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Casino size, signage: the sky's the limit under new zoning code
By Ed Goppelt
Sunday, 10/01/06
(1159755369885)
When the state Senate passed a gambling reform bill last week, the
bill also included a new state mandated zoning code for Philadelphia casinos created by State Senator Vincent J. Fumo. A preliminary analysis of Fumo's amendment to Senate Bill 862 suggests that it would place no practical limits on the
floor area of the casinos or on the signage permitted.
In the case of the Foxwoods casino, Hallwatch found Fumo’s amendment would permit 13 highway billboards (60 x 20 ft) of unlimited height to be erected as a matter of right along a two block stretch of I-95. By contrast the City’s zoning code for casinos would permit the equivalent of five billboards to be erected as a matter of right and signs would be limited to 40 feet in height.
The Foxwoods site is located in South Philadelphia on Columbus Blvd. between Reed and Tasker Sts. View a satellite map of the site.
Fumo’s amendment also appears to set no practical limit on the gross floor area of the Philadelphia casinos. In the case of Foxwoods, the limit would be 7.9 million sq. ft. or slightly less than 3 times the size of the King of Prussia mall at 2.8 million square feet.
Fumo’s amendment sets a gross floor area limit of 6 times the lot size, but in a novel twist counts both land and any river the casino owns for calculation purposes. His amendment also helpfully provides a mechanism for riverfront casinos to acquire the approximately 500 ft. chunk of river adjoining their properties (the so called riparian rights).
The City zoning code, by contrast, permits a gross floor area of four times the lot size and only counts dry land. In the case of Foxwoods, the casino will have 16 acres of land and, per the terms of Fumo’s amendment, could easily and inexpensively acquire another 14 acres of river.
Fumo’s amendment would also permit casinos to go into the billboard business, posting advertising for unrelated products, whereas under the City’s zoning code the signs would have to be related to the casino in some way.
Because the amendment allows casinos to count adjacent property for the signage calculation, a casino that wanted even more signage could obtain the right to do so simply by acquiring adjacent property (see the definition of associated area and Section 1506.1(B)(4) of SB 862).
For example, if the proposed Foxwoods casino were to acquire the Riverview Theater complex, it would be entitled as a matter of right to erect additional signage equivalent to 5 ˝ highway sized billboards (1,313 ft street frontage x 5 sq. ft.=6,565 sq. ft./1,200 sq. ft.= 5.5 highway billboards).
The State House of Representatives will probably vote on Senate Bill 862, including Fumo's new zoning code for Philadelphia casinos, sometime this week.
Webmaster's note: If you'd like to send your elected officials a fax about this issue you can do so here.
Using the deed for the Foxwoods’ parcel and deed mapping software, Hallwatch determined that the property has street and river frontage of 3,150 ft. and would be permitted under Fumo’'s amendment 15,750 square feet of signage or the equivalent of 13 highway billboards. View a site plan and deed for the property. By contrast the City zoning code would permit 5,790 square feet (874’ x 5 sq. ft. for Columbus Blvd. plus 710 ft. x 2 sq. ft. for Tasker St.)