It seems that as it gets tougher to find land to develop in Northern Liberties, so too is it becoming more challenging to craft projects that the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association (NLNA) zoning committee will support at first blush. Last week, we told you about a proposal on Poplar Street that has already thrice been presented to the community, and will likely return this month. Today, we share another project, proposed for 887-91 Orkney St., which recently was presented a second time without receiving support.

It’s quite possible you’ve never set foot on the 800 block of Orkney Street. It runs between Lawrence and 5th Streets, disappearing and reappearing throughout the neighborhood. This particular stretch can only be accessed via little Reno Street or littler Myrtle Street. The block itself consists almost entirely of tiny vacant lots that are sure to be developed someday, but challenging access and small lot size have kept them vacant to this point. Take a look:

Approaching Orkney from 5th Street

Looking down Orkney Street. Who wouldn't want to live here?

Developers purchased the three lots on the southeast corner of Orkney & Myrtle last spring, and have come to NLNA for permission to consolidate the three tiny lots into two rather small lots. Their original proposal featured two 4-story homes with garage parking. Their revised plan had one garage in a four-story home, and a garage-less three story home. The new plan, however, wasn’t enough of a change for the community.

The currently vacant lot

The most recent proposal, from Harman Deutsch

The issue, according to Larry Freedman, zoning chair, is that because developers tried to build two homes on three small lots, they planned to go higher than the zoning code allows. NLNA tries to limit that, its claims, in the name of neighbors’ views. As such, the zoning committee asked developers to make adjustments to turn the property into only one lot and to build only one home and asked them to come on back. According to the architects, they’ll again be returning with plans for two homes, but will reduce the size of the 4-story home to a conforming height and eliminate the garage. Hopefully, these concessions will be enough to satisfy the community and the zoning committee, and the neighborhood will give its blessing to the beginning of this block’s redevelopment. Just a couple dozen more parcels to go!

–Lou Mancinelli