BLIGHT CERTIFICATION REPORTS AND REDEVELOPMENT AREA PLANS
The City Planning Commission has legal responsibilities related to
redevelopment and urban renewal. Urban renewal involves the condemnation
of land and buildings for public purposes, including neighborhood and
economic development, and is primarily carried out by the Redevelopment
Authority of the City of Philadelphia. The process is governed by Pennsylvania Urban Redevelopment Law. The City Planning Commission is
responsible for determining areas eligible for urban renewal, and for
reviewing urban renewal plans and proposals as they are developed by the
Redevelopment Authority.
Before urban renewal can occur in an area, the City Planning Commission
must establish a "redevelopment area" by
(1) certifying the area as blighted and (2) preparing a redevelopment area
plan. The plan establishes goals for future development
along with recommendations pertaining to land use, zoning, and site
planning. Blight certification is needed as an initial enabling action, and a given area is sometimes certified a second or third time to update the factual documentation of blight.
The reports listed below
are presented as Portable Document Format (PDF) files that can be viewed
with your Web browser. Adobe Acrobat Reader and browser plug-ins for
viewing PDF files are available free from the Adobe Web
site.