Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good job. We're going to leave that.

The longest one minute ever. All right. Okay. It is now 1 o'clock. Welcome to the Planning Commission meeting for September 8, 2026. My name is Vice Chair Rachel O'Neill, and we are here for the briefing portion of the meeting. During the briefing portion, we hear the presenters and take comments from the Commission. We do not hear public comment at this time. The briefing portion will be followed by the hearing and action portion, which begins at 2 p.m. or later. uh just before we get started i'll do a quick access check uh chair burton falk president commissioner hunt president commissioner interiano president commissioner kelly commissioner o'neill president commissioner cantania president commissioner repi commissioner vats president and oh hi commissioner walker Okay. During briefing today, we have three items. The first item is Council Bill 2026-0714. That's a zoning code text amendment regarding multi-suite residential uses in the UCE zoning district near the EMI zoning district. Item B in briefing is BDA-2026-02153. located at 2560 Smallman Street, and that is a six-story multi-unit residential development. And briefing item C is DCP-ZDR-2022-11848, located at 2329 Wharton Street. That involves a five-story multi-unit residential building. For the briefing portion, Chair Burton-Falk is going to take over with the introduction. I will be stepping out, but that is Council Bill 2026-0714. Thank you.

All right, as stated, this is a zoning code text amendment regarding multi-suite residential uses in the UCE zoning district near the EMI zoning district. In the urban center employment UCE zoning district. Presenting this afternoon is Ms. Ristow.

Good afternoon, commissioners, and welcome back after your long recess. It's great to see you all here again today. And we are starting off this fall with a zoning text amendment proposal. This is an amendment to the urban center employment zoning district of our zoning code. Oh, yes, I always forget I'm in charge of the clicker when I'm up here doing this. So we are going to be going over the timeline of this particular amendment, what the changes are proposed here, what the relationship is to the adopted Oakland neighborhood plan, and then the next steps for this amendment. This was introduced by Councilman Lavelle on July 7th as a text amendment. So this is a council initiated amendment. After consultation with the Department of City Planning, the council member then amended the legislation with language that we recommended to help it fit into the zoning code a little bit better than the original draft. So that was proposed, that was amended by substitute on July 22nd. And so the amended version is the one that is before us today. so as i mentioned this is an amendment to the urban center employment zoning district the this district is one of our base zoning districts it's one of our newer districts so at this point in time it is currently only located in oakland but it was developed and designed with the intent that it could it could expand to other parts of the city One of the features of this is the protection of space for employment. And so the residential, the standards for residential development are a little more specific than we find in most of our districts. The bottom item here on this slide is what is currently allowed for residential uses in this district. So residential development is allowed in the UCE if it is 100% affordable units or if it is part of a mixed-use building and the residential portion is less than 50% of the gross floor area. this both of these limitations apply to multi-unit residential as well as multi-suite residential so yeah that's the sort of the base existing conditions for this district the amendment is to allow additional residential options but again continuing to have some restrictions and some limitations on that so the proposal is that any zoning lot in the uce that is partially or wholly within 100 feet of an emi zoning district is allowed to have up to 100 of the gross floor area as multi-suite residential only And so this means that our EMI district is where the university campuses are, it's where hospital campuses are. And so the goal is to allow multi-suite residential uses adjacent to campuses is the intent of this legislation. And so it's limited to the multi-suite residential and does not apply to multi-unit residential. So we have a map here. Again, the UCE is currently only in Oakland. So this is the extent of the green areas are the extent of the UCE zoning districts at this point in time. The blue overlay is that 100 foot buffer from an EMI district. And then the dark green, almost black looking parcels are the parcels that would then qualify to have up to 100% of a building to be multi-suite residential. And as the criteria for zoning text amendments includes ensuring compliance with any officially adopted plans, staff did review this proposal against the adopted Oakland neighborhood plan. AND OUR ANALYSIS IS THAT THIS IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE PLAN AS IT IS ENCOURAGING HOUSING GROWTH, WHICH IS A GOAL OF OAKLAND'S PLAN AND SPECIFICALLY THE GOAL OF DIVERSE HOUSING CHOICES TO SERVE VARIANT DEMOGRAPHICS AND INCLUDING HOUSING IN PROXIMITY TO TRANSIT AND INSTITUTIONAL CAMPUSES. Again, as mentioned earlier, the intent of this district is while allowing housing to also limit residential to make sure that there is still opportunity for employment uses here, which is the intent of the buffer to again, allow to find that balance between allowing housing of varied types, varying income accessibility near institutions while also preserving parts of the district for employment uses. So next steps. We have this scheduled for hearing and action at our next meeting on September 22nd, at which point in time public testimony is taken both in person and online. We also accept written comments up until that hearing at Planning Commission at pittsburghpa.gov. Our assumption is that at that hearing, U.S. Planning Commission would take action, at which point the legislation is then sent back to City Council with whatever your recommendation is. And if it's a positive recommendation, then city council just needs a majority to pass it. If planning commission makes a negative recommendation or adds conditions, city council would need a super majority to vote in a way different than your recommendation. And that is the end of our presentation. So this was a nice, short, sweet package, unlike the ones that we saw earlier this year.

Well, thank you so much, Ms. Rizdow, for the presentation. At this time, we do not open the floor for any public questions, but we do open the floor for questions and comments from commission. Commissioners, here's the interesting thing. Oh, now I can see all of you. Okay. I was going to say I could see Hollywood squares, but I can't see you all. Are there any questions or comments as it relates to today's zoning code text amendment presentation? Doesn't look like I'm seeing any. Nope, no comments, nope. All right, well, thank you so much. And we'll see this back as Ms. Ristow explained next session. So we are going to ask Vice Chair O'Neill to come on back in, and then she'll continue with the briefing items here this afternoon. All right, Vice Chair O'Neill.

Sorry about that.

Sorry about the coffee.

I'm sorry. I made a mess.

All right. You can roll right into briefing item B.

Perfect, thank you. Next item up for briefing is BDA-2026-02153, located at 2560 Smallman Street. And this is a six-story multi-unit residential development in the Striff District. Introducing the project is Mr. Johnson.

afternoon commissioners an application for a project development plan bda 2026-02153 was submitted by po h and w architecture on behalf of the property owner for the renovation of in addition to four-story building for use as a multi-residential totaling six floors with 38 units a connected two-floor parking structure contains 68 parking spaces The project will demolish the one and two story portion of the building lot. PLI has approved the demolition permit. Projects in a RIV zoning district are subject to zoning standards and 905.04 of the zoning code, which included build to zone, 10 foot sidewalk width, and the design standards of 905.04G, all reviewed by staff. applicant was notified by the department of mobility and infrastructure of the curb cut permit and a right-of-way plan required for all new cards all new sidewalk and curb bump out work approval of these will be a condition before issuing a record of zoning approval the zoning administrator will view review an exception submitted by the applicant to the off-street loading standards of section 914.10.a This exception allows the applicant to provide two loading parking spaces on the street along Smallman at least 30 feