremely tall condo towers on top of big parking garages. These hybrids -- part tower, part garage -- are sweeping America's high-density cities and suburbs, like the beach towns between Miami and Fort Lauderdale."
"[The neighborhood activisits pressed [developer] Opus for design changes. Because Opus wanted fast approval from the zoning board, it knew that it couldn't risk opposition from the civic groups...But it would be wrong to see the Opus give-and-take as a substitute for real city planning....Although civic groups know their neighborhoods best, volunteer negotiators aren't always equipped to deal with complex planning issues."
Thanks to Sharon Machlis Gartenberg
FULL STORY: Neighbors take on city planners' role
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