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Week of March 17, 2008
Philadelphia zoning group seeks more time
By: Jeff Shields, Inquirer Staff Writer
The group assigned to reform the city's zoning code wants a two-year extension on recommendations to improve the outdated law.
The Zoning Code Commission was created last year, and tasked with simplifying the zoning code and planning process while promoting sensible development and preserving neighborhoods.
It met for the first time in August, and was given a June 30 deadline to report to City Council. Council must approve zoning code changes and any extension of the deadline. Council's approval of the extension is expected.
The original deadline, by all accounts, was ambitious, intended primarily to create a sense of urgency, said Brian Abernathy, legislative aide to City Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose legislation set up the timetable.
City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke was not surprised. "I thought it was unrealistic to expect, given the complex nature of it, to have a plan in place in a year," Clarke said.
Mayor Nutter is also comfortable with the work done to date, said spokesman Doug Oliver. The Planning Commission's acting executive director, Gary Jastrzab, agreed.
Board: Tweak plan, keep zoning
By: Theresa Katalinas, Bucks County Courier Times
First he wanted to build 120,000 square feet of commercial space.
After scrapping that plan, 35 or more multi-family residential units were on the table.
On Monday, Richboro developer Eugene Lorenzetti proposed yet another use for 12 acres situated on the heavily traveled corner of Durham and South Eagle roads: A three-story 60,000-square-foot Sunrise Senior Living facility and 16 separate town houses.
And if Monday's Newtown Township supervisors work session is any indication, that plan won't move forward either. At least not how Lorenzetti envisioned.
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Helping those who can’t help themselves is not always prudent
The Mortgage Bankers Association has delivered more bad news about the housing market.
Mortgage delinquencies in the fourth quarter of 2007 were the highest in the history of the MBA’s survey. The rate of foreclosure starts and the percentage of loans in the process of foreclosure were at the highest levels ever.
Despite this dismal report, financial institutions are trying to work with homeowners to keep them from losing their homes. To stave off foreclosure, many borrowers have to come up with some money. Where they get it varies. Some have drastically cut expenses. Others are selling belongings. And some are turning to friends and relatives for financial assistance.
That last option is putting a lot of pressure on people who aren’t so sure they should pony up the money.
Utility report sparks new debate on electricity deregulation
By Jim Snyder, TheHill.com
Back when Enron looked like a good stock pick, policymakers across the country moved to loosen the regulatory constraints on electricity generators in hopes that competition would result in innovation and lower prices.
A group of public power utilities now argues that investors weren’t the only ones who turned out to be wrong. In a new white paper, the American Public Power Association (APPA) says that the move to expand so-called “competitive” energy markets has actually raised costs for consumers without the promised technological advances. “It is time to acknowledge that market forces alone are not sufficient to discipline prices and ensure adequate service in the electric utility industry,” APPA’s report, “Consumers in Peril,” states.
Government announcing plan to ease capital restraints on Fannie, Freddie
By Marcy Gordon, Of The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) --- The government will free up billions of dollars at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, money that would be used to help home owners refinance mortgages on the brink of default.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which oversees the government-sponsored companies, was expected to announced a plan Wednesday that would ease mandatory capital requirments now in place, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
That mandatory cash cushion — now nearly $20 billion for the two — will be reduced by a third under the new deal. The freed-up money will go toward buying mortgages of struggling homeowners to enable them to refinance into more affordable loans.
The capital requirement for each company will be reduced from the current 30 percent to 20 percent, one person familiar with the discussions said. Under the deal, Fannie and Freddie will commit to raise additional capital. That could be done through special sales of stock or cuts in dividends. Together they will be expected to provide up to $200 billion in new funding for home loans, the person said.
$5.3 million for Phila. affordable housing
By Jeff Shields, Philadelphia Inquirer
More than 645 units of affordable housing being developed in Philadelphia are a "shaft of light" for the city in a grim economic landscape, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said yesterday.
"There's frankly a lot of darkness throughout the country right now," Casey said as the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh announced $5.3 million in grants. "This announcement today is a shaft of light, a beacon of hope."
The grants form a portion of funding for 16 projects for low-income residents. They include $500,000 to build 10 apartments in Stable Flats, a development planned for a carriage company's stables in Northern Liberties; $500,000 to build 24 three- and four-bedroom homes in Strawberry Mansion; and $350,000 to build 54 apartments for seniors in West Philadelphia.
