Streets Department improves its development review process.

On November 9, 2009, director of Policy and Planning at Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation Stephen Buckley as well as Dave Perri and Frank Morelli of the Streets Department shared their progress to date in streamlining the Streets Department’s development review process.

At the beginning of the Nutter Administration, it took over one year from the time a developer applied for a change to a street and the time it was passed by City Council and approved as an amendment to the City Plan.  Right now, that process is taking place in four to five months.  Now admittedly this reduction in time is primarily due to the lack of development in the city and the fact that there are far fewer permits to process, but there are key reforms that the Streets Department has put in place that are streamlining the process and should be able to reduce the review time when the market jumpstarts again.   They are as follows:

• In the past, the applicant for a permit to open a street had to post a bond.  Now they can post a bond or provide a letter of credit.
• In the past, applicants had no alternative to obtaining the approval of all abutting property owners for a City Plan change. Now, the developer can post a bond or a letter of credit if s/he can demonstrate that best efforts to obtain such agreements have been made and such efforts have been unsuccessful.
• An ordinance fee to finance the process of passage of the change to the City Plan in Council is required at the time of application.  This will ensure that this complicated process is only begun by those with clear plans to develop.

With respect to permits and subdivision reviews, there have been reforms as well:

• Utility permits took on average 50 to 60 days to obtain.  Applicants had to file five sets of hard copy plans. Today it takes 5 to 25 days to obtain a utility permit.  Applicants can apply for a permit electronically and no hard copies of the plan are required to be filed.
• An updated Streets Department Development Checklist has been produced. It clearly sets out submittal requirements, removes some unnecessary requirements and ensures consistency between Districts.  In the past, architects and engineers had complained that certain pieces of information were required in some districts and not others.  Now all will share the same clear requirements. Importantly, legal descriptions are no longer required to be submitted as part of the review. If you have any questions about these requirements or have an experience where a district requests additional information not included on the checklist, please give Frank Morelli at the Streets Department a call at 215-686-5540. Click here to view checklist.

And more reforms are coming:

• The Streets Department is considering making certain utility maps available online.  Currently it is possible to view these maps in person at the Municipal Services Building and obtain a hard copy for $10.  There is no timeline yet for bringing maps online.
• Pay fees online.  The Streets Department is working with the Department of Technology to allow customers to pay fees online.