rowhome lots -- which average around 800 square feet in some older neighborhoods -- to host multiple housing units. The hope is that by allowing more units to develop out of existing stock, pressure on the housing market would reduce and more affordable units would be created. The Planning Commission has already spoken out against the proposed bill -- albeit through the somewhat anonymous medium of its staff blog, Philadelphia Planeto . The proposed parking requirements and decreased density represents "a reversal of one of the most fundamental improvements to the zoning code so early in this supposed age of reform that we don't have a significant sample of projects to say anything definitive about how great or disastrous the new rules are were," a Planning Commission blogger opined. Outside of City Hall, too, the Council's move has stoked fears that the Nutter administration's efforts to encourage denser and less car-centric growth in Philadelphia will be stymied. Harris Steinberg, executive director of the design advocacy group PennPraxis , said the new proposal was "all about the car," adding that the fact that they were the first changes since the implementation of the new code was troubling. "It sets the wrong precedent for Council to be monkeying with the code so soon after adoption," he said. Steinburg said that his group, like the Planning Commission, recommended a grace period to collect data before arbitrarily modifying aspects of the code. He believes the changes erode a key element of the new code,