A public hearing before the Oakmont Zoning Hearing Board was postponed and rescheduled Wednesday night after the hearing board questioned its own jurisdiction regarding a business’ occupancy permit.
The hearing initially was scheduled after an ongoing legal battle involving various Oakmont businesses and the borough was to be brought in front of the zoning hearing board.
Resident John Keefe owns multiple restaurants and properties in the borough, including The Lot at Edgewater, Vinnie’s Tavern (previously Oakmont Tavern), Pub 333, Hoffstot’s Cafe Monaco, Michael A’s, Carnivores and the closed Chelsea Grille.
He and his attorney have turned to the borough, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and the state Commonwealth Court, claiming Local Remedy Brewing is operating illegally by not adhering to an ordinance requiring the establishments to have off-street parking.
Matt Synan, one of Local Remedy’s owners, said he and the brewery’s other owners obtained all permits and certificates that were required at the time they were starting their business. In the beginning of last year, the borough passed an ordinance that eliminated the requirement of off-street parking for incoming businesses.
“We came into this after the parking ordinance had already gone through the back and forth in January (2024),” Synan said. “We started our plans in March.”
The ordinance ended up being invalidated by Commonwealth Court last fall.
The claim of illegal operation comes after Keefe filed an appeal on five separate grounds, challenging the validity of the 2024 ordinance. Commonwealth Court ruled in the borough’s favor on four of them but found the borough to be in violation of an equal protection claim. The courts reasoned the ordinance created unfair advantages for new business owners versus existing business.
“It comes down to the fact that I want an even playing field,” Keefe said. “I own the majority of restaurants in town, and I’ve had to spend millions of dollars in order to meet all of (the borough’s) rules, regulations and ordinances over the years.”
Keefe said he owns an extensive amount of parking that he was required to purchase when he initially opened some of his restaurants. There are 129 parking spaces at The Lot, around 80 spots at Carnivores and about 80 spots at Pub 333. Hoffstot’s and Chelsea Grille have an entire parking lot that Keefe said he was required to purchase.
“I’m not against competition in any way, shape or form. … I just want everyone to do it the same way I have to do it, which was listen to everything (council) said, dot all my i’s, cross all my t’s, put my (businesses) in places that were zoned for it and … that had parking for it,” Keefe said. “I think everybody should go by the same rules.”
Some of his other businesses, including Michael A’s and Vinnie’s, do not require off-street parking since they existed before off-street parking became a borough requirement.
Keefe said he feels as though the responsibility of supplying parking for other businesses has fallen to him after council’s recent push to take the off-street parking requirement off the table for new businesses.
He said some of his regular customers have complained about having to park farther away from Hoffstot’s because the parking lot is getting full faster. Keefe attributed this to the brewery’s customers using his lot. He said he’s seen people park in his lot and walk to the brewery instead of coming to his restaurant.
“I can’t watch over all of these parking lots every night with attendants at the lots to make sure who’s parking there and who isn’t,” Keefe said.
Synan said the brewery — which is located in Oakmont Bakery’s previous location on Allegheny Avenue — has a nine-space parking lot and two loading zones available for customer parking. He said council approved the brewery’s plans to use street parking to make up the remainder of required parking spots.
“We’re operating based off of permits approved by the borough’s council, zoning board and hearing committees,” Synan said.
He said Local Remedy LLC was initially the only defendant named in Keefe’s suit attempting to appeal the brewery’s occupancy permit, and Oakmont Borough was added later.
Synan said this isn’t the first suit Keefe has filed against the brewery.
“Many community members agree that new businesses are good for Oakmont, and it’s a shame that’s not recognized by other business owners,” he said.
There’s currently an appeal made to Commonwealth Court challenging the brewery’s conditional use. Synan said Keefe previously filed a lawsuit claiming the brewery is unsafe for the environment.
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“It’s definitely been frustrating,” Synan said. “Our main goal is to bring another great establishment to Oakmont and we’ve received great support from community members. But we’ve been having to combat these seemingly anti-competition maneuvers.”
Synan said he wished the hearing could have reached a conclusion rather than drawing out the process.
He said the conflict seems to be more between Keefe’s businesses and the borough rather than the brewery.
Wednesday night’s discussions mainly took place among Keefe’s lawyer Thomas King, the zoning board members and the borough’s solicitor, Jacob Leyland.
“We could have not even been there. I think it’s apropos that everything seems to be happening without us,” Synan said. “Regardless, our main goal is to continue to create a wonderful environment and have meaningful interactions with the community.”
Zoning board chair Joseph Luciana said the zoning board did not issue the occupancy permit, borough council did. He said the appeal filed by King on behalf of Keefe did not fall within the jurisdiction of the board.
King was required to amend the appeal application by Feb. 7 and submit a jurisdiction brief by Feb. 14.
The zoning hearing board’s public hearing is rescheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 in council chambers.