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Nutter taps Julia Chapman to chair city zoning panel

Mayor Nutter names Julia Chapman, a longtime aide, to chair the city zoning board

Julia Chapman, an attorney and longtime aide to Michael Nutter, was tapped by the mayor Monday to become chair of the city zoning board, replacing Lynette Brown-Sow, who stepped down last week.

Chapman was chief of staff for Nutter when he was a city councilman from 1995 through 2006 and was his main emissary to City Council, as director of legislative affairs, for the first year after Nutter became mayor.

Nutter credited Chapman with much of the behind-the-scenes work on zoning and development issues that led to a ballot initiative in 2007 to create a Zoning Code Commission, leading to enactment of a new zoning code in December 2011.

She'll become chair of the five-member Zoning Board of Adjustment, whose other members include Carol Tinari, Martin Bednarek, Sam Staten Jr. and Greg Pastore. Its duties include hearing and deciding appeals in zoning cases and granting variances as it sees fit.

Throughout her career, Chapman said in a prepared statement, "I have been keenly aware of the critical role the Zoning Board … plays in balancing neighborhood preservation and the economic growth of the city, while insuring the integrity of the zoning code. I look forward to this challenge."

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