Property owners unhappy with Dunkin’ Donuts zoning decisions
Peters Township property owners have gone to Washington County Court for a review of the zoning hearing board’s decisions regarding a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant and drive-through window proposed for the longtime Eat’n Park building on Washington Road.
According to county tax maps, Daniel M. and Joyce S. Wallach of Oakhurst Drive own 3.5 acres zoned single-family residential behind and beside 3528 Washington Road, the address for more than 45 years of an Eat’n Park restaurant that will be vacated when it moves to a larger building now under construction at Washington and Hidden Valley roads.
Peters RE LLC of Pittsburgh filed for variances on behalf of the Dunkin’ Donuts eatery in a commercial zone measuring slightly less than an acre. The firm, which has the property under lease and plans to renovate, was seeking to build a retaining wall taller than six feet and encroach into a rear buffer zone, removing trees.
The zoning hearing board met July 21 to consider the variances, but the Wallachs, who were out of state, were represented by an attorney.
The Wallachs objected to Peters RE LLC making requests of the zoning hearing board, saying that because the firm is not the landowner, it lacks standing.
The area between the restaurant and the Wallach property “is a slope of land that is wooded and provides a buffer to light, sound and commercial activities … in a quiet, residential neighborhood,” the appellants maintain. Their attorney brought real estate agent John Skapinac of McMurray before the zoning board to testify that the value of adjacent properties will go down because of the parking lot encroaching on the buffer and because of the fact that the business will operate from 5 a.m. to midnight. The zoning hearing board rejected that testimony, according to its finding, because Skapinac “is not an ANI appraiser.”
The meaning of these initials was not included in the board’s findings of fact, and a call for clarification to township zoning officer and planner Emily Moldovan, who attended the hearing, was not immediately returned.
Skapinac said on Sept. 10, “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I’m not aware of that term, either. I’m not a licensed appraiser, but I wasn’t there to put a dollar value on the property. I was there to give my professional opinion as a Realtor.”
The zoning hearing board issued its decision Aug. 18, determining that it was proper that Peters RE LLC come before the board, granting the buffer variance and noting that “this minimal request will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.”
It placed conditions on the changes to the Dunkin’ Donuts lot, including a four-foot brown or black chain-link fence behind the retaining wall to complement the color of the wall, which should match the exterior facade of the building; a freestanding sign of a monument style; and positioning the menu board for the drive-through window as far away from the entrance as possible to avoid traffic backups in the parking lane. Cross-access at the southern end of the property should be maintained, and the shop is to submit a detailed landscape plan for the buffer area.
In court documents, the Wallachs objected to the zoning hearing board restricting Skapinac’s testimony, and claim the board failed to properly serve them with the decision because the determinations were emailed rather than sent by U.S. mail as required by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
They also claim that Peters RE LLC failed to prove they could not develop the property within the confines of the township’s zoning ordinance; that it suffered from an unnecessary hardship; or that it would not impair the appropriate use or development of the Wallachs’ property.
A court date on the matter has not been scheduled.