Dear ,

The Chestnut Hill Conservancy continues to oppose Bill No. 251030, legislation that would significantly alter Philadelphia’s historic preservation ordinance. The bill is currently scheduled for a hearing before Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Rules on Wednesday, June 3, at 2:00 PM, and your continued advocacy is crucial to stopping its advancement. 

The bill — which would apply citywide — creates a significant loophole that would allow property owners to demolish the majority of a building and its character-defining historic features without oversight by the Historical Commission, even after being notified that the property has historic character and is being considered for historic designation.

Although the bill has been modified from its original version based on feedback from a limited number of stakeholders, dozens of interested community groups have not had meaningful opportunities to participate in the discussion, and the modifications have only increased the bill’s complexity and created numerous additional procedural concerns. 

The bill would be particularly detrimental to Chestnut Hill, a National Register Historic District. Beloved historic buildings on Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill’s iconic main street — such as the Germantown Trust Bank building and the Women’s Center at Chestnut Hill Hospital — could have faced demolition or destructive alteration if organizations like the Conservancy did not have the ability to nominate properties for historic designation and work collaboratively with property owners on adaptive reuse solutions. 

What you can do today:

Contact members of the City Council and the Committee on Rules

Share your concerns and urge Councilmembers to oppose Bill No. 251030 or support additional stakeholder engagement and discussion. 

Sign up to testify at the June 3 hearing

Members of the public may testify in person at the hearing. To sign up, email:

• • Sean.McMonagle@Phila.Gov
  • Whitney.Brown@Phila.Gov

Include your name and organization (if applicable), and indicate that you would like to testify in opposition to Bill No. 251030.

For more information or to connect with our advocacy team, please email Info@CHConservancy.Org or reach our Executive Director, David Gest Esq., directly at David@CHConservancy.Org. 

Thank you for staying engaged.

2026 LEAD SPONSOR

2026 GENERAL SPONSORS