Uniontown planning commission recommends against rezoning
The Uniontown Planning Commission on Thursday voted to recommend against rezoning the North Arch Street area from the central business district (C2) to the local business district (C1).
Jim Knapp of K2 Engineering of Uniontown said the owner of one of the businesses in that area, located off Pittsburgh Street, asked for the change because the C2 rules limit the size of a building expansion the business was planning.
Commission member Jim Fox Jr. said the C1 zone is more restrictive than C2 and a building expansion in either zone would require a special exception from the commission.
In the C1 zone, a building can occupy up to 50 percent of the lot, setbacks are required and special exceptions are needed in some instances, Fox said.
“Are we better off leaving it along without those restrictions and covering it through special exceptions?” Fox said.
“No one has complained have they?” commission member Bill Rittenhouse said.
One business owner whose business does not conform to the allowable land uses in the C2 zone contacted K2 claiming the current zoning would restrict the size of an addition he wants to build, Knapp said.
He said several of the businesses in that area are nonconforming, or don’t fit in with the C2 zoning requirements. Rezoning the area to C1 would not make all the businesses in that area conforming uses and would not eliminate the need for a special exception to build an addition, Fox said, noting that there are fewer restrictions to building an addition in the C2 zone.
Knapp said he understood Fox’s reasoning.
Commission members unanimously voted against recommending the rezoning to City Council, which would have to approve the change.
In other business, the commission needs two city residents to volunteer to fill two vacancies.
Residents interested in serving on the commission should contact City Clerk Kimberly Marshall at 724-430-2910.
The commission meets on the third Thursday of each month at 11 a.m. on as-needed basis.