Posted on Fri, Jan. 12, 2007
Changing Skyline: Zoning board thumbs its nose at laws
By Inga Saffron
Inquirer Architecture Critic
In the marbled corridors of Philadelphia's government, he is often invoked by nickname, sotto voce, with a touch of grievance: Lord Auspitz. In the sunny hearing room, however, it's always Mr. Chairman.
The gentleman in question is David Auspitz, the powerful head of the city Zoning Board of Adjustment. When the voluble Auspitz likes a project, he's not shy about letting his colleagues know. Just recently, he gushed about the glassy 23-story Americana, a condo building proposed for Old City by Yaron Properties. Despite one member's warnings about allowing a high-rise in a historic neighborhood, the board gave the 268-foot tower a green light.
There's just one, not-so-little hitch: The legal height limit in Old City is 65 feet. It's been that way since 2003, when City Council passed, and Mayor Street signed, a law to control the incursion of skyscrapers into a neighborhood that includes Christ Church, Betsy Ross' house, and a rich collection of cast-iron buildings.