Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I thank you, Commissioner Interiano. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. Oh, they're muted. My apologies. That's okay. Hi there, commissioners. I just wanted to I know you couldn't hear me for a moment. I'm just verifying before we get started. commissioners that are here. We are on Commissioner uh Kelly just to know that you're present. Just a roll call. Got it. Okay. We can't hear you. Just FYI, but I I see your lips moving and I see your face, so I know that you're here. Okay. All right. Uh Commissioner O'Neal, Commissioner Kenttonia,

present. Thank you. Commissioner Repy, present. Thank you, Commissioner Vatz. Present. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker, present. Thank you so much. Um, now that we've got roll call out of the way, we are at 129. In one minute, we'll go ahead and start. Less than a minute, actually. Madam chair, can you hear me? I can't hear you. Thank you so much.

Okay. For some reason, I have I have my phone next to me. I can I have it over the phone, but my laptop is I'm not able to click uh through the joint audio. So, I have I can see you, but I have to uh speak to my phone.

Well, you did a fabulous job. Thank you so much. And that rolls us right on into good afternoon and welcome beautiful people. Thank you for joining us for today's planning commission meeting for April 7, 2026. Uh today we are going to get started on the briefing. Uh briefing is where the planning commission hears cases as preliminary public presentation. There will only be questions and comments from commission. Uh it is not open to public. I'm going to read through our briefing items today. We only have one. Our briefing item for today is as follows. BDA-2026-00703 at 835 Forbes Avenue. This is a conditional use school, elementary or secondary general and it's in the Uptown neighborhood. Mr. Johnson will present to us this afternoon. Thank you. Christian Johnson, senior planner for codes and commissions with the Department of City Planning. Good afternoon, commissioners. An application for BDA 202600703 was filed by Wildman Chalmer's design on behalf of Passport Academy Charter School for change of use of medical clinic to a school, elementary or secondary general at 1835 Forbes Avenue. This property is located in zoning district UPRB, Uptown Public Realm District. The use of a school is listed as a conditional use. The current building on this parcel was converted to medical office suites in 2007 and now sits mostly vacant. No design review was required as the application includes interior renovations but limited site and exterior improvements. Existing on the site is a parking lot to the west of the building to remain. Passport Academy Charter School is a public charter school with an enrollment range of 125 to 150 students. Ages range

from 16 to 21 years old. Schooling is divided into two in-person sessions per day. The applicant has been working with DOI to conduct an operations letter included with this report. Most students would arrive to the school by public transportation as the bus stop at the bus stops near the property. Therefore, no significant traffic impacts are expected. In the event of a trip from the school, the parking lot would be utilized as the pickup and drop off area. A development activities meeting was held virtually on March 16th, 2026 with Uptown Partners, Hill CDC, Hill Consensus Group, and Hill Collaborative, the registered community organizations for this area. The summary report is attached to this report. Additionally, the applicant presented at the Uptown Partners REDD committee meetings on March 10th and March 26th. A plan conformance report showing conformance with the Uptown Eco Innovation Plan was conducted by the neighborhood planner and is included with this briefing report. Memos from the applicant outlining how this application meets the conditional use criteria and school use criteria are included in this report. This application is scheduled for hearing in action in two weeks on April 21st where planning commission will give a recommendation to city council. I will now turn it over to the applicant.

Thank you. Uh hello everyone uh members of the planning commission. Madame chair uh my name is Robert Max Yner. I'm an attorney with BAPS Kaland. We are outside land use council to the Passport Academy Charter School. Uh I'm joined today by uh the CEO Joe Olifant. I saw him joining the group. And we also have uh both Chad and Elizabeth or Liz from uh Wildman Chalmer's Design, our architect. Uh we do have uh about 10 slides to go through here. I'll go through as as quickly as possible, although I do know we're the only item uh on your briefing agenda today. But uh thank you Christian for that overview. Uh you hit a lot of uh our points, but uh we just want to emphasize again that this is a a conditional use application. Uh we don't have a land development plan or anything else uh going along with this. uh and as as part of our public speaking training or or otherwise, we always like to to have some engagement with our audience. Uh so you'll see in this cover uh sheet we have the hashtag WATS. I will leave you in suspense as to what that stands for until we get to the end of the presentation, but uh feel free to write down your guess as you uh as we proceed through this presentation. Uh next slide, please. Thank you. Uh just to start to orient the planning commission. Uh this is an existing building. It's currently listed for sale. Uh is been operated as a medical office. Uh it only really has one tenant now, an eye doctor. Uh but if you look at Google Earth, uh Street View, you'll see the for sale sign in front. Uh the uh charter school here, it's a public charter school, Passport Academy Charter School, uh has been in the market uh for about a year now to find a new location. Uh and we have, you

know, identified this location here in the heart of Uptown uh and are in the currently the due diligence phase. Uh we have not signed uh the deed or received the deed just yet. We have signed an agreement of sale. uh we are going through the process with the support of the property owner uh as we make sure that we can operate out of this facility as a school use uh per the zoning code. Uh just to orient everybody else, you can see right above our circle is the uh Fifth Avenue School now lofts. Uh off to the far left you can see McGee Hospital and my apologies your volume is going up and down a little bit. Okay, I'm sorry. How's that? If I lean in closer, is that better?

Yes, that's better. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry about that. Uh but yes, uh as we're mentioning, this is in the uptown U district uh in adjacent to uh Dukane University and uh the other features there. Uh you can see as we mentioned uh in the introduction, there is a parking lot uh and the building is essentially two stories primarily in the middle. uh in this W shape uh with orientation on to Forbes Avenue uh just street uh behind us and Watson Street I'm sorry Watson Street behind us and J Street to the side. Uh next slide please. So we will be going through building code review and uh we'll need to get a change of use through the building code going from the business use to educational. Uh there is some you know history. This is a relatively recent building. Uh approximately 2007 was converted to the medical offices. It was built originally in 1996. Um and you as we mentioned before has has lost a number of tenants uh and has low occupancy right now. uh the proposed scope of work. Uh once again, no major additions, no major parking changes, no uh nothing really more than uh signage changes uh as well as maybe opening up some of the windows to allow uh you natural light to come in uh to the classroom spaces. Um but that is really about it. Um mostly interiorial interior work as well uh just to set up the learning spaces for our charter school. Uh we have met with DOI. We have been going through uh some of that process. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Um but because this is a conditional use uh and we know that the general requirements as well as the specific

requirements for a elementary or secondary school are what is most important as part of the review and recommendation from this body and hopefully uh positive approval by city council. uh our our operations and the type of school use uh that we will be doing here. Uh so with that uh moving to the next slide, I'll turn it over to our CEO to explain a little bit more about what Passport Academy Charter School is and how it operates. Joe,

uh thank you. Uh good afternoon everyone. So uh my name is Joe Olif. I'm the principal CEO of Passport Academy. Um we are um we are in our 12th year. Um so basically our school um started by uh two of our uh co the co-founders who are still present on our board um due to the uh rising amount of uh students who are not um uh completing their their high school diploma. Um so it started and um right now I know um for the intro we we talked about our school being small uh usually around 125 to 150 students uh ranging in uh ages from 16 to 21 years old. Uh but when our co-founders decided about the the school making sure that it was conducive to keep students in the area to make sure that there was a career ready focus um to not only get the diploma but to make sure that they were equipped with the skills needed uh beyond getting their diploma and you know potentially staying in the region um benefiting um to the workforce and uh making sure that those um those areas were um part of the the process of attending. Um, so again, we are approved public charter school. We're not an approved private placement. Um, supporting students 16 to 21 years old. Um, most of our kids come from Pittsburgh public. However, um, there are about 15 different school districts that, uh, represent our our enrollment. Uh, we're in our 12th year and the way that our enrollment periods go, we don't have uh, open enrollment throughout the whole year. We do enrollment during enrollment periods. That way we can uh be certain that students um graduate within the the window that they can complete their courses. Um since the school is founded uh we've uh graduate around 700 students. Uh we basically graduate probably 60 to 70% of our students depending on the cohort of when they entered uh 9th grade at their uh

