WHEREAS, Philadelphia's Manufacturing Task Force, formed in January 2013 to evaluate the City's competitiveness for manufacturing and to recommend specific strategies for improvement, has issued a Manufacturing Growth Strategy for Philadelphia which recommends—among other things--that the City continue to preserve by-right zoning in industrial corridors; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia's Industrial Land and Market Strategy states that "Philadelphia's long-term economic health depends in part on its ability to attract, accommodate, and retain industry as part of a balanced and diversified economy" and finds that industrial jobs account for approximately 20% of the City's total employment and the industrial sector accounts for nearly 15% of the City's annual tax revenue; and
WHEREAS, The Industrial Land and Market Strategy provides an overview of existing industrial corridors to be preserved and bolstered based on current activity or potential for economic attraction or expansion; and
WHEREAS, The City Planning Commission's Philadelphia2035 Citywide Vision recommends maintaining a "citywide inventory of as much as 16,000 acres of industrially zoned land to meet present and future industrial demand and to attract new industrial users", while also developing transition plans for obsolete industrial sites; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia has a unique collection of assets to attract and retain industry, including access to rail, road, river and air transportation, a central location on the East Coast, a growing population, and parcels of land suitable for modern industrial uses; and
WHEREAS, A public hearing on these issues will enable the City and the public to explore these various recommendations and begin to reach a consensus on what strategies the City and others can best employ to ensure the preservation and development of industrial land in the City; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That City Council's Committee on Rules is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to investigate the preservation and development of industrial land in the City of Philadelphia.
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