Photo by West Philly Local

Newly elected City Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier says one of her top priorities when she takes office in January is addressing the development “frenzy” in West Philadelphia by pressing for more affordable housing.

“I think we should look at zoning with an eye toward equitability and affordability,” she told the Spruce Hill Community Association during its annual meeting at the Penn Alexander School on Tuesday.

Gauthier, who grew up in Kingsessing, will represent a district that has some of the most expensive real estate and the deepest poverty in Philadelphia. Development and issues related to zoning have become flashpoints in recent years. 

Gauthier ran unopposed in last week’s general election for the Council’s District 3 seat after an upset victory in the May primary over longtime incumbent Jannie Blackwell. Her platform included promises to address West Philly’s many zoning discrepancies.

“There are large swathes of the district where the zoning doesn’t make any sense,” she said.

To help address zoning, Gauthier said she created a new position on her staff  –  a “director of equitable development.”

Gauthier pointed to the ongoing dispute between a developer and a neighborhood group concerning a property near 51st and Spruce. Neighbors had lobbied Blackwell to change the zoning on the parcel, which sits among several backyards at the end of a narrow alley, to prevent a large structure from being built. Blackwell did not act and the developer, Callahan Ward, plans to build as many as 33 apartments on the parcel. Gauthier has encouraged the neighborhood group, Neighbors for Healthy Community Development, to keep pressing for concessions.

“I think developers should look at this process as building a relationship with the community,” she said.

Gauthier said she supports “inclusionary zoning” legislation that would require developers to include affordable housing or contribute to the city’s Housing Trust Fund to pay for it. Currently developers can voluntarily contribute to the fund or include affordable units in exchange for concessions on density and height.

She said she will also support the preservation of existing affordable housing to help prevent developers who own affordable housing properties from selling. This happened to the Arvilla, an apartment complex on the 4500 block of Osage that went up for sale when the owner, the non-profit Mission First Housing, said the cost of maintaining the building outweighed what it could get for it on an open market. The Arvilla sold last February for $1.9 million.

“We need to come together as a community and decide what our values are,” she said.