City approves 30 East Main gazebo
The Uniontown Planning Commission on Thursday approved plans to build a gazebo in the 30 East Main restaurant parking lot, but questioned the issuing of a building permit before the commission’s approval.
Commission members unanimously voted to approve the land development plan for the gazebo after engineer Rusty Mechling, who reviewed the plan for the city, said the building permit shouldn’t have been issued and construction shouldn’t have started before the commission approved the plan.
Roger Clatterbuck, a managing partner in the restaurant, said he thought the building permit included all other needed approvals.
The gazebo will serve as a covered entrance for handciapped people, he said.
Tammy Stenson, of McMillen Engineering, the city’s engineering firm, said K2 Engineering, the city building code official issued the building permit.
She said Uniontown and all other municipalities in Fayette County require developers to obtain all needed zoning approvals before they can apply for a building permit. Some developments do not require approval from the commission or zoning hearing board (ZHB), she added.
Mechling said the land development plan was acceptable, but he had no information about the original zoning approval for the parking lot and eliminating some parking spaces for the gazebo might impact the original approval.
The lot will have 22 to 24 spaces after the gazebo is finished, Clatterbuck said.
The city’s zoning ordinance requires one parking space for every three seats in a restaurant, Stenson said.
Commission member Matthew Dowling said the ordinance allows parking spaces within 250 feet of the restaurant to be counted and there is ample public parking near the restaurant.
That allowance is probably what led to the initial approval of the lot, but steps were skipped in the mandated zoning approval process fr the gazebo, Mechling said.
Jim Fox Jr., vice chairman of the commission, said the city should have a checklist of zoning procedures for developers to follow.
He said if the commission were to determine that a building a developer starts constructing without prior zoning approval is too close to a neighboring building, the developer might be forced to demolish the building.
“The city needs to protect itself,” Fox said.
The commission approved a motion to send city council a letter saying developers should obtain approval from the commission or ZHB when necessary before they can obtain a building permit.
After the hearing, Clatterbuck said the restaurant would have a soft opening in August and a grand opening in late September.
Before the hearing started, he said the restaurant would feature craft beers that originated from the 13 original colonies.