Springdale Council is moving to create a “mixed-use overlay” in its zoning ordinance that will not change current zoning districts.
However, the proposed overlay could allow for uses not specified in the current districts — including the 54-acre site of the defunct Duquesne Light power generating station, according to Carolyn Yagle, director of planning and policy for Environmental Planning and Design LLC.
Yagle was retained by Brittany Reno, a consultant for the Heinz Endowments, which approached borough officials and asked if they would be interested in a review of the community and its zoning.
“What I found is that you really wanted to look at your zoning with a fresh eye in regard to community development in the future,” Reno told council last week. “We hope this will give you a strong foundation to dive into this more, which, I think, is something you are excited to do.”
The catalyst for the zoning review apparently was the borough planning commission recommending that the former Duquesne Light property be rezoned residential.
That was met with strenuous objections by the property owner, Charah Solutions.
Multiple Charah representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Yagle said her review and overlay included elements such as a “look at land use,” environment, connectivity through mobility and/or rapid transit, and an assessment of things happening in nearby communities in relation to Springdale.
“What the overlay does is to encourage some new things over what is already there,” Yagle said, but without changing the current zoning.
Section 605 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, the document regulating zoning and development in municipalities, states municipalities can make additional classifications in established zoning districts for a number of reasons.
They include:
• addressing geographical features, such as steep slopes and flood plains;
• regulating major thoroughfares and transportation arteries;
• regulating natural and artificial bodies of water and nearby structures and facilities;
• accomplishing a municipality’s land use goals by “encouraging innovation and the promotion of flexibility, economy and ingenuity in development, including subdivisions and land development.”
“It’s really, actually, trying to reinforce the core part of town as it is now,” Yagle said. “It’s giving a chance for other parts of the community, the chance to develop the same way.”
Specific details of the recommended ordinance are not yet known, as copies of it and accompanying maps were not distributed to the public. Solicitor Craig Alexander said the borough would not have to do that until seven days before the publication of the ordinance in a local newspaper.
That may take a few weeks, as council, after unanimously approving Yagle’s draft, agreed to let her do some additional tweaks to it before submitting it for publication.
Reno said the Heinz Endowments became interested in the Springdale situation because it saw an opportunity to embolden the borough to become more proactive about its development. She said many communities tend to be reactive, waiting until developers cast the die for them.
If and when council approves the final ordinance draft, that won’t be the end of it, Alexander noted.
“It has to go back to the planning commission. It has to go back to the county for review and approval,” he said. “But we are leaps and bounds from where we were before.”