Photo By: Michael T. Regan

They also can't fathom how, while their neighbor across the street struggles to get city clearance to replace windows, Barnes Tower developers easily secured a zoning permit. Although highly unusual for a project this size, the approval slipped past City Councilman Darrell Clarke, Fairmount resident and state Sen. Vince Fumo and the Spring Garden Civic, Fairmount Civic and Logan Square Neighborhood associations.) Jeff Jubelirer, spokesman for developers Daniel Katz and Dalia Shuster, principals of V&H Hotel Associates, says the permit was issued in October and was posted in February. It was then that neighborhood groups noticed and called a community meeting attended by hundreds.

Most locals were, and remain, livid that such a major project could sneak through City Hall without so much as a public zoning hearing. "I know the law is on their side," says resident Todd Yoder, "but there might be problems if they don't compromise."

Now, locals have appealed the over-the-counter zoning permit and will plead their case at a special hearing next Wednesday. While the zoning code allows for the tower project to proceed ... the plans adhere to setback and height guidelines ... neighbors are protesting on the grounds that a hearing should have been called.

Now, the developers want to present an updated plan to residents at a 6:30 p.m. July 17 meeting at the Community College of Philadelphia. (Among the changes, developers now plan to put all parking underground, move the entrance to 22nd Street, landscape the area where a fence would have stood, and possibly add street-level stores.)

"We're not opposed to development," says Spring Garden Civic Association President Pat Freeland. "It's just that 47 stories is too much."

Jubelirer, whose clients have no intention of drastically reducing the height, says, "It's not going to make a difference in terms of shadow to make the building shorter."

While many residents are concerned, the potential shadow doesn't bug Vince Thompson, a lifelong Brandywine Street resident. Despite all the people who say the luxury condo market is drying up and expect a long legal battle in this case, he says he knows what the debate is really about, and it's not a shadow.

"Everyone's afraid of the unknown," he says. "Unfortunately, if you don't change with the times, you're never going to grow."