The Philadelphia City Council may soon add another layer of bureaucracy to the processes of university construction and expansion.
A pending bill would require that City Council approve any construction within an Institutional Development District -- an area zoned for use by an educational institution -- that is not outlined in that district's master plan.
Because Penn's campus is such a district the bill would require the University to receive approval from City Council for projects as small as the construction of a new elevator or handicapped-access ramp.
Currently, City Council has a 45-day period to act on construction proposals after it receives them from the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. If the council takes no action, as is the case about half the time, the bill is automatically approved.
Opponents of the new bill say that it will likely take more than 45 days for City Council to pass an ordinance and therefore the bill will slow the entire construction process.
The Planning Commission proposed an amendment to the bill that would require City Council to pass resolutions rather than ordinances because they are less time-consuming, but the suggestion was not incorporated.
Bill Kramer -- who is in charge of zoning for the Planning Commission -- said that the bill could definitely bog down the process.
"It means that it is going to take a little longer to get things approved," Kramer said. "You are going to have more hoops to jump through."
He added, however, that City Council could take fewer than 45 days to OK a proposal, as well.
Additionally, the bill's supporters say it will require council members to assume a more hands-on approach to local projects.
Whether this new involvement will be at the expense of universities is still unknown.
Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll LLP -- the law firm that represents St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia -- sent an e-mail newsletter to clients to warn of the bill's potential dangers.
The bill "will simply make zoning approvals in IDDs more time-consuming, expensive and risky," the e-mail said. "Instead of being a tool to provide flexibility for an institution's long-term planning and development needs, it makes every new development not currently shown on an IDD plan conditioned upon new legislation."
Attorneys from the firm refused to comment further on the bill.
Kramer said that though the bill will alter the time frame for prospective projects, it will probably not have an effect on which projects are passed.
"In the last five or six years, there has been nothing that has been approved by the Planning Commission that has been disapproved by council," Kramer said.
City Council could pass the bill as early as Thursday.
