My good friend Daniel Pearson — OK, OK, I’ve never actually met him, but I follow him on Twitter! — an editorial writer and columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and someone about whom I’ve thrice asked if he could actually be a conservative had sadly missed the boat in his latest column:
The fairly dry proceedings at the Zoning Board of Adjustment are also worth paying attention to if you want to know how the city is and isn’t working. One case from November 2021 has stayed with me.
Padideh Moghaddam and Ramtin Saneekhatam were bringing Moghaddam’s parents over from Iran to live with them. To accommodate the move, they sought to turn their 2,700-square-foot East Kensington rowhouse into a triplex. Like many families, they wanted their parents close by, but also a bit of their own distinct space. The project would not have involved any new construction, just the remodeling of their interior. They would not be adding a car that would compete with neighbors for street parking.
The couple hired an attorney and an architect. After a local neighborhood association surprised them by voting 6-7 against the project, they knocked on doors to gather more support. Eleven neighbors signed their petition. The area is also zoned for mixed-use structures and hosts other, similar multifamily buildings. At the zoning board hearing, their lawyer described it as an easy case. It wasn’t.
One near neighbor called in to oppose the project, dismissing their desire for a small amount of distance and personal space, saying that “they should be able to figure out how to get along and share a kitchen.” Frankly, speculation about the internal dynamics of another household should never be a neighbor’s business, let alone aired at a public hearing. Still, the proposal was voted down unanimously.
Our remodeled kitchen, including the propane range! All of the work except the red quartz countertops was done by my family and me.
There was no issue here of an unsafe remodel, given that an architect was hired, a reasonably responsible thing to do. I’ve done a couple of remodel jobs myself, though none involved any potential structural issues, and the last thing I ever considered was asking for a stinking permit. Mr Pearson asked why the neighbors stuck their ugly noses in the family’s business: I ask why it was any of the government’s business.
This is where we have far, far, far too much government interference, and while Mr Pearson was annoyed by the decision taken, he expressed no disapproval of the cockamamie idea that it was any of the government’s business in the first place. There might be a place for requiring inspections of structural, electrical and plumbing changes in rowhomes, in homes that are physically attached to other people’s houses in ways which could damage someone else’s property, but the idea that government has any authority over actual interior remodeling is repugnant in itself.