Zoning bill withdrawn as Mayor Parker considered veto

Two weeks after passing a zoning bill that faced strong opposition, Councilmember Jeffery “Jay” Young asked his colleagues to recall the legislation. The bill sought to alter an arcane section of the zoning code governing “nonconforming uses.”

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker had made her displeasure with the legislation well known and had prepared her first veto to stop the bill from becoming law, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.

Instead, on Thursday, Young asked his colleagues to recall the bill from the mayor’s desk.

“We’re going to see what we can do with the bill. Right now it’s going to be shelved,” Young said. “But we’ll see how we can work through it.”

Young introduced his legislation last May in reaction to Parker’s plans to open a homeless shelter at 2100 W. Girard Ave., in his district, for people struggling with addiction.

Young’s effort would have tweaked the zoning code governing “nonconforming uses” in a way that he believed would frustrate efforts like the mayor’s shelter bid.

2100 W. Girard Ave. is zoned for multifamily residential development, and Young said a shelter normally would not be allowed there. But Parker’s plans for the facility were legal because the building’s use as a shelter had been grandfathered in, since it had previously been used as a nursing home and then a homeless shelter.

But there are many thousands of existing properties that do not conform with the current zoning, and the planning commission, Parker’s office, and much of City Council feared that the bill would create chaos and burden both property owners and local government.

As a result, Young’s bill sat on Council’s calendar for almost nine months, and only passed after he introduced a self-described “11th-hour amendment” in February that weakened the bill.

Even then, the amended bill’s critics feared the legislation would sow confusion if passed.

Seven of the city’s 10 district Council members exempted their districts from Young’s legislation, and in a rare break from Council’s norm of passing bills unanimously, two members voted against it.

The fact that Parker prepared what would have been the first veto of her administration speaks to her concern about the bill.

By recalling the legislation, Young has struck a compromise that avoids open conflict between Council and the mayor as they work toward introducing a raft of housing and zoning legislation in support of her $2 billion plan to build or preserve 30,000 units of housing.

When asked for comment after the recall, Parker praised Young.

“I am pleased that Councilmember Young is working with our administration to address the foundational issues that were the original purpose of his legislation,” Parker said in a statement. “This is exactly the kind of intergovernmental collaboration — the executive and legislative branches, working together — that will enable us to address the city’s housing crisis together.”