Quote:
Originally Posted by shakman
 All the excitement when this was first announced.  |
That's HBG for ya
This was interesting:
Harrisburg City Council overturned a mayoral veto on Tuesday, though the two branches of government agreed to work towards a policy that could give the city more leverage over future development projects.
By a 5-2 vote, council rejected the action by Mayor Eric Papenfuse, who recently vetoed a resolution that would vacate several “paper” streets on a parcel of land where the new federal courthouse now is rising.
Before the meeting, Papenfuse said that he vetoed the resolution to make a point. He wants council members to create a policy that would require developers to conduct a “public benefit analysis” when requesting street vacations.
Such a policy, he said, would give the city leverage as developers continue to plan projects in Harrisburg. In exchange for the street vacation, the city could ask for certain benefits, such as offsetting city-borne costs, making streetscape improvements, utilizing local labor or including affordable housing.
“It could help us with affordable housing policy in the city,” he said. “In Seattle, and many cities, they require a public benefit proposal on the part of the developer.”
Last month, council approved a resolution that would vacate “various unnamed paper streets” on the 4.2-acre site at N. 6th and Reily streets, where the federal government is building a 243,000-square-foot courthouse.
Usually, paper streets are narrow “baker’s” or “grocer’s” alleys that offer rear access to row houses. On the courthouse site, neither the houses nor the alleys exist any longer, but the public rights of way remain on paper.
On Tuesday, Papenfuse told council that, currently, the city holds little leverage over a developer outside of the normal planning and zoning process. Requiring an analysis for street vacations would give the city a tool to extract “public benefit” concessions for large projects, he said.
“It would be a power vested in City Council that is not granted through the land development process,” he said.
https://theburgnews.com/news/harrisb...trategy-policy