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Residential Demolition
Program Description
The City's demolition strategy prioritizes public safety, economies of
scale, and potential redevelopment opportunities. The type of data the
City evaluates when making demolition decisions includes, but is not limited
to, the following:
- Condition of structure
- Level of vacancy
- Social, cultural and economic anchors
- Ownership characteristics
- Parcel characteristics
- Proximity to elementary schools
- Home sales
- Household change
- Proximity to industrial land uses
- Market quality
Principles
The City adheres to the following when carrying out demolition:
· Elected officials, community leaders, and neighborhood
residents are given ample notice of planned demolition activities.
· Demolition of vacant structures is conducted in a safe, orderly,
and environmentally sound manner to minimize community disruption.
· The City designs bid documents to lower costs and meet the City's
Economic Opportunity goals for the NTI.
Operations
The City bids demolition work in geographically
targeted areas at an average of one package per month. These bid packages
include all associated activities, such as applying stucco to adjoining
property walls, cutting down dead and dangerous trees on the property,
and stabilizing and treating the resultant vacant lots, if appropriate
and cost effective. The actual size and number of bid packages will depend
on several factors, including contractor capacity, concentration of vacant
dangerous properties, environmental abatement requirements, and economic
opportunity goals. Hill International, a construction management firm,serves
as the residential demolition Program Manager.
The Office of Risk Management, with support from the
Office of Supportive Housing (OSH), manages emergency, temporary,
and permanent relocations caused by demolition activities. In the rare
case when neighbors are temporarily displaced by demolition activity, OSH
takes all necessary actions to locate adequate emergency and temporary
housing. OSH also works with District Council to identify individuals
with special needs within areas of demolition activity.
Owner Controlled Insurance Program
(OCIP)
The City of Philadelphia insures NTI's demolition program through an Owner
Controlled Insurance Program (OCIP) or a Wrap-Up Insurance Program. OCIP
provides coverage for the project owner (the City) and all contractors
in a consolidated program controlled by the project owner. This approach
provides financial savings, enhanced coverage, eases insurance administration,
makes higher limits available, and generates contractor opportunities.
Large Vacant Building Demolition
Program Description
As with residential demolitions, the primary goal of large vacant building
demolitions is to protect the health, safety and general welfare of Philadelphians.
Because these demolitions will result in large parcels of vacant land,
a secondary goal of the program is to demolish buildings on land that can
be quickly marketed for redevelopment. Governmental purpose bonds fund
the demolition of large vacant buildings. Demolition of large vacant buildings
is carried out in accordance with standards and procedures set by the Department
of Licenses and Inspections.
Principles
Vacant structures are prioritized for demolition based on the following
NTI principles:
- Eliminate buildings that pose an immediate public
safety threat to the surrounding community.
- Invest in demolition and redevelopment projects in
accordance with existing community plans.
- Prepare properties for redevelopment that can stimulate
market activity in surrounding community while maximizing amount of private
capital leveraged against public investment.
- Link demolitions to public and private investments
in area.
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