their former district. Uh and I mentioned about 125 to 150 students. Um right now we have 147 students that are on our that are on our roster. Um which makes for class size to be traditionally smaller. Um and as was mentioned before um that enrollment gets pretty much cut in half because um the students either pick AM or PM session depending on their preference um and so forth. Um and most most all of our transportation and again it it changes but um most probably 99% of our students um take uh public transportation. Um in a rare instance where a student comes from a sending district that would rather transport them via van than we do it that way. But um I don't think since the school's inception has there ever been a a bus um dropping students off for regular um regular arrival to school. So, I mentioned the personalized schedule. Um, two inerson sessions a day, 8:30 to 11:30 and then 12:30 to 3:30. Uh, when they're not in school. Um, there are some um some cyber virtual learning opportunities that students have to have, whether it's a a class that's not offered in person or some of their career ready requirements. Um, they are to do that during their anytime learning which is outside of school. Next slide, please. So, this just kind of shows the the the the history of our building. So, uh we started out of the Kaufman building in the um um in the Hill District and then moved down um downtown prior to the pandemic. Uh we were on Penn Avenue right downtown. Um, for anyone that's not aware, um, we were, um, our landlord, uh, when we went to renew our renew our lease informed us that, um, our 5-year extension was not conducive, that they would extend it a year, possibly two, um, which put us to this past January where our, um, our lease

had ended and they did not renew it because they were building high-rise apartments um, into our into the location. And so, uh, it put us really in a situation, uh, we had to put on our pivot hat and move to a temporary space. Um, so currently we are in, um, we are in Garfield right now, uh, with intentions of being in our new home in Uptown. Uh, next slide, please. Um, I share this slide because this kind of, uh, this kind of, um, talks about the school and why we're doing what we're doing. Um, we did receive, um, and this is kind of part of our story, we did receive funding from RK Melon a couple years ago to, um, look at our career readiness, uh, curriculum and look at what we're doing to keep students in this region. Um and we had a study through the Rand Institute that really identified um careers that are in the region, how we can go about continuing to um equip students with some of the knowledge to be ready for these careers, but then also equip us with um knowhow and um procedures to make sure that we're tapping into some of the regions's um assets through some of our community partners. So um they identified some of the some of the areas and then what we did is we took those uh some of those recommendations and then built it to our our day-to-day within our within our school. So um you know a school is not not just a school what's within the community. So we do utilize some of our community partners which you'll find out in some of these the next slides. So next slide please. Um we um one of the high need jobs that was mentioned through the the RAN Institute study was our jobs for trades and and manufacturing within the region. So um we do um we do partner with um um an art/welding shop which is in Hazlewood. And so we've um continue to have regular cohorts. We

just finished our our spring cohort um on last a week and a half ago. Um but we've done this program uh for a couple years and um literally students leave our building because we don't have welding within our building and we bring them to Hazlewood uh we where we are not only exposing them to welding and some of the manufacturing trades but to try to eventually get them um with their their uh welding certifications and then you know align them with jobs. So the top right you can see from um from CVS workforce and uh training center to A's vision. Um each of these are community partners that we work with to better equip our students with the skills necessary but to make sure that we're leaning on you know experts in the region. Um one of the ones I want to highlight and you'll see within the slides is currently we have a u a pre-apprenticeship program out of our building um through Carnegie Melon Robotics. That's not a program to um to get students to go to Carnegie Melon. It's essentially a program that if students complete while they're in the building um because they come to us um every other day, they receive the credentials um upon graduation. If they finish all the credentials, they have enough credentials to be hired uh to be a robotics technician. So, that's a goal for us to make sure that we're not only, you know, sending kids away to say, "Hey, go to this program, do this program," but we're trying to do that while they're still um here in the building. So I mentioned Industrial Arts Workshop. Um Teen Elect is a a parenting program. We do have some parents uh teen parents that are here. U Bloomfield Garfield Corporation is a corporation that works with us our students in college and career planning um from schools that can center for victims, the Boys and Girls Club. Um I'm sure that many of you are aware of these uh programs within the the city or within the area um that we've jumped and utilized with our students. Um next slide, please. Um, and then I'll start top left. The

Trade Institute is one that we've had many students that have gone to. Um, again, helping them with training, but then also getting them jobs. We actually have a tour this week for students. Um, new century careers, which is at the bottom left. Um, we have different cohorts we've done with them. Um, the picture with the gentleman in the red sweatshirt, that's actually our math teacher. So, not only are we just sending kids to these programs, we're trying to bring it back so that way they align with curriculum. um and having adults in the building that can that can help them. Um I mentioned the Carnegie Melon Robotics program. Um bottom right is CNX mentorship academy. So CNX is a natural gas company. Um through our throughout that study that we had uh we uh were made aware that we weren't really engaging many of our kids with the the gas and oil industry which since this report we've had many students um participate in the program and a couple students actually getting jobs uh within the CNX um the CNX program uh which a are highpaying um and they've done a lot of mentoring to get them to where they are and have uh and have supported our students many times. So right now we have eight students in the the current cohort. Um six of them will probably graduate um through the cohort and then two of them will continue to next year. Uh next slide please and Max this is yours.

Thank you Joe. Yes I think you know going back to when the school first started about 12 years ago. I was on the other side of the table representing the school district of Pittsburgh and reviewing the the application for the charter. uh uh you know, it was originally pitched as a credit recovery or a dropout prevention program. And just to see how it has changed over the years with the support of the school district uh and really provide, you know, all of these opportunities outside of the school building uh is just an important point to to think about as we look to what the needs are at the actual physical building as part of the conditional use. uh you know we are not your traditional school that needs athletic facilities that needs you know the baseball fields that needs you know a lot of other specialized uh student rooms, classrooms, labs, things like that. uh we need a location for the students to be split into two, you know, groups uh to come in to do their main academic coursework uh but then get out into the community to these other opportunities that are are provided through all of these partnerships and uh other opportunities out there. Uh so this is an ideal location. Uh zooming in a little bit more, we do have 43 parking spaces but only have 18 staff members. Uh and because the students are primarily taking uh public transportation through the charter school law and those requirements, uh we have indicated the two bus stops that we have on the uh the one-way streets into and out of Uptown. Um with respect to, you know, emphasizing it again, uh no major changes are planned for the buildings. Um you know, it is laid out as it is right now. Uh and so we don't anticipate any impacts. When you look at the general criteria for any conditional

use with respect to uh traffic or uh you know flow or compatibility with the neighborhood or other changes because we're not changing the physical location uh we have addressed those in our memo. Uh next slide please. Uh just looking again uh this is the current configuration. You can see the the medical offices uh broken up, you know, right now just there on the main floor. Uh the second floor also has some space. Um but the because of the the design and then some of the sloping roof, it's not as expansive. It's not a straight up and down twostory. Um but we do have access to our parking lot there both in the front with the main entrance uh and in the back a a rear entrance. Uh as part of our conversations uh with DOI, we are intending to to uh include directional arrows, have a one-way circulation through the parking lot. Um you know, once again, it will be mostly staff there before 8:00 a.m. and then leaving about 3:34. Uh and we don't in we're not going to provide parking for students or or anything like that. If we do have mini buses coming through, they will likely likewise uh cycle through the parking lot to do the drop off uh at the uh the walkway that's internal rather than pulling up on Forbes Avenue or on the back on Watson Street. Um as we talked about before, these are you secondary students. Um so it's not elementary. We don't have the same, you know, concerns about playgrounds or other types of outdoors activities there. So, we haven't shown any uh on our display here. Uh next slide, please. Just to summarize, these were the points that were mentioned uh throughout uh with respect to our operation and looking at the uh specific criteria for a a secondary school use. uh we believe

we will be able to address those uh both in writing as we did in the application and as part of the eventual public hearing uh because of the unique structure and small size of our school, the split uh features of the day between an AM and PM session uh the ability for staff members to park, take public transportation or even bike. Uh we will provide showers uh in the facilities even though we don't have a full gym and the other things you might see with a a traditional school. Um and we don't provide meals. That's another thing that we haven't mentioned so far. We don't have a cafeteria. We don't need a kitchen. We don't have uh those types of other deliveries and and other activities that you might see in another type of school. Um so we do believe, you know, we will not have a big impact on the community based on our operations. Although through this training by giving opportunity to city of Pittsburgh residents uh and and surrounding communities to some extent if there are spaces under the charter school law uh we are going to have an a different type of impact on the uh community uh continuing our 12 years of of success. Uh next slide please. Okay to finish up I know you've all been waiting with a baited breath. I hope you wrote down your guess for what #wats or watts stands for and so I'll just ask CEO to uh enlighten us.

