Forcing businesses to jump through hoops hurts economic growth | Editorial

Too often, public policy in Philadelphia consists of taking three steps forward and two steps back. This is the case with City Council’s recent pro-business push.

After wisely recommitting to the schedule of modest tax decreases meant to boost the city’s competitiveness and help spur job growth, Council nearly immediately afterward voted to ensnare would-be West Philadelphia entrepreneurs in red tape.

Majority Leader Curtis Jones Jr. introduced a bill that would require grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, convenience stores, and other kinds of businesses to go before the Zoning Board of Adjustment if they seek to open in the boundaries of a restrictive overlay — which he expanded from roughly four acres of commercially zoned land to cover 164 acres in parts of Overbrook, Carroll Park, and Wynnefield.

This legislation is overly broad and burdensome. Mayor Jim Kenney was right to veto it. And Council was wrong to override his veto.

» READ MORE: Council is right to cut taxes and help spur economic growth | Editorial

Forcing businesses to appear before the zoning board imposes a significant burden, including the need to hire an attorney. Getting a hearing is also a time-consuming and costly process, especially now. An Inquirer analysis found that a post-pandemic slowdown means that applicants must wait six months or more before appearing before the zoning board, a time during which business owners may have to pay rent while unable to open their doors.

If business owners are interested in an expedited process, they must fork over a $1,000 fee — that’s more than most businesses will save from Council’s tax cuts. On top of that, getting the go-ahead from the zoning board is no guarantee of success. They can still fail in court.

After being removed from criminal cases after denying every single petition for compassionate release from jail during the COVID-19 pandemic, Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie Coyle has found herself hearing zoning appeals.

Even when neighbors and preservationists found a workable compromise that allowed for the adaptive reuse of the Painted Bride mosaic in Old City, Coyle stopped the plan in its tracks. She called the zoning board’s decision to grant a variance — a process that councilmembers say should be easy in these circumstances — “an unequivocal abusive exercise of discretion.”

Coyle ruled against variances for an affordable housing development in West Philadelphia and the extravagant Rittenhouse sports bar Bankroll utilizing similar logic.

In an interview with The Inquirer, Jones said there are ways to minimize the impact of his bill on businesses. “If you really do your homework, talk to the community early, try to get a zoning hearing early, work with our office — we’ll help — it’s not that bad.”

The legislation’s objective, according to Jones and his Council colleagues, is to limit the opening of vape and smoke shops, which they label as “nuisance businesses” that may skirt existing regulations on stores that sell drug paraphernalia. The explanation as to why, then, the legislation seems to be all-encompassing is that smoke shops could open covertly as other businesses.

That, of course, is already illegal, but Jones says the Department of Licenses and Inspections is not moving quickly enough on enforcement.

Never mind that the department has been understaffed and underfunded for years. Jones and his Council colleagues could have increased funding to meet the city’s needs at any point. They have chosen not to. Instead, Council has often made the department’s job more difficult.

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While inspectors work for the executive branch, the department is often subject to meddling by councilmembers, who often ask for leniency for their friends and toughness for their opponents. As one departing inspector wrote in his resignation letter, “Ethically, I can’t work for a place that will play to the politics of a situation, but bring the hammer down on smaller guys for the same wrongdoing.”

When Council piles on these red tape requirements, you might get the misleading impression that Philadelphia’s economy is thriving, overburdened by more businesses than our community can handle. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Outside of Center City and the surrounding neighborhoods, Philadelphia is extraordinarily bereft of businesses. Black and brown-owned businesses are especially underrepresented.

As Tonya Morris, from Mom Your Business, a nonprofit that assists entrepreneurial Black and brown women in Philadelphia, told this board, “I’m sympathetic to the problems with the smoke shops and the stop-and-goes. But there’s a less heavy-handed way to handle those problems.”

If City Council wants to signal a new openness to businesses and economic growth, it must cut the red tape instead of adding to the tangle.