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by Alex Dubilet

With summer's sweltering arrival this week, the city Zoning Board of Adjustment may soon have some big fans — thanks to air conditioners. The board requires every landlord and developer seeking project approval to provide air conditioning in each bedroom. It doesn't matter if the residence is pre-existing or part of a new development: Each bedroom will get either a central air system or a window unit. And, if coming into the meeting, the landlord isn't sure if he was planning to provide air conditioners for his residents, Chairman David Auspitz helps him decide right then and there.

The applicants for variances usually acquiesce to the board's request and the air conditioning is added as a proviso to the approval. But not without a cost: A typical central air system goes from $3,000 to $9,000, while standard window units start at around $150.

First formulated under the reign of previous Chairman Tom Kelly around six years ago, the preference is primarily a quality-of-life issue.

"There's no reason in this day and age why we can't give the quality of life to every single citizen in Philadelphia and that's why we do it," says Auspitz, who tries to balance safety and cost concerns. "That's why we say just the bedroom, so you go in the bedroom, watch the TV, read a book or the paper and you are alive the next morning."

During last year's particularly mild summer, Philadelphia tallied only two heat-related deaths. Still, the average summer claims the lives of dozens of Philadelphians and in 1993, the heat-related toll peaked with a reported 118 deaths.

Of course, requiring air conditioning can make the electric bills of the residents shoot through the roof, but the board is not overly concerned.

"The people have the decision to turn it on or off — that's up to the tenant. But the air conditioning is in place for them to make that decision," Auspitz says.

Though their intentions may be pure, the zoning board might be technically exceeding the powers designated to it. Air conditioning isn't mentioned anywhere in Chapter 14-1800 of the zoning code, which dictates the board's jurisdiction and the criteria it should be using in making its decisions.

Then again, Philadelphians would be lucky if all their public officials only exceeded their powers in such beneficial ways.