Absolutely. So that's one of uh the parts of uh that makes us unique and um you know making sure that um everything that students do and the teachers do on a daily basis is to get students across the stage. So WA watts the hashtag is kind of our theme of walking across the stage. So, you know, coming to school, uh, being present, um, you know, doing what everything that you got to do, uh, to make sure that that's your end goal, uh, to walk across the stage and more. So, um, so again, on on behalf, thank you guys for for listening. If if there's any questions, we kind of go from there. So, thank you.

Thank you. Given that concludes your presentation, I just want you to know that I wrote three things down and what you said is not not one of them. But, uh, I do like it though. I definitely like it. Okay. So, at this time, uh, that concludes the presentation. Commissioners, uh, it's time for questions and comments from you. No public testimony at this time. Are there any questions, comments as it relates?

I just have one comment to note for the record. I don't put all on the record when we have the action. I'm on the board of the IW. I don't think there's a need to recuse myself, but I just want to put that on the record that I am on the board, but I don't think there's a relation show relationship issue in regards to my voting. Thank you for putting that on record. Uh and uh commissioners, I'll remind us at this time that our review criteria uh that we're uh looking at is 922.06E.1 and 911.04A. 64B. Um any additional comments? No questions. Commissioners online. Commissioner question.

Uh more of a a comment than a question. And I think you hit this home in your presentation, but just for uh new commissioners and the public, uh you know, this is a conditional use. It is permitted uh provided we meet the requirements. Um and I think even more simply, uh you know, if the external impacts are similar to or less than other schools and I think u Mr. um said several times how um just the timelines and you know traffic impacts are going to be so much less than you know what we normally think of as being associated with an elementary or secondary school. Uh so all in favor um I I think this was great and thank you for the detailed presentation and all of your hard work.

Thank you. Thank you so much. And uh any other commissioners that are online? No questions. All right. Thank you so much. Uh we appreciate you and we'll see you back in two. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you all. All right. Now that concludes the briefing portion of today's meeting and we will come back in five minutes to start the hearing and action portion of today. So you can break and use the

You can turn your cameras back on and we'll see you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. All right, it's 2 o'clock. So, good afternoon and welcome back. For those of you who were here for briefing, today is the hearing and action portion of today's meeting. That means that uh commissioners will go ahead and take action on the applications. We are going to read through today's agenda for the planning commission for April 7, 2026. The agenda is as follows. Uh let me first do a check for commissioners. Uh Commissioner Burton Faulk, present. Commissioner Hunt,

present. Thank you. Commissioner Antiano, present. Thank you. Commissioner Kelly, present. Thank you. Commissioner O'Neal, present. I saw you. Uh, Commissioner Kinttonia, present. Thank you. Commissioner Repy, present. Thank you. Commissioner Vatz, present. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker, present.

Fantastic. Thank you so much. Now, moving on through the agenda for today, uh, that's April 7, 2026. Agenda item A is approval of minutes. Agenda item B is correspondence. Agenda item C is plan of lots. We have one item under plan of lots. Agenda item D is hearing and action. We have two items for hearing and action. Uh that would be Lidle Street and council bill 2025-2250. And then agenda item E, which is the director's report. Moving back up to agenda item A, uh, commissioners, we were sent the minutes for November 18, 2025. Uh, if you've had the opportunity, those um, who are still here to review, I'll go ahead and do roll call to vote on those. Uh, Commissioner Burton Faulk, I. Commissioner Hunt.

Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Interiano. I Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner O'Neal. All right, Commissioner Kenttonia. I Thank you, Commissioner Repy. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Vatz. Hi. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker. Hi. All right. I think Commissioner O'Neal is back also. Hi, Commissioner O'Neal. Hi. Abstain.

Very good. Thank you. All right. Uh we're moving on to agenda item B, which is correspondence planning commission correspondence for April 7th, 2026 regarding council bill 2025-2250. We are in receipt of correspondence from Nancy Lynches, Jack Doerty of Pittsburgh Downtown Partnerships. We are in receipt of correspondence from Kathleen Dapper, East Alagany Community Council. We are in receipt of correspondence from Chris Watts, Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania. Moving on to agenda item C, which is plan of lots. Under plan of lots, we have one item. That item is item number one DCP- lot 20226- 0 018 Haron Avenue consolidation. This is a major consolidation in Polish Hill. Turning this over to Mr. Shepy.

Thank you. Um this is the Heron Avenue consolidation. I'll wait for it to come up. Here we go. Uh, this is the proposed consolidation of 35 parcels into one parcel. The proposed lot would have frontage on Heron Avenue and would be 104,083 ft in area. Several structures are located on the subject property which are to be demolished. And this is a major subdivision that was first reviewed by the planning commission on March 24th, 2026. The recommended motion from staff is to approve the Heron Avenue consolidation.

Thank you, Mr. Shutupki, at this time is there anyone here uh in this room that would like to give public testimony regarding this? And if not in the room online? No online. Uh there are no hands raised online. Thank you so much. Um at this time, commissioners, uh can we take a vote? Is there a motion from the floor to approve the plan of lots DCP? Thank you. That's Commissioner Kelly. Second. Second. Commissioner Antiano. All right. I'll do roll call. Commissioner Burton Faulk. I. Commissioner Hunt. I. Thank you. Commissioner Antiano.

I. Thank you. Commissioner Kelly. I. Thank you, Commissioner O'Neal. I. Thank you, Commissioner Kinttonia. I. Thank you, Commissioner Repy. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Vatz. Hi. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker. Okay.

Thank you. All right. Moving from agenda item C and item one, we're moving to agenda item D, which is hearing and action. Thank you, Mr. Shepki. Uh, under hearing and action, we have two items. I'll read both of those in. Item number one is BDA-2025-12749 at 4612 Lidle Street. This is construction of a five-story apartment building in Hazlewood. The second item again is council bill 2025-2250 zoning text amendment regarding restricted personal goods retail and that is citywide. Going back to agenda item A, BDA-2025-12749 at 4612 Lidle Street. Ms. Tanden is presenting.

Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. Good afternoon. Before you start, I just wanted to note for the record that I have to recuse and we'll be stepping out. Thank you, Vice Chair O'Neal. Thank you. Also, for the record, I need to recuse and we'll be stepping out. Thank you, Commissioner Walker.

All right. Thank you. Good afternoon, Commissioners. An application for a final land development plan or an FLDP BDA-2025-12749 was filed by PWWWG Architects on behalf of the property owner Almono LP for the construction of a new 5-story multi-unit residential building containing 46 dwelling units and approximately 2600 square ft of ground flooror commercial space. The application proposes 46 dwelling units with a surface parking and loading area to the rear of the building. The ground floor of the building contains commercial space and various amenity spaces along the street frontage with Blair Street. The garage and surface parking areas are accessed via a private shared drive that has a curb cut along Litel and Blair Street. Parking is bicycle parking is provided in compliance with the SV10 district requirements. The site is located within the Hazelwood Green specially planned district or SP10. Projects within the SP10 district must comply with the requirements of the zoning code section 909.01.q and the Hazlewood Green Preliminary Land Development Plan or PLDP. The project is located on the corner of Blair and Eliza Street and is the third phase of a multi-phase development that contain additional buildings with frontages along Eliza Street and Litel Street. Those projects were approved by the planning commission as FLDPs in 2025. There were no requests to the zoning board of adjustment for this case. The proposed structure and site design were reviewed by staff design and then by CADP on January 20, 2026. The design of the proposed building was generally well received by SEAP as it related to phase of to the phase one of building in color and overall design. CADP comments were generally focused on refining and detailing materials at corners and creating more intentional public spaces. A summary report of the CADP is attached to the report submitted. The conceptual storm water management plan for the whole Hazlewood green development was

