Faced with Facade /fəˈsäd/ noun There are many obstacles to overcome when changing anything about buildings in the city of Philadelphia. Chances are, change comes with a permit attached to it. However, facade changes, in particular, may require more attention than your regular Building Permit. To avoid getting those annoying requests for additional information that end up costing time and money, make sure you know whether or not...
Read More
Expediting Versus Accelerating Last week we debunked many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding the art of expediting. This week we decided to follow up that conversation with a post specifically dedicated to the differences between expediting and accelerating. Expeditors, as previously explained, can increase the speed and efficiency of obtaining permits by filing paperwork correctly and mitigating setbacks along the way. However, another way to...
Read More
An additional information request is sent by Licenses and Inspections whenever one of their plans examiners wants to know more about your project. Getting this letter is not an indication of failure, it is actually considered a standard response as requirements for permits can be as unpredictable as the weather. However, in the off chance you do not receive a request for additional information, you deserve...
Read More
Things You Should Know When it comes to building something in the city of Philadelphia there are a few essential things you will need. Many of these essentials come from L&I, the Department of Licenses and Inspections. The key here is understanding what you will need, and how to get it. In addition to any Building or Zoning Permits you may need for your project, you may...
Read More
We here at Philadelphia Zoning like to poke some fun at our City's bureaucracy. Licenses and Inspections can be a mystery to homeowners and developers: documents go in; only sometimes do they come out. When they do come out, it's often because they are rejected for arcane reasons. It can be pretty frustrating and eat your time (and it's why Philadelphia Zoning exists: to save...
Read More
One of the most sensible and also counter-intuitive parts of the zoning process in Philly is the community review. Any time you want to use your property for something that the zoning code doesn't allow, you must seek a variance from the City of Philadelphia (as we've discussed). When you seek a variance, a community organization in Philadelphia gets to review the proposal before the City...
Read More
Wait, I have to get approval from what? Ah, prerequisite approvals! Who doesn't love that giddy sensation? You know the one: You walk up to the desk at Licenses and Inspections, submit your carefully prepared application, and are told in a dead monotone, "This needs approval from Streets before we'll look at it." There's no way around it: Prerequisite approvals are rough. In this story, you need...
Read More
Our Plans Requirements Cheat Code We here at Philadelphia Zoning told you a while back about how important plans are to most zoning, building, and sign permitting projects. (You can find that post right here.) But that advice was general; we know a lot of you are probably wondering specifically what kind of plans you need for which project. We've decided to make a cheat sheet for...
Read More
We here at Philadelphia Zoning like to think we have answers for you. We tell you we can saw through forests of red tape, and we mean it. But sometimes, we get a question that has about a hundred different answers. "How much does a permit cost?" is one of those questions. There are a few reasons why such a simple question has so many different answers. First,...
Read More
Say you want to open a coffee shop. You’ve found a place, in a quiet block, and the building is perfect: homey, but a little more spacious than you might expect. It’s on a corner, too. But it’s zoned RSA-5 (as you might already know if you’re reading this: Residential Single-Family, Attached; Category 5 of 5). So you aren’t allowed, under Philadelphia law, to open...
Read More