Janice Woodcock

Age: 48.
Education: Masters degree in architecture, with an urban design certificate, from the University of Washington in Seattle; Certified Planner, American Institute of Certified Planners; Bachelors degree in sociology from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY.
Professional: Executive Director, Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Previously owned her own Philadelphia architecture firm, Woodcock Design. Prior to that, worked for Cecil Baker & Associates and other firms.
Community/Volunteer: Board Member of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, Board Member of the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Former president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and taught Philadelphia public school children about architecture via the Architecture in Education program.
Personal: Married to Bill Cheeseman; two children: Riley, 8 and Eva, 5.
Philadelphia resident since 1991.
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square.
Appointer: Required to serve as chair by the legislation that created the Commission.

Q&A
Why is zoning reform important to you? It’s important to me because I think that zoning needs to result in environments that are designed well and reflect the values of the people who live there. Right now, the zoning code we have doesn’t really accomplish that.

Why are you a good choice for this commission?  Throughout all of my training and all of my jobs that I’ve had up to this point, one thing has been consistent: I have a commitment to design quality. That doesn’t just mean how things look. It’s also a reference to quality of life – it reflects the desires of the people who are using the item being designed, whether that is a neighborhood or a building. It reflects a respect for people.
   Both through my training and through my work, I also have significant experience with sustainable building. I understand how to design buildings so they are energy efficient. One of the jobs I had early in my career was with Jones and Jones (in Seattle). Half of the firm was landscape architects, half was architects. The buildings they designed were incorporated into the land. I loved that kind of design, and in my work since I have tried to integrate a building into its environment.
  Another thing that really helps me in this job right now (chair of the ZCC) is that when I was an architect, I had to deal with the Philadelphia zoning code. In order to be profitable, you have to be able to get your clients’ buildings approved. I have direct experience with some of the issues people are talking about.
 (What was the most difficult thing about the process when you had your own firm) The most difficult thing was the length of time to get through all of the approvals. Usually, you had to get an exception, and appear before multiple commissions and the zoning board.

What is the most pressing zoning issue Philadelphia faces? Fairness and consistency. The problem is not with the specific language in each of the chapters of the (zoning) code, it’s with the way it’s been applied. So many exceptions have been granted that it is no longer valid. If we don’t conduct zoning reform in such a way that the public feels heard, the resulting new code will have the same fate as the existing code; People will just change it, willy-nilly, even though we’ve gone through all that effort. It has to be supported by the people who create it – the public. It has to be written so it reflects everyone’s concerns, and then it needs to be left alone and applied consistently.

What should be done to address this issue? We have to make sure we go through each step at the proper pace. While looking at what the code is right now, we need to decide how… I think we really need to carefully go through and look right now, see what we’ve got and how we need to fix it. We’re all going to learn together,