approved by the Department of City Planning. The applicant is in the process of receiving storm water management approval for the specific site within the master plan area. The applicant is in the process of receiving curbcut approval from the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure or DOI for the entrance to the shared drive of Lidle Street. The transportation impact study for the project has been approved by DOI. The project is in compliance with the development standards of the SP10 district including building height, upper story setback and build to zone requirements. A development activities meeting or DAM was held on February 10, 2026 with the Hazlewood Initiative. The registered community organization for this area. The summary report of the DAM was attached to the report provided to the commissioners. The site is in the greater Hazlewood neighborhood plan area. Planning staff determined that the project complies with the neighborhood's adopted plan prior to the April 7, 2026 hearing. A copy of the plan compliance letter was also attached to the hearing report. Under section 922.11 C.2, the planning commission shall review a final land development plan according to the criteria listed in this section. The applicant provided a memo indicating how the proposed development meets the criteria. That memo was also attached to the hearing report. Staff recommendation is that the planning commission of the city of Pittsburgh approves the final land development plan BDA-2025-12749 based on the application filed by PWWG on behalf of the property owners with the following conditions. The final construction plans including site plans and elevations be reviewed and approved by the zoning administrator prior to issuing the final record of zoning approval. I will now hand it over to the applicant. some slides.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Um, thanks for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon. Um, I'm Janelle Kemer. I'm um project manager with Trek Development Group. Um, we are um the developers and will be owners of the um project before you here. Um, TRE is a locally based uh developer, owner, and property manager of um affordable rental housing and mixed income um rental housing in the Pittsburgh area and about a 9count radius in western Pennsylvania. Um we've been at this work for over 30 years now and um yeah, enjoy the many opportunities to work with unique um neighborhoods, community groups, and um and nonprofit partners. Um, so we were invited um to this development by uh Tishman Spire, their uh the master developer who was brought on by Almano LP, the um current owners and um kind of initiators of of the Hazlewood Green redevelopment. Um so Tishman had really laid the groundwork um working closely with a number of community groups um to understand that um bringing bringing residential development um that would not displace existing Hazlewood residents was really important um so really helped lay that foundation um and then invited Trek into that work um in 2023. Um so as was mentioned um we're in the process of constructing the first phase of housing which is 50 units along Lidle Street and so now this is a continuation um of that development that that will complement with similar um program and um affordability. Um another great partner that we're working with is Pittsburgh Scholar House. Um they're part of phase one um and will continue to be part of this second phase. Um so

along with our affordability set aides, we'll also have some um set aides for I believe 12 participants from Pittsburgh Scholar House. Um their aim is to work with single um single parent households who are pursuing higher education um and providing supports around them um to be successful in that. And so um housing is a major piece of having that solid foundation. Um so we're excited to be partnering with them again. Um, so that is the overview of who TRE is and um, how we came to be working here in Hazlewood. I think I'm going to pass it off to Brent to work through um, leading you through the design of the building and then I can jump back into more specifics about program or population.

Sure. All right. Do I advance slides here?

Yeah. All right. Okay. So, uh, so this is the project here. Um, and we'll show this image a little bit later, but this is on, uh, Blair Street. uh in the Hazlewood um on the Hazlewood Green site. So, sorry. Okay. So, this is the entirety of the SP10 uh Hazlewood Green site. There you'll see kind of right in the middle of it uh bounded in red is where our apartment project is located. This is on uh parcel 36. Uh so, this is across the way from uh from a park there. Uh the Plaza Park is directly across from the Lidle Street building and then we're on So, the Lidal Street building is the north side of that block. The project that we're talking about today is on the southern uh or the the plan south portion of that block. Um adjacent context, the CMU robotics program uh or building is in the area. Mill 19 is there, the pit bio forge uh and hopefully more buildings to come uh in the future. So this is the project uh this is the project site here that we see in front of us. Eliza Street uh on the left, Blair uh towards the right. Um we're sitting on the corner of this project and again on the far side there we actually probably see the CMU robotics building in the distance there and our project is currently under construction uh on the far left side of the of the site there. That would be the Lidal Street project. So this is uh this is the site plan. So the the full parcel 36 has been divided into three uh three separate developable parcels uh on Lidal Street uh is the phase one which is under construction. Um there's a second phase that will be developed by uh another development partner um along Eliza Street that is a series of uh more kind of town home style walk up uh building and then we have uh the new elevator building going at HG Blair there uh facing Blair. The rear portion of this site, these three buildings form a a courtyard space and that courtyard contains parking for each of the the

separate properties. uh each of those parking lots is restricted in size based on the SB10 um requirements for for limiting the surface parking there. Um so on this particular project we have uh 15 parking spaces associated with our building. Uh as noted earlier we have um bike parking covered bike parking within the building uh for the units that we have here. So we have 46 uh total units in the building. Six of those are ADA units. Uh this is a fivetory building. It'll be four stories of wood frame over uh a grade level uh first first floor podium building. Total of about 57,000 square ft. Uh overall building heights about 58 uh feet tall. Ground floor is uh we do not have the same active use requirements on this parcel that we had uh on the Lidle Street parcel, but we are still uh prioritizing more active uses along Blair Street and Eliza Street. So we see here the commercial space. It's about 2,700 ft² at the corner of Eliza and Blair. Uh along Blair, we've located the community room, the fitness room, uh and a reading room, and play uh room that are um particularly centered around the Pittsburgh Scholar House um tenant here. Uh bike parking then in the rear along with two other additional u apartments on this uh ground floor level. upper floor levels uh is a pretty traditional corridor building um with units uh on each side of the building. I will note here though that the SP10 district does require stepbacks uh at various heights. So we start to see the building uh floor plan step back as we as we move up in the building. This is the second floor plan. Third floor fairly similar but as we get to the fourth floor we start to see that footprint reduced slightly uh and see those uh stepbacks there as required under the zoning. uh and the fifth floor plan. Another setback the elevations. So the building um is proposed as uh a mixture of corrugated

uh aluminum siding uh in two different colors. So a primary color on the uh primary face and then a a darker color on the recessed portions at the upper portion of the building. Um that kind of uh tied to the industrial heritage of the site. Uh at each of the corners the project is anchored by uh brickmasonry elements there uh in a gray brick. Uh and the ground floor um contains a high level of glass. We have a requirement here. I believe it's a 60% requirement for ground floor glazing. Um and also 30% uh glazing on the upper floors is the requirement of the zoning. So beating meeting both of those requirements. So a lot of a lot of glass and a lot of window area uh throughout the project. the uh south elevation then this is the elevation that fronts a shared way. That shared way is uh the access to all three of the parcels on this site. Um so this is the brickmasonry portion there where we see the stout the stair tower. Uh on the rear side of the building uh similar materiality to the front. Uh we do see a larger kind of blank surface of the building. That's where we're directly adjacent to the uh neighboring parcel. And then the Eliza Street face. Uh this is technically the north elevation of the building. Um a lot of transparency again at that ground level commercial space. Um and similar materiality on the upper floors. Uh there is rooftop mechanical that is largely kind of out of view from uh from from various distances around the site as well. So we talked a little about material pallet. Uh it'll be two two colors of aluminum corrugated siding on the project. um a gray uh a dark gray brick for the masonry elements. And then at the entrances, we've accented those with a cedar element that you'll see in some of the renderings. Um the bu the windows throughout the project would be a black

uh fiberglass window. Uh looking to use the Pella and Pervia product on those. All right. So, this is the the 3D view from uh Blair and Eliza. We see the commercial space at the ground floor level. Right on the corner there, residential. Above that, we start to see uh a little bit of the entrance to the building accented with that cedar. Uh beyond the streetscape. You know, a lot of this is defined by what exists uh in the infrastructure in the area. So, there are the tree pits, the wide wide um wide sidewalks and bike paths that are in place uh in the community. This is uh again that elevation looking down Blair, kind of seeing the building in its hole. Uh just kind of starting to to work our way down that street a little bit further. Uh and then a detailed view here of that entryway. So again, using that cedar to to accent um the arrival to the building for the residents. Um and that's also on the sophet there a little bit. Uh this is a view then down kind of looking down that shared way. So we're seeing the very end of the building. Uh but you can start to see beyond that's the uh Lidle Street project that that exists in the far distance there. Similar materiality on that project. And then within that courtyard again our parking and our utility uh placements there with generator transformers. Uh all of that concealed beyond the building. All right. So the project uh again we noted it's 46 total units. Six of those are are ADA units also meaning the ANC type A standards. We have one additional hearing and visually impaired unit. Um the remainder of the units are all up to DNC type B standards. Uh all of the entrances are accessible. Um and there is elevator service to the upper floors. Uh the project as part of the SP10 requirements is tracking uh P4 and the lead uh and it's tracking against lead

gold. We're currently targeting 63 and a half points. Um and additionally we integrate with the uh infrastructure that's in place in this district for storm water management systems and we have been through a community process with a number of community meetings. Janelle, do you want to talk a little bit about this process and what we've done here? I'll just um Okay. Excuse me. Wait, wait. Before you leave, I you didn't give me your name. This is I apologize. I'm I'm sorry. My name is Brent Hal. Uh, I'm an architect with PWWG architects. Thank you. That's the court reporter. Sorry about that.

