Mayor Jim Kenney on Thursday unveiled steps that his administration and City Council plan to take to better protect some of Philadelphia’s oldest and most interesting buildings, nearly two years after convening a task force to study historic preservation.
Surrounded by Councilman Mark Squilla, preservation leaders, and task force members, Kenney explained wide-ranging regulatory changes that his administration plans to make to bolster preservation, while Squilla announced that he would introduce legislation to incentivize preservation-minded development. Among the city’s most significant plans: establishing a citywide survey to document Philadelphia’s historic properties, creating an “index” of non-historically designated buildings that cannot be demolished until there is a review, and introducing a zoning bonus for developers who contribute to a new Historic Preservation Fund.
Credit: Caitlin McCabe, philly.com
