Recycling isn’t just for aluminum cans and water bottles. It is also how old properties find new uses.

An old church can become a concert venue or comedy club. A school can become a luxury home with a multimillion dollar price tag or an affordable apartment building for seniors . A theater can become an art gallery.

Giving a meaningful building new purpose can be a great way to preserve its history. It also can be an opportunity to revitalize or pivot the economy, as happened with The Waterfront transforming acres of a former steel manufacturing site into a hub of retail, entertainment and hotels.

But it has to be done thoughtfully. It has to consider the pros and cons and costs of the transformation.

You wouldn’t want to build a hospital on top of the Centralia mine fire. Sure, it could take unused land and put it to use. But the coal underground has been burning since 1962, and that seems at odds with the goals of a hospital.

This is why the actions of the Springdale Planning Commission are questionable. On May 10, the three-member body recommended that the 29-acres of the former Cheswick Generating Station be rezoned from industrial to residential use.

This doesn’t have to be a bad idea. Many industrial sites have seen new life as residential or retail spaces. The Andy Warhol Museum used to be a warehouse. The Mattress Factory was, obviously, a mattress factory. Ketchup was once made at the Heinz Lofts.

The difference here is that the property’s owners are saying it’s a bad idea.

“We respectfully request the planning commission not make any recommendation for rezoning at this time,” said Pittsburgh attorney Jessica White, who represents the Cheswick Plant Environmental Redevelopment Group.

The reason? After running for decades as a coal-fired power plant, the property is being remediated to industrial conditions. That is very different from what you want for daily life.

Commission Chairman David Prevost isn’t wrong that the area could use more housing. Most of the region could say the same.

But if the property owners say this isn’t the place to put it, disregarding the message just seems like recycling — taking one problem and turning it into a brand new one.