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Mt. Lebanon zoning amendment gets recommendation in connection with Zamagias property

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
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Another attempt to develop a long-vacant property at Washington and Bower Hill roads in Mt. Lebanon has received a boost.

On Tuesday, the Mt. Lebanon Planning Board voted 3-0 to recommend approval of an amendment to the municipal code that would allow for townhouses to be constructed within the zoning district in which the nearly two acres is located.

The board’s recommendation goes to the Mt. Lebanon Commission for a vote on final approval, following the opportunity for public input.

A request by landscape architectural firm Victor-Wetzel Associates of Sewickley, representing landowner Zamagias Properties, called for the addition of “townhouse dwelling” as a use by right in the R-7 district, plus area and bulk regulations, lot width standard and additional standards for townhouse units. Also requested was adding “townhouse unit” as a defined term to represent the building that houses the individual dwellings.

The planning board inserted a provision for a maximum height of 35 feet.

“The current height requirement in the R-7 district is 98 feet,” said Ian McMeans, assistant municipal manager and municipal planner. “In other districts where townhouses are allowed, the building height requirement for townhouses is 35 feet.”

Victor-Wetzel owner Steven Victor said the restriction would not be prohibitive.

“Nobody is going to build a five- or six-story-high townhouse, because then it wouldn’t be a townhouse,” he said. “It would probably be defined as apartments if they were stacked units.”

Approval of the zoning amendment would represent the first step in a process that involves numerous other facets, including a land development plan. At that point, more specific aspects of the project would be presented, according to Victor.

“But we have looked at conceptually how to lay that out, and it would be similar to what we were doing previously when we were doing with the condominiums there,” he said.

In February 2016, the commission approved the land development and subdivision plans for Mt. Lebanon Condominiums, proposed as 46 dwellings in three buildings on the site. Grading, demolition of buildings on adjacent properties that had been acquired and installation of a fence around the perimeter subsequently took place.

In the approved plans, the main access to the property was to be from Kenmont Avenue. That remains the case for the new development, Victor said, with “the potential for a secondary access off of Bower Hill.”

The municipality was granted an easement for a right-turn lane from Bower Hill onto Washington Road. Previous plans also called for 18 parking spaces for municipal use on the property along Washington.

Representatives of Zamagias attended several commission discussion sessions to provide updates on the project, which eventually was abandoned.

“They indicated to the commission that the condominium plan was not feasible in the current real estate market, so they were looking at other, alternative plans,” McMeans said during the Jan. 14 discussion session.

Zamagias originally targeted the site for a development called Washington Park, which was to have included 60 condominiums, 11,225 square feet of first-floor retail space and a “gateway park” at Bower Hill Road. Despite approval of a tax increment financing plan by the municipality and Mt. Lebanon School District, plans eventually were scrapped in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

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