It is normal and standard procedure for developers of large projects to
have all sorts of contacts and meetings at all levels, with all sorts of
affected agencies and community groups, before formal ZBA hearings are
scheduled. The good ones are out there all the time. The bad ones too, I
suppose. It is the only way large-scale development can be conducted.
It is normal and standard for the time devoted to a developer's
discussion to vary tremendously depending on a host of factors (e.g.,
what other business is scheduled for that meeting).
It is normal and standard for there to be last-minute changes before any
such meeting, like every other working meeting in life.
It is normal and standard for most community members to welcome as many
such contacts as they can get, until an hour of decision arrives. Since
no one interaction can ever be perfectly public, the more there are, the
more neighbors fell they have been listened to, as a rule.
It is normal and standard for some people to remain unsatisfied by the
results of any one public interaction, or string of interactions.
In Northern Liberties, which is a residential neighborhood, single
projects involving hundreds or even upwards of a thousand units have
been proposed. It is normal and standard for their affiliations with
universities or particular companies not to be deemed germane to genuine
public concerns about developments
I have no idea what is normal and standard for HC-related developer
proposals, except that here again they are strongly encouraged to work
out issues in informal preliminary business meetings with HC staff and
not just show up at the "official hearing" for a one-shot, 15-minute
resolution.
Let us all be grateful we don't have to figure this one out by tomorrow!
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
-- Tony West
is it normal and standard procedure for a developer to attempt to
de-list an historic mansion without the public knowing about it from
either the developer or the local historical society until the news is
revealed 4 months later in the local newspaper?
is it normal and standard procedure for developers of 11-story hilton
hotels to contact individual neighbors by email and invite them for
coffee as 'your friendly neighborhood developer' to discuss his proposal?
is it normal and standard procedure for developers to claim by email
to have met with the local historical society while members of the
society claim to have had no knowledge about his project until they
read about it months later in the paper?
is it normal and standard procedure for a neighborhood association's
zoning committee to know about the developer's plans in the summer and
to then keep silent about it until a 28-minute slide show in november,
given to random members who happen to show up for an annual elections
meeting where the proposal is not on the agenda and the meeting itself
is declared by that association's president as 'not public'?
is it normal and standard procedure for penn praxis to announce that a
developer is to present a proposal on a friday at 8 am, and then for
the developer to inexplicably not show up?
is it normal and standard procedure for a developer to have only a few
minutes to present his proposal at an 8 am meeting?
is it normal and standard procedure for developers to testify to
architecture committees and historic commissions that open public
forums have taken place, when they haven't?
is it normal and standard procedure for developers to tell local
newspapers that neighbors have been listened to, when they haven't?
is it normal and standard procedure for a historic commission to
consider a revised proposal for an 11-story hotel which hasn't been
reviewed by its architecture committee?
what other parts of the city are former employees of a university
working as a developer with campus apartments inc, proposing 11-story
hilton hotels in residential neighborhoods?
[aka ray]
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