Originally Posted by madmags

I came up with this Bill of Rights for Residents Near Construction Sites.

This is a work in progress. Concerns and Comments and Ideas can be left at 215 525 1176

These laws can help protect public health, the environment , personal property
and give citizens greater knowledge and partcipation in the creation of the city
and protection of the environment.

Rights of Citizens and Environment near Building Projects


1) Easy and quick Citizen access to environmental reports of sites located within
eight blocks of their home.

2) Notification, Access and Transparency of decisions of building sites made by
City Planning and License & Inspections, City Council, and Zoning provided easily
to Citizens within eight blocks of residence.

3) One of the First Steps in getting any approval at City Planning is Environmental
Reports. If Environmental Report is not adequate, timely, missing or false then
any proceeding decisions made by City Planning or Zoning is invalid.

4) Give Citizens the Right to demand a third party or neutral Environmental study
to be made at site owners expense of any developing site within affected neighborhood.

5) Require that NO fugitive dust from Construction or developing sites escape the
site and invade residential area or public areas. This is already Federal law but
is not currently enforced in Philadelphia. Hold developing site and City responsible
for enforcing effective dust control. Citizens can FINE the City and the Developer
for invading dust.

6) Circulate information of known health hazards of dust and other common environmental
hazards to local citizens so they can more easily protect and treat their health.

7) If a site developer violates the health of Soil, Air or Water and the damage
is not reversible, then the violator must contribute to a project or fund that will
clean up Air, Water or Soil elsewhere.

8) Site developers and the City must go to each neighbor within site influence
and know the heath status, vulnerabilities and concerns of each neighbor, in order
to implement required protections and respect for each neighbor. (VERY IMPORTANT)
Quick and effective responsiveness to neighbor concerns are required by developers
and city.

9. The new site developers, whether City or private, must go to each adjacent neighbor
and pay for a property/ home inspection before any demolition, excavation or building
proceeds in order to record prior status of adjacent home so that if any damage
is done there is a record.

This happens in parking garages or when you rent a car. The rental agency or parking
attendant will walk around your car and take notice of dents and scratches so that
when the car is returned to you there is a record to show if any new damage has
occurred. The developer needs to pay for the inspection.

10) 100 year history of former site use needs to be circulated to neighbors within
8 block radius. Philadelphia has a long history of industry and environmental
damages that must be known in order to execute proper and healthy remediating.
Too often the history of a site is hidden by both the city agencies and the developers
and then proper remediating is avoided and the environmental health and rights
of the community suffers.

11) If a group claims it is the Community or Neighborhood Group or the CDC, they
cannot prejudice against or exclude any specific person from the services and support
and protections they claim to offer the community or neighborhood.