Mar 24, 2011 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

 

The Uniontown zoning hearing board approved variances for construction of a proposed office plaza on South Mount Vernon Avenue and reconstruction of Mount Olivet Baptist Church on Stewart Avenue.

The board approved variances from zoning ordinance requirements for building and pavement setbacks, parking space size and parking lot landscaping that Ramesh Shah of Uniontown requested for an office plaza he wants to build on five adjoining lots he owns on South Mount Vernon Avenue and West Berkeley Street.

Uniontown City Council would have to approve Shah’s land development plan before he could begin construction, said Tammy Stenson, of the city’s engineering firm, McMillen Engineering of Uniontown.

The plaza would have five office spaces, she said.

“I’m planning a professional office building,” Shah said.

He said he demolished two apartment buildings and two homes to make way for his planned two-story, 14,500-square-foot plaza. Shah said he wants to begin construction this summer.

His targeted tenants will be doctors, dentists, insurance companies and other professional businesses, he said.

Zoned for business use, the properties are located at 90, 92, 96 and 100 S. Mount Vernon Ave. and 211 W. Berkeley St.

The variances include reducing the building setback to 5 feet from 15 feet, making parking spaces 9-by-18 feet instead of 10-by-20 feet, eliminating the 5-foot pavement setback to allow paving to the sidewalk and allowing a minimum landscaped area instead of planting one tree for every 3,000 square feet of paved area.

In addition, the board approved the church’s requested variances from ordinance requirements for building setbacks, the number of parking spaces and the design of parking spaces.

Stenson said the church is planning to demolish the existing church building and build a larger one in its place. The new church would be about twice the size of the current church.

Council approval of the church’s land development plan is required before construction of the new church can begin, she said.

The dimensions of the new church would be 60 feet by 88 feet. The board agreed to reduce the building setbacks to 15 feet in the front, 15 feet in the rear and 5 feet on the side. The ordinance calls for 25-foot setbacks.

Another approved variance allows the church to have 57 off-street parking spaces. The ordinance requires 60, one for every six seats in the largest room and one for each employee.

In its variance petition, the church said it has an agreement to use a 50-space lot owned by the Uniontown Area School District on Grant Street in addition to the seven spaces on the church lot.

The board also approved a variance allowing the vehicles that park in the seven spaces at the church to back out on to Jefferson Street to exit the property.

The church is at the corner of Stewart Avenue and Jefferson Street. The property is zoned for business use.

Both variances were approved at hearings held last week.