Um, as I mentioned in the introduction, um, when we were brought into this phase of the the project, Tishman Spire had already been um, kind of meeting broadly with a number of community groups um, beginning in 2022 um, and had really started to lay that foundation. And then um since uh 2023, we've met with Hazlewood Initiative a number of times um getting some helpful feedback from the community, hearing the importance of um including some three-bedroom units which we've been able to incorporate into this second phase. Um and also just yeah continuing to um here reiterated the importance of of development without displacement. um being sure that equity and inclusion is is a big part of um our focus here.

All right. Then I think the last thing in our our packet here, I won't get into a lot of detail here, is just the construction management plan. Um just to go to the actual site plan itself there. There's a good amount of area around here, so we shouldn't be particularly disruptive with anything. the uh the northern portion of the site will be constructed, but we have layown area in the parking lots at the rear and then additional layown area uh options to the opposite side of the shared way there. So that should limit uh disruptions. I think that is it for our presentation. Okay, if that concludes your presentation, thank you very much. Sorry, I forgot to mention to mention your name for the

for not reporter not in this in the same room. Uh before I open the floor for any public testimony, I'd like to put on the record that I do manage a building uh that the Pittsburgh Scholar House executives uh work out of, but that will not impact my vote here today in any way. Uh so now that I've put that on record, we're going to open the floor. Uh if there is anyone here that would like to give testimony or speak on behalf of this project, uh please feel free. And if there is anyone online, the same holds. Uh there's no hands raised online.

Okay, great. Uh commissioners, at this time our review criteria is under 922.11. C.2. Uh questions, comments from any commissioners online or in person? No. All right. Uh well, our recommended motion for today then uh is as follows. Uh the planning commission of the city of Pittsburgh approves the final land development plan BDA 2025-12749 based on the application filed. Uh the one condition is that the final construction plan include site plans and elevations be reviewed and approved by the zoning administrator prior to issuing the final record of zoning approval. Do I have a motion from the floor with one condition?

So moved. Thank you. Second. And uh a motion by Commissioner Repy, a second by Commissioner Kentia. I'm going to do roll call. Commissioner Burton Faulk. I Commissioner Hunt I. Thank you, Commissioner Interiano. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. I Thank you, Commissioner O'Neal is recused. Uh, Commissioner Kinttonia, I. Thank you, Commissioner Repy. I, thank you, Commissioner Vatz. Hi. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker also has recused. All right. Motion passes. Carries. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much.

Uh, appreciate it. Okay, now we are moving on to the second item under hearing and action for today. And the second item under hearing and action today is council bill 2025-2250. This is the zoning text amendment regarding restricted personal goods retail and this is citywide. Presenting here for us this afternoon is Miss Rikus.

Thank you. Good afternoon, commission members. My name is Kate Rikus. I'm a senior planning manager in zoning and development review here at city planning. Uh so council bill 20252250 was sent to planning commission for report and recommendation October 20 October 15th, 2025. The legislation proposes to amend section 911, which is the primary use table to add restricted personal good retail and specific standards. Uh as per zoning code section 92205D, planning commission has 90 days to make a recommendation to city council. However, city council has introduced resolutions uh 2025 2656 and 2026180 to extend the deadline for the final action for this planning commission hearing today to June 5th of this year of 2026. Um when planning commission makes a positive recommendation to city council on zoning and text amendments, council needs a simple majority to approve. If the commission makes a negative recommendation, then a super majority is required. Uh but the mayor ultimately makes the decision on zoning code text amendments. Uh so just to quickly review the criteria for zoning code text amendments. Uh planning commission must review text amendments based on the following criteria. The consistency of the proposal with adopted plans and policies of the city. The convenience and welfare of the public. The intent and purpose of the zoning code. compatibility of the proposal with the zoning uses and character of the neighborhood uh and the recommendation of staff. Uh but none of these criteria must be given equal consideration by the planning commission or city council in reaching a decision. Okay, we can go on to the first slide. Okay. Uh so we just wanted to cover some process and then our proposed changes to the legislation text and then stack recommendation and next steps. So we can go on to the next slide. Uh I won't go into too much detail on the why here, but it's related to public safety, especially as it relates uh to young

people and what impact smoking and vaping uh can have on uh young lungs. Uh zoning code does not currently have a separate use category for tobacco products and vape shops. Uh so this would create that and then propose a buffer from primary and secondary schools to reduce the likelihood of youth exposure and possible initiation uh to vaping and other smoking products. Uh and many other cities have adopted regulations reg uh regarding vape shops. Uh and we do have a a staff member from uh Councilman Wilson's office here to talk if there are other questions about the intent or how we got to this point and go to the next slide. All right. Uh so again, as I mentioned before, it was uh introduced at council and referred to the planning commission for report and recommendation. Um so uh city planning staff uh met with city council at that point uh to sort of raise some issues about uh the language to ensure that we could enforce it uh the proposed standards. Uh we met with council staff, the downtown partnership uh to review and revise the proposal. Uh the group collaborated and simplified the definition, use table and standards to ensure that they are clear and enforceable under zoning. Uh and the revised version is being presented at planning commission. Uh and our positive recommendation will be that the version that we have before you uh will be amended by a substitution at city council. Okay. Uh so our list of changes uh that that we worked with with uh the downtown partnership and city council staff was that we changed the bill's title from restricted personal goods retail to retail tobacco inhalent and cannabonoids to provide a broader yet more direct description. Uh we also then for the definition expanded and clarified the list of products included in the category. We removed the shelf space test, signage branding test and the functional character test. Uh there were some questions about how we were sort of defining this and defining vape shop at

briefing and we'll have the uh zoning administrator speak to that after I finish my presentation. All right. We also simplified the use table. Uh so uh there was a differing um array of uh use standards in the first version from it was permitted in the UCMU, a special exception in some districts and then a conditional use uh in other districts. Uh so the current proposal has a special exception in the NDI the neighborhood industrial UNC urban neighborhood commercial HC highway commercial GI general industrial UI urban industrial UCMU urban center mixed use urban center employment Rivu the Riv mixed use Riv Northshore Rivgi general industrial and Rivu uh and you'll note that uh it is not currently permitted in the legislation to be in the golden triangle. all the downtown zoning districts. Um, and then again for the design and operational standards, we just provide the standards to better regulate business operations and site location and go to the next slide. All right, I'm not going to read through the definition here. We talked about it last time and you have it in front of you. Um, but again, it's just sort of wider than vapes and it includes tobacco and other cannabonoids and yep. Uh again this is the use categories that I read earlier where it would be a a special exception in these districts. Uh operational standards uh so in the current version it the they shall not be located within 1,000 ft of an elementary or secondary school measured from parcel line to paral line. Uh they are limited to hours that they may not per they may not be open between 11 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. And no self-service sales are permitted. All right. Uh, and this is the map that we showed last time, uh, where, um, the purple is where it would be permitted. Um, but then the, uh, the gray is where

it's not permitted and then the circles are the schools. The sort of maroon circles are the schools. So, that would be the areas where if it over overlapped with the light purple wouldn't be allowed. So, that's a thousand foot buffer from schools. Uh and then if you go to the next slide, um this questions that came up at briefing, uh were sort of some of the other buffers that were analyzed. Uh we did look at tobacco retailers, but the data wasn't complete. Um so we didn't provide that as one of the images here because we didn't feel like it was helpful. It felt like it was skewed data. Um but we do have daycarees, religious institutions, and parks. So we can go to the next one. Uh this is the buffer from daycare. Uh we can go to the next one. Oops. Religious institutions. And then the last one is the parks which is pretty significant. Okay. We can come back to those if there's questions later. Uh so recommendations and next steps. Uh so at the public hearing today, staff is making the uh our staff recommendation is a positive recommendation to city council. Um, and that would be conditioned on that the revised version of the bill be amended by substitute at council. Uh, so then this will go back to council. We'll do a public hearing there as well. Uh, and then that will go to standing committee from there. All right. I think that's my last slide. Yes. Okay. I'll turn it over to the zoning administrator. Good afternoon, commissioners. Carolyn Restell, zoning administrator for the city of Pittsburgh. Um I wanted to report back on the question that was asked a briefing last week about um actually can we um go back to the slide with the specific definition. So in this definition um uh uh the very astute council or commission members uh jumped on the phrase that is the most concerning phrase in this definition um