Philadelphia has had to compete with other cities for shrinking federal housing dollars, while the private housing market has shriveled.
But the resources of the regional Federal Home Loan Bank - a cooperative of more than 300 banks - have grown and become increasingly focused on Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh bank covers Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, and is one of 12 such banks nationwide chartered by Congress in 1932 to guarantee funding for mortgages, according to the bank's Web site.
Deadline for Ardmore's makeover
By Diane Mastrull, Inquirer Staff Writer
As Ardmore's revitalization project struggles to regain momentum after its first-choice developer quit two weeks ago, a $5.8 million government grant could be lost unless progress is soon made.
The Federal Transit Administration appropriation was issued in 2004 for a complete makeover of the Main Line village's 1950s-era train station. Experts have maintained that a renovated station should anchor a full-blown revival of Ardmore's business district.
However, converting the drab, one-story, flat-roofed structure into a transit hub for trains, buses and bikes, surrounded by stores, offices and residences, had been on hold as Lower Merion Township commissioners searched for a redeveloper for downtown Ardmore.
Officials thought they had one: township resident Edward B. Lipkin's EBL&S Development, which they selected in January. But Lipkin stunned them by announcing on March 4 that he was pulling out, citing the tightening credit market and concerns that he would not be able to secure financing for his ambitious $300 million plan.
Resident: Voters should decide on sewers
By: Chris English, Bucks County Courier Times
LOWER MAKEFIELD - A decision on whether to sell the Lower Makefield sewer system should be left up to voters, township resident Gary Cruzan told the supervisors at Wednesday night's meeting.
Cruzan said he was against selling but the fairest way to make a decision was by voter referendum.
“I've heard this is a done deal by way of the grapevine,” he added. “Some seniors have said the supervisors will decide to sell as a way to get money for a new senior center.”
Supervisor Ron Smith said none of the board members have made up their minds, and chairman Greg Caiola said no deal with the seniors had been made.
“I take exception to those kinds of remarks,” Caiola told Cruzan. “I don't like the innuendo you bring up here every time you speak.”
Ardmore renewal goes to Carl Dranoff
By Diane Mastrull, Inquirer Staff Writer
In the end, it was not Carl Dranoff's bulging portfolio of urban redevelopment projects that won him the job late Wednesday of reviving Ardmore's well-worn business district.
It was the outsize ambition of a competitor.
Edward Lipkin had proposed a $300 million makeover of the Main Line village's downtown, replete with a six-story hotel and office tower straddling the railroad tracks. But on March 4, just eight weeks after Lower Merion Township commissioners selected him to lead the transformation, Lipkin bailed out of the project, citing uncertainty about amassing the necessary financing in a tight credit market.
At first, residents and business owners said they were shocked. Then they expressed relief at the prospect of a do-over, complaining that Lipkin's vision for the Lancaster Avenue commercial corridor and adjacent train station area was excessive and out of character for a historic village setting.
Ultimately, the commissioners agreed. In an 11-0 vote close to midnight Wednesday, the board picked Dranoff's far more modest $150 million proposal for a mix of stores, offices and apartments. He described himself as elated at getting a second "bite of the apple."
Along with three other developers, Dranoff lost out to Lipkin on the first go-round in January. But when the victor withdrew, Dranoff wasted no time in trying to reposition himself as the heir apparent in Ardmore's renaissance - his first suburban revitalization effort.
Lawmaker seeks aid for sewer plan
By: Danny Adler,Bucks County Courier Times
NORTHAMPTON - State Rep. Scott Petri said he'll try to get Northampton some financial help for its multimillion-dollar sewer expansion project.
Petri, R-178, announced Wednesday night that he and Tom Zeuner, executive director of the Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority, will meet with Pennvest, the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, to discuss the application process for receiving grants or loans to help pay for the project.
Northampton has the state Department of Environmental Protection on its back to hook up some 400 properties to a public sewer system because many septic systems are failing.
One resident wrote late Wednesday night in an e-mail to community members that Petri painted a “not-so-rosy picture” of the possibility of state funding. “Don't hold your breath here, folks!” the resident wrote.
