The Purpose of a District Plan
A district plan such as The Plan for West Philadelphia establishes an area-wide context and helps guide future decisions about how a section of the city can change and develop. In particular it will guide official Planning Commission recommendations about zoning, urban renewal, capital spending, legislation as well as broader city policies and public and private investment decisions that affect West Philadelphia.

Topics that can be addressed in a district plan include physical development, human needs, economic development, neighborhood planning and urban design. The plan can be as general as talking about the "image" or public perception of West Philadelphia or it can be as specific as recommending the best use for a single parcel of land in one of the neighborhoods.

District Plans were first published by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in 1963, when a Center City Plan was released, followed in 1964 by a West Philadelphia Plan. During the 1980's, the Planning Commission has re-established the practice of preparing district plans by releasing plans for Roxborough-Manayunk, the Delaware and Schuylkill Riverfronts, and most recently for North Philadelphia and Center City.

There has been broad-based public participation both in the preparation and in the implementation of these plans. While the Planning Commission staff prepares the plan and is responsible for its content, the plan development process involves extensive discussion with citizens, community groups, business groups, local institutions, developers, elected officials and other governmental agencies.

Finally, the district plan makes recommendations for actions or policies to achieve the stated goals. Recommendations can be phrased in general or specific terms, and they can be firm or flexible. They can apply to the district, a neighborhood, a highway corridor or a specific site. Recommendations can also be made for a particular topic or function such as recreation, transportation or municipal budgeting.

The West Philadelphia Planning Process, 1990 to 1994
The final Plan for West Philadelphia is the third in a series of publications resulting from the West Philadelphia planning process.

The Planning Commission staff began assembling district-wide background information for West Philadelphia in 1989, and in April 1990 a Working Paper was published, entitled, West Philadelphia District Plan: Starting the Process. Almost one thousand copies of this publication were distributed to community groups, businesses and institutions, developers, public agencies and interested citizens during the following year. The purpose of the 1990 Working Paper was to invite public participation in setting goals for the plan, to discuss the issues that should be addressed by the Plan, to provide valuable background information, and to encourage broad community participation in the planning process.

After extensive community meetings and staff research, the draft version of The Plan for West Philadelphia was completed in December, 1992. Again, about one thousand copies of this publication were printed and distributed followed by a second series of community meetings and discussions. With the draft Plan, the public could respond to actual recommendations and strategies. The staff of the Planning Commission listened carefully to the community, documented all of the comments, and incorporated many of them into this final version of the Plan. This document is therefore the culmination of a complex process.

Community Participation
In April 1990, the staff initiated an intensive effort to involve the West Philadelphia community in this plan. The staff met with 23 community groups and business groups, some more than once, and with executives from 10 leading institutions in West Philadelphia. Meetings were held with the West Philadelphia Partnership and the West Philadelphia Coalition of Neighborhoods and Businesses, with a special planning task force established by those two groups, and with the West Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Presentations of the Plan were made at each of these meetings, and civic leaders reacted with a broad range of comments and concerns. In separate meetings the Mayor and affected district Councilpersons were briefed by the staff.

A total of five larger Town Meetings were also arranged by the Planning Commission staff. These public meetings were advertised in local newspapers. Each Town Meeting was attended by at least 50 persons, and each meeting involved lengthy questions and comments from the audience.

Since this planning process began at the Planning Commission, the community has also engaged in significant planning activity of its own. Prominent in this activity are the plans that were prepared by West Philadelphia community groups since 1990. These plans were reviewed and commented on by the Planning Commission staff:

(1) The Strategic Community Development Plan for West Philadelphia (West Philadelphia Coalition of Neighborhoods and Businesses)

(2) Plans for the "Westbank Greenway" (Powelton Village Civic Association)

(3) The Walnut Hill Strategic Neighborhood Plan (Walnut Hill Community Association and the West Philadelphia Partnership Community Development Corporation)

Another locally-initiated plan that was reviewed by the staff is the West Philadelphia Landscape Plan. It was prepared by the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning.

These community-generated plans stand as independent statements about the future of West Philadelphia, and many of their recommendations are reflected in the Planning Commission's proposals.

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission and its staff want to thank all those who communicated with us during the preparation of this Plan - whether those communications took the form of formal plans, correspondence or oral comments.

The Plan for West Philadelphia continues in Part Two, which describes existing conditions in the planning area. The Plan recommendations are contained in Parts Three, Four and Five of this report.