Councilmember Driscoll is pushing for more development, including affordable housing, along the El

Philadelphia Councilmember Mike Driscoll wants to encourage new housing along the Market-Frankford Line in his district, but he also wants developers to provide affordable housing to blunt the threat of displacement.

To that end, Driscoll introduced a package of legislation Thursday that would offer an array of incentives to developers who want to build near public transit stations — with some provisions specifically targeting the Allegheny, Tioga, and Erie-Torresdale stops on the elevated train line.

He also expanded the controversial Mixed Income Neighborhoods (MIN) law, which requires that new developments of more than 10 housing units devote a fifth of their homes to below-market-rate homes. The overlay already covers the other side of the train line in Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s district.

Driscoll, who joined Council in 2022, said that he already fields queries from developers about projects along the El in his district, despite the fact that the area is currently the locus of the city’s opioid crisis. But he anticipates that Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s forthcoming comprehensive proposal to address Kensington’s deep-seated issues will heighten developer interest.

“We just think it’s perfect timing because the mayor is going to come up with a plan for Kensington,” Driscoll said. “Simultaneous with that, if we can get this enacted, we got a lot of momentum. We’re going to get a lot of developers coming down and thinking this is the new Northern Liberties or the new Fishtown.”

Driscoll’s package includes a bill that would scrap some old exclusive industrial zoning and some residential areas along Kensington Avenue in his district.

Another bill would broaden the definitions in the city’s existing transit improvement bonus and potentially allow developers to build taller and more densely close to the subway or elevated train stations.

The transit improvement bonus bill also further reduces the amount of parking that developers will need to build near transit, and if they are required to include affordable housing under the MIN law, they would not have to build any parking.

“We recognize that sometimes you have to give incentives for development, particularly if you’re going to have affordable housing as a component,” Driscoll said.

The Building Industry Association (BIA), an influential residential developers interest group, said the new incentives aren’t enough to counterbalance the burdens brought by the Mixed Income Neighborhoods law.

The real estate industry has long argued that the law would stymie development in the areas where it is applied, with critics noting that little new housing has been permitted in the parts of Kensington or West Philadelphia that it covers.

“Councilman’s Driscoll expansion of MIN … is a great effort and signals the understanding that the cost of MIN must be met with the mechanisms to offset that cost,” said Mohamed “Mo” Rushdy, the president of the BIA. “Yet as it currently stands, the bills won’t result in the [intended] outcomes.”

Rushdy said that the BIA appreciates Driscoll’s effort to lower costs by reducing costly parking requirements and allowing more height, and that they are in conversation with the Council member’s office to refine the legislative package.

“We look forward to working with his office to get an outcome that actually works in the marketplace and can produce scale,” said Rushdy, whose company the Riverwards Group has developed several large residential complexes in Kensington.

Driscoll said that he asked Lozada to expand the incentives he’s introducing to the MIN-covered areas in her district, directly across Kensington Avenue. She is still reviewing the proposal.

“We asked her to join us on the legislation, and she wasn’t quite ready yet,” Driscoll said. “But we’re anxious to get things moving.”