Councilmember Gauthier pursues more red tape for university land sales in West Philly

Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier has made it clear that she is unhappy with St. Joseph’s University.

The school sold much of its West Philadelphia campus to Belmont Neighborhood Educational Alliance, a nonprofit led by Michael Karp, a developer of student housing.

In City Council on Tuesday, St. Joe’s confirmed that the sale has closed.

In reaction, Gauthier had authored legislation that sought to require more community oversight when large institutions make significant land sales in University City, which is part of her district. She thinks this sale might not be the last, given the turbulent state of higher education.

Her original legislation was deemed legally dubious by the city’s law department and by most zoning attorneys consulted by The Inquirer.

Gauthier amended the bill and got the new version passed by City Council’s Rules Committee on Tuesday.

“It is an indisputable fact that college campuses significantly impact the communities that surround them,” Gauthier said at the hearing.

“As higher education undergoes its most significant change in our lifetime,” she continued, “we must ensure that land-use decisions are made with their communities in mind, and recent actions by multiple universities prove this will not happen without legislative action.”

The original bill sought to regulate how higher education institutions use their land, which is illegal. Zoning concerns land use generally, not only land use of specific actors.

Gauthier amended the bill so it is triggered not by a change in ownership from a university to a non-higher education buyer, but by a proposed change away from educational use on lots over 5,000 square feet.

So if a university sold land to a housing developer, the law would be triggered. It is not clear it would be triggered by what St. Joe’s did, which was selling land used for university purposes to another educational provider that claims to want to start a teaching college.

The amendments also removed clauses that would have required neighborhood residents to join the Philadelphia City Planning Commission when it reviews land-transfer proposals, as is required by this bill.

Gauthier pushed back against arguments that her bill is an overreach by noting that it simply requires a meeting with neighborhood groups, a review by the planning commission, and a demolition moratorium if there are no permits for new construction.

“This bill doesn’t cripple anyone’s property values,” Gauthier said. “It doesn’t restrict anyone’s use or density rights. It adds more eyes and more transparency to land-use decisions for major properties that change entire neighborhoods. The idea that this could ever be wrong is simply preposterous.”

Representatives from a host of West Philadelphia neighborhood groups testified in support of Gauthier’s bill. They detailed their anxieties about living in the shadow of large institutions with expensive real estate portfolios and their frustrations with what they felt had been duplicity by St. Joe’s during a public engagement campaign about the sale.

During neighborhood meetings earlier this year, attendees detailed their desire for a community college, health clinic, parking, or affordable housing on a post-sale St. Joe’s campus.

They said they felt that the university ignored their feedback.

“This thing about community engagement, we feel as though it was false,” said Jacquelyn Owns, a committeeperson in the 27th Ward. “It was just something to keep the community quiet while they did exactly what they wanted to do.”

St. Joe’s representatives argued that Karp’s plans for the site are in keeping with the neighborhood’s broad desires, given that his Belmont organization runs charter schools.

St. Joe’s also noted that it will still retain some property in the area affected by Gauthier’s bill and contended that the legislation would have deleterious effects on higher education institutions in University City.

“It probably would devalue our real estate holdings, which, in turn, would then devalue our balance sheet, which would then restrict our ability to offer financial aid,” said Joseph Kender, senior vice president at St. Joe’s. “It would restrict our ability to start new construction projects. It would restrict our ability to offer new academic programs.”

A lawyer for St. Joe’s, Ballard Spahr zoning attorney Matthew McClure, said that even the amended bill might still be illegal.

Despite the protests by St. Joe’s, Council’s Rules Committee passed the amended bill.

That may be the last movement on the controversial legislation for a while. At its October meeting, the planning commission requested a 45-day hold on the bill to consider its ramifications more thoroughly. That means the full City Council will not be able to consider it until late November.