which is the how do we define principal retail activity? Um and I um uh we talked last time about how that is a policy that we can um set um on the staff administrative side. Um and it was um I forget how much of this I shared last time and since some of you were not here I will possibly be repeating myself. Um, in in the process of coming to this definition, um, again, as Kate shared, there was pretty extensive conversation with council, with um, uh, stakeholders from the community, and with staff trying to come up with a definition that, um, would be enforceable enough to get something on the books. Since we do not have something on the books right now, um, these kinds of uses can happen anywhere that retail is permitted. And so there was um sort of a compromise between getting the best definition and getting something um sufficient enough um for um being able to administer. Um and so again, we still um even with all the compromises that were made, we still have this this vague phrase. Um, and so in the two weeks since I last uh spoke with you, I have been in conversations uh with the inspectors from from PLI. I've been in conversations with the council office. Been gathering a lot more data. Um and um but the the long and short of it is still don't have enough to come to a hard and set um policy at this point in time. Um and so I wanted to share that um share that update. Um we have some good information. I believe that in the um over the next couple months we will be able to come up with a uh enforceable policy. One of my concerns is making sure that it's something that's

enforceable both if somebody's coming in saying I'm opening a new store. This is what I'm doing. that we can um have standard application requirements for those people. But then also if there's an existing use that maybe changes what they are offering in their store and they cross a certain threshold that that threshold is something that the inspectors are going to be able to identify and enforce in the field in order to send people in to to apply for the the appropriate use. those two things are slightly different and so it does require um some additional nuance um which is part of what I'm working through at this point to come to a full policy decision. That said, if uh today the commission does go forward with making a positive recommendation to council, there is still extensive process before this becomes um part of the zoning code. uh council has to have a public hearing um and um they have to go through their full process of reviewing and adopting the legislation as well. So we we do have time to come up with that policy. Um and so I from our perspective that is not something that necessarily needs to hold you back from making a recommendation today. Um and I think with that that was everything we officially had put together for you. But again, as Kate said, we are here to answer any questions that you might have uh still remaining and we do have some other representatives from council as well that can um answer questions as pertinent.

Fantastic. Thank you uh very much for addressing that question specifically. Uh I know that it was definitely something that popped up for commissioners and um commission that'll be helpful for us here today. Uh, so I'm going to council want to speak before we go into opening the floor for public testimony. No, I'm seeing a no. I think she approached us earlier to say that she was here if questions came.

Absolutely. Okay. Uh, fantastic. Well, then at this time, uh, that'll conclude the presentation on this bill. We'll open the floor to the general public, both here in the room. I uh feel like there are a few people. Come on. Thank you. You're very welcome. Thank you. Yeah, good to see you, too. Okay.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh my name is Hersh Marinstein. I have the pleasure of serving as senior director of external affairs with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania. Thanks for the opportunity to present this testimony today in favor of ordinance 2025 2250. For over 138 years, Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania has delivered our mission for young people throughout the Pittsburgh region. Currently serving 12,000 young people, 1,700 teenagers annually at 11 clubouses and within seven school district locations. We operate clubouses within the city of Pittsburgh and downtown Shadyside and Lawrenville and serve many city residents at other various locations throughout the region. Uh, as an organization, we're committed to setting up children and teenagers for success in life, and we recognize the dangers posed by exposing them to addictive tobacco products. We share city council's commitment to promoting a healthier community for all who live, work, learn in Pittsburgh, and we applaud Councilman Wilson and the rest of council for leading on this very important issue. The evidence-based programs we offer within our clubouses and during the school day with our teen outreach program equip students with the skills needed to avoid risky behaviors, including the use of vapes and other tobacco products. Teenagers and youth who participate in our programs learn healthier and more positive coping mechanisms other than vapes and tobacco and are more likely to graduate on time with a plan for their future. Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania believes that reducing access to vape related project products is a lotable approach to boosting quality of life for young people and reducing health disparities that damage communities. Uh as the operator of a bustling teen center in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh that currently serves about 50 actively enrolled teenagers, we are committed to improving the vitality of downtown for everyone. This ordinance will prioritize more productive uses of retail spaces that will accelerate a more vibrant community and limit harmful distractions for many teens that attend school or transfer through downtown every day. Thank you again for your time

and consideration of this important legislation. Again, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania stands in favor of the ordinance. Thank you all. Thank you so much for your testimony. Appreciate you coming in today. Is there uh someone else in the room that would like to speak for today? If not, yes, please and thank you. Come on up and stand at the podium if you could state your name, uh, address and give your testimony. Thank you.

I'm a rookie at this, so apologies if I say something incorrectly. Uh, my name is Harris Jones, and I'm a building owner uh at 824 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District. Um, and I appreciate the opportunity to be able to weigh in on this important um, piece of legislation. Um, a partner and I um, acquired a building uh, on Liberty Avenue 824, which is a historic building. It was built by Mr. BF Jones back in 1881 originally as a quote unquote business house and it housed piano manufacturing, department stores, etc., etc. over time. Um, and we had the idea to uh convert it into high-end residential living. Uh, which we did by purchasing the building in 2016. The construction was complete in 2020 and we now continue to operate and live in that building today. We strongly believe in the potential of urban living and in particular living in the cultural district. Um, and as part of that, we have become co-founders of a coalition of other residential building owners in downtown Pittsburgh, of which there are 13 of us that have grouped together to try to tackle issues that we believe present an impediment to downtown living. And the number one priority for us are the vape stores in downtown Pittsburgh. Um in discussions that we have had with Lieutenant Montichelli who is the lead police officer in zone 2 um the downtown uh police quarters across from the PNC headquarters. He indicates uh that uh these vape shops are the number one magnet in downtown Pittsburgh for criminal activity and the largest challenge that he faces and his

department faces on a daily basis in terms of the activity that the police works with. Again, according to Pittsburgh police, 24 months ago, there were eight shops in the Golden District, in the Golden Triangle that fit the qualification and definition of these vape shops. Um, a year ago there were 18 and today we are nearing 40. um close to home um our building. We look across the street at Steel City Tobacco, one of them. And with 150 ft of my residential front door, I have five of these shops. And with that comes all of the streetscape. surrounding them. Public drinking, drug use, street crime, loitering, fighting, public urination, drug dealing, homelessness, etc., etc., etc. But the most important thing and the most powerful image that I'd like to leave you with is in the morning when I get up and drink coffee and look out my window, every time a bus unloads, I see children going to the public schools AC around the corner and they flow into these stores like their candy shops at 7:30 to 7:50 every morning. It makes you cry as a parent and as a downtown resident. And so I ask you to move quickly on this ordinance. I recognize that it was written last October. We are now seven months later.

Um we're time. I do apologize. We've got three minutes. I'm finishing. I I apologize. Um but um please act and please act quickly on this bill. It is very very important for our city. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Jones. That sounded like a pro to me. You said you weren't a pro. I said it sounded like a pro to me. You did well. Thank you for your testimony. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to give testimony or I did see a hand or two online? Yes. No. Yeah. Uh yeah. Uh Kathleen uh Dapper, uh you can unmute yourself now. Uh you have three minutes. Good afternoon. Can you hear me?

We can hear you. Thank you. Um, my name is Kathleen Dapper. I'm the president of the East Alagany Community Council, which is the registered community organization uh for the East Alagany neighborhood um on the north side of Pittsburgh. Um, the EAC um has provided a letter of support um to the commission which I I believe you you indicated that you have received which I appreciate but I I wanted to just briefly take the opportunity um to provide public comment. You know what uh you are getting a little bit lower here as you continue to go. Let me try leaning in. How about that? Sure.

Okay. I and I apologize. Um, as as I mentioned, the East Community Council has provided um a letter of support for council bill 2025-2250. Um, our neighborhood currently contains at least one dedicated bait shop as well as other businesses selling sim similar products. Uh our community has seen firsthand the challenges that can accompany the proliferation of these businesses when not thoughtfully regulated. Uh residents have raised concerns related to increased loitering, litter, exposure to poorly regulated substances and the cumulative impact on neighborhood character and quality of life, particularly near schools, parks, and residential corridors. The EAC strongly supports balanced evidence-based zoning policies that ensure vape vape shops are cited in appropriate locations, are subject to clear standards and oversight, and do not disproportionately impact certain neighborhoods. Um, we believe council bill 2020 20252250 is an important step in that direction by using the zoning code to guide where new establishments may locate rather than allowing unchecked clustering in vulnerable areas. For these reasons, the EAC urges the planning commission to support city council's efforts to impose reasonable restrictions on vape shops and other restricted personal goods. Thank you for the opportunity to comment and for your continued work on behalf of our city.

Thank you for your testimony. Are there additional hands? No additional. Okay. Um that ends the public testimony. Commissioners, uh we are reviewing this uh the 922.05. F. Uh understanding that today we are not taking a vote. We are voting to recommend to council for council to take vote. Um are there any questions or comments that any commission commission member would like to ask?

Yeah, I have I have a clarifying question maybe to the zoning administrator. If somebody changes their their use within that distance within the thousand ft, who gets priority, right? is is like if let's say somebody changes their their use for a piece of property. Is your laptop on? Can you just mute it? Laptop's not on. Somebody else muted. There we go. So if somebody changes um their use an existing building that is near uh and all of a sudden go ahead.

Okay. All of a sudden within the thousand ft who gets grandfathered? Is it the building that is inside and all of a sudden that we can't change the use of that of that building or is it that that that vape shop would then have to move because a school has moved into that jurisdiction. How does that work? Oh, I see. Okay. I need to ask who was speaking, please. Uh, sorry, that's Commissioner Triano. Thank you. So, if I understand your your question correctly, you're asking if there is an existing vape shop that we have approved, correct?

And a school moves within 1,000 ft, correct, of that use. So, thinking about the example we were briefed on this morning, right? Yeah, that is um that's a great question, honestly. Um I um the the vape shop that has been approved, it has legal standing because of that earlier approval. If the condition changes around it, I as far as I'm aware, it would be allowed to continue to operate, but no new vape shop would be allowed to come after the school. Right. So they would be grandfathered under that scenario. Got it. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome, Commissioner Bats.

I have I have two questions probably both for the zoning administrator. Um the first one is so thank you for addressing the questions around like what standards will be used? Um is that something that you would eventually add into code once you feel like you have the appropriate standards identified?

Um yes, that's a good question. Um I I don't want to commit to that at this point, but it is something that we would definitely be considering um as um uh we haven't talked much yet um amongst the commissioners about our future plans for the code. Um but there is definitely multiple opportunities um over the coming years um to adjust this definition um as we are making other changes um throughout the code to make it clearer and easier to use. Um so it's something that we will definitely be keeping in mind as we move forward. Um and um if we have a a clearer approach that we are confident is um uh robust enough to go into the ordinance, we would definitely be incorporating that with our updates. Well, and the reason I I'm asking is because, you know, I think one of the things that's important here is that there are clear objective standards that when somebody comes to you and says, "I'm trying to open this type of business or build this type of housing or whatever the case may be," that

it is easy for them to identify what it is they can and cannot build. Um, I know I feel like with the current definition and and by the way, I'm supportive of what we're doing here, but I think it's important that our code has those objective standards in it or at least that there are standards that are accessible to potential applicants. Yes.

So, in what way would the the standards that you end up coming up with, how would those be communicated to applicants? Would those be available publicly uh for potential applicants, etc.? Um yes, I um I envision that once we come up with a a plan of approach um we will write it down and that is something that we would be able to share um consistently with applicants um as they come in. And then the other question that I had and and you know I guess forgive my ignorance on this as well uh the way the use table is set up where there is no district where it is a permitted use. It's all by special exception. Yes.

Does that create potential legal challenges for the city?

No. So, um that was one of the misconceptions in the original draft as well. Um the um the laws by which uh we are constrained to do zoning um is that every use has to be allowable somewhere. And allowable includes permitted by right, special exception, administrator exception, and conditional use. So any one of those in a district means that we are complying with that mandate that we have to allow it somewhere. Um and that is um also to add more information going back to the the conversation in Kate's presentation about the other buffers that we looked at. When we layered all those buffers together, it effectively made it banned across the city because there was so few if any spaces that could meet all those criteria. Um so that was one of the the reasons why we made those changes. Um but yes, we don't have to make it permitted by right. We just have to allow it somewhere.

Understood. Thank you. Yep. Um can you speak speak to the process of you know finalizing standards that that you you plan to conduct over the you know the coming few months? Uh sure. Um so at this point I'm sorry. Uh uh Commissioner Hunt. Thank you.

Um so at at this point I've had some preliminary conversations with the the building inspectors um to understand what would be enforceable from their point of view. Um I have also been looking at um state licensing standards to understand how the state regulates these uses and if there is um parallel um parallels that we can pull from those existing standards to incorporate into our policy. Um my intention over um the coming weeks and months is to continue to work with the council's office um to further refine um what those um um what an effective policy would be. Um and again also um continuing the conversations with the inspectors to make sure that it's enforceable both from a perspective again of um when we receive an application uh for a new use and when an inspector is out in the field um and um is concerned that a new use has come in without permits um so that we can manage both consistently and effectively. Um does that answer your question?

Yeah, that's helpful. And yeah, I mean I think um obviously this is a key key issue and you know especially with these type of businesses being um you know looking looking to get around you the these standards get getting this right is especially important. So, yes.

Uh, one apology to the commission and it, uh, looks like Vice Chair O'Neal has, uh, a question or comment as well because our court reporter is catching up on new commissioners. Uh, when we do say something, we'll just go ahead and make note commissioner and then state your name. That way, after everybody gets used to everybody's voices, it'll be good to go. But uh I do apologize to our court reporter uh for not making that note and thank you for uh to Commissioner Vatz for bringing that up. Commissioner O'Neal.

Thank you. This is Commissioner O'Neal. Uh and I just want to echo and kind of maybe clarify next steps in terms of options for regulations. I do uh agree with my fellow commissioners that there should be uh you know clear expectations about what is or is not a vape shop. Um and my recommendation not as a on this vote but just as we're moving forward is that as those policies are written they're posted on the city website clearly dated that way if there is an update somebody can tell what uh you know regulation was in place at the time at issue. Uh, so that way we're kind of clear when I I know somebody used the word grandfathering. Um, you know, when grandfathering occurs, um, or when something becomes illegal non-conforming use, so it's a little bit clearer and we're able to go back and look and enforce the ordinance. Um and then I guess uh to the zoning administrator I would ask uh again not as a condition of approval but once those that policy is written if you could give us an update either as part of a director's report um or you know a formal briefing just so we can comment on that as well and see how it's going. Um and then I know at briefing previously we discussed you know once we find out what is or is not successful uh incorporating that into the code. Um that way you know it's all in one place. Um but in the meantime getting this on the books and you know preventing more of these uses or changes to these uses um you know allows us to move forward. And I would just note for um all the new commissioners uh this is not a fast process. Uh so once we make our recommendation today, council has up to 120 days

whether to enact or not. And it at a minimum there's a 30-day notice period for another hearing that has to be scheduled. Uh so there will be some time for the zoning administrator to work on this policy. Um we've spoken a little bit about it. I also have a connection at a antis-smoking nonprofit, anti-tobacco nonprofit, um, and have been looking at, you know, uh, ways to enforce this as well. So, looking forward to continuing those conversations. Thank you, Commissioner O'Neal. I I appreciate the suggestion of of uh coming back to you all once we have a policy defined to share that. Um, and I'm more than happy to to do that.

Thank you. And well, so actually uh Commissioner O'Neal, I guess I I'm you you mentioned like not as a condition of approval. Uh you know, what options would we have as a commission to ensure that a policy is codified and posted publicly if not as a condition of approval?

Great question. Um, you can always ask. First of all, I think the first step is um, you know, officially unofficially contacting the zoning administrator or bringing it up in a meeting if that if that's an issue. Um, it's it's a little bit dicey to put conditions on legislation sometimes just because it's a little less clear um, you know, what happens if council doesn't adopt that recommendation. Um, I don't know that it hurts, but I would defer to the zoning administrator on that. And I think I guess Okay, sorry. Go ahead. No, my apologies. No, you you go ahead. It's fine.

I think um the zoning administrator had mentioned uh that she would come back and and make sure that she presented to us. I just wanted to make sure that was clear. I I she's on the record committing to that. So,

well, and I and I fully trust that that will happen. Um, I guess I guess what I'm asking is if we believe that it is important to have those objective standards, to have them publicly posted, to have them be clear to potential applicants, should we in our recommendation to council make clear that our expectation is that within say a year of implementation, there will be a publicly posted policy uh and and the zoning administrator can update on us on that as we go along. I think that is a good idea. maybe not as a condition but kind of as a commentary or recommendation with it. So assuming we vote to recommend approval,

um I think you know providing a comment or background is is appropriate and I am so sorry I'm going to have to drop in the middle of this. No, that's okay. Thank you. We appreciate you making it. Have a good rest of your day. Commissioner Reppy.

Yeah, this is Commissioner Repy. I have a question maybe for the zoning administrator on procedure since this is an amended bill that's going to be going back to council. Can it be council then has to has to review it based off of our suggestion. If it's amended further and I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this. If it's amended by staff or whatever is is adding principles to it, is that a substantive change enough that would require coming back to this commission if you were to do it that way? Or could it be could the principles be added based on the recommendations coming from this group? Could those be brought in as a staff recommendation for council to adopt without it being substantial enough to come back to us?

Since I am three months in, I am going to defer to my senior planning manager. Sure. Yeah. So, um, once this is sent to council, assuming with a positive recommendation, there are they are they have the ability to make some changes. If it is a substantial change, it would have to come back. Now, of course, here we are in our legislative gray area when you're going to ask me what a substantial change is. I'm not. But,

um, but yeah, I mean, probably adding the detail you something like that as long would be generally keeping an intent. It would be keeping intent with the legislation. It would be further defining what that sort of principal use the principal activity is. It probably wouldn't need to come back to um back to planning commission. It would be in the spirit of what um commission approved. I mean maybe one one potential this is commissioner rep one comm one potential scenario could be if before it gets the council table for revote if there's an update that could be given to this body and if we're finding that it is you know that it is within line within within the intent of what our action ultimately turns out being today

then would that be enough to cover that you think yeah and I think and to sort of echo um uh commissioner O'Neal's concerns when planning when planning commission um makes a recommendation to council, right? Then they have to decide to act on that. Um, you know, again, if it's a positive recommendation, it's a it's a simple majority. Um, so when there's conditions that are on a bill, um, which planning commission has, um, the full the the latitude to make, power to make, um, if it's something that's like a year out, it just sort of it becomes more complicated with legislation because obviously council isn't going to wait a year to, you know, Excellent.

Yeah. Exactly. So again, yeah, if it was something that you wanted council determine that number before it went um or you know, worked with the zoning administrator and council staff to determine that number um or determine that policy. That would be something. But then it would probably delay that ultimate vote at um council. Again, it's all within the the purview, but um but yeah, that's certainly a small change like that would probably be fine. But yeah, anything anything that's going to be your recommendation to council, if it's something that we can measure and it will be in the time and determine whether or not um council agrees with it, um that's much more uh doable than having something that's like a year out.

And and just to be clear, my suggestion was not that you wait to implement it before setting the policy. I all I was saying is that we we have some sort of look back where we say okay by this time at least we hear that there is a standard that has that is now being applied and it's publicly available. So that that was all I'm saying not not delaying anything. Yep. That makes sense. Yeah. Okay. Commissioner Ktony, did you have a question or comment? Okay. All right. Um any other commission comments? If not, uh, do we have a motion from the floor to make a positive recommendation to send this to council? Sorry. I Yeah, go ahead. Additional I have I have a followup or question on the the motion if Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean what I was going to say is like can can we add to that motion the recommendation that you know within one year of implementation that there be standards posted publicly or at least there be some back and forth with this body about you know what the progress is on that. Uh I don't know the right way to word that. We probably think about the wording something like that. I was thinking something. Do we want to add in the recommendation or the the motion that the some statement that that zoning administrator continue to work on developing the the definitions of the definitions of principles and the standards through that with reporting to city council on that? Something to that effect.

Reporting to city council when this bill commission reporting back. Yeah. At some point. I like the idea of setting a time frame or not a time frame, but how about not a date, but a report back and official posting. Would that be um would that work? Okay, very good. The I think would be I'm sorry. The intent is keep this keep this bill moving forward. Correct. Allow staff to do their job

and then then but also let council know that we're expecting staff to do their job and take something more to council when it gets there. Well, I think they they wouldn't necessarily have to take it to council. It would just be an administrative policy, but but to present that to this commission within a year of the implementation of the bill. Okay. So, you just want a a motion for a positive recommendation on the floor with staff bringing back a final on any amendments that happen through council as it relates to this bill. Correct. No, I I would say what we want is a final we we want staff to get back to planning commission with final determinations of what policies are going to be applied, what objective standards are going to be used in the future to determine whether a business's principal use is

a vape shop. Okay, but that's what's unclear right now in the definition is how do you define principal use as a vape shop? And I do believe that there was um comment during presentation that you were still going to be working on it now as staff and with council as it relates and so can we so uh yeah and and to the zoning administrator's good suggestion here I think um ideally it would be to take a action on the um what you're going recommend to council. Okay.

Um which again it would presumably would be the positive recommendation and that would be you know that make sure it's clear that it's the version to be amended by substitute. And then I would take a second motion and say that the commission is asking um the zoning administrator and staff to report back within a year about the policies and you know how we've sort of promulgated those. Um, that would be clearer because then I think the uh that sort of further date isn't tied to the positive recommendation to council.

Right. That's fair and reasonable. That's what I'm trying to get at. That's a two-part and that that's good. Okay. So, commission, uh, we're going to break apart this recommendation. One part is a motion to do the recommendation to council. Uh, so can we vote on that at least first? Okay. So, Commissioner uh VAT's motion. Commissioner Kenttonia second. Um, and then I'll do roll call for that. Commissioner Burton Faulk. I Commissioner Hunt. Hi. Thank you. Commissioner Interiano. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. Hi. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Cantonia. Hi.

Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Repy. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Vatz. Hi. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker. Bye. Thank you. Okay. Part two is uh do we have a motion that we ask staff to come back within a one-year time frame and give commission an update as it relates. So move to All right. That's Commissioner Kelly. Second repy. Uh Commissioner Burton Faulk. I Commissioner Hunt. Hi. Thank you. Commissioner Interiano. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Kenttonia. Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Repy.

Hi. Thank you, Commissioner Vatz. Hi. Thank you. And Commissioner Walker. I I thank Thank you. I'm hearing that whisper. Okay. Uh so both parts move. Uh they pass. Thank you so much. Very good job. We'll move on to the next agenda item. So, appreciate you both. Um, agenda item E is the director's report and Mr. Dash was going to do that. I guess it's now you. It is now me. All right, sounds good.

Good afternoon. Um, apologies. We had about five other meetings scheduled at the same time and um, uh, Deputy Director J Dash had to run out to attend one of those. Um, so I will be making the director's report in hisstead. Um, and for the court reporter reminder, my name is Carolyn Risto. I am the zoning administrator. Um so it is a very busy and very exciting time for the department of city planning. Um we are um kicking off the latest phase of community engagement for our comprehensive plan. Starting um this Saturday. There are going to be 13 neighborhood meetings for PGH 2050. Um they are starting in the southern hilltop this Saturday and ending on April 30th in the north side. through um through the month of April. We are also reconvening the plans steering committee, government working group and topical f focus group. Also through the work in April, we will be discussing a preferred land use direction identifying how Pittsburgh neighborhoods are planned to change over the next 25 years. And this uh conversation will provide the backbone for the development of specific policies, strategies and actions that we are working to develop for the comprehensive plan. We will be giving an update to the commission throughout this process and looking for opportunities to discuss this further with you all in May. And that is the end of the notes I was provided with.

Well, thank you. Thank you. You did a fabulous job. Um, any questions or comments, commission? You you said update in May. What What is happening in May? If you don't know, it's okay. I I don't entirely know, but I would presume that we would be providing a report out what we heard during the community meetings. Got it. That's what Yeah, that's kind of what I'd assume from the the uh and that one is scheduled, I'm assuming. And then there will be many more. There are uh several more phases. Yes, several more. Right. Okay. Okay. Um, any other questions, comments, commission? Do we have a motion from the floor to adjourn because this is the end of our day. So, move. All right. All in favor? I

I Okay, we're out. Thank you for joining and staying online. Thank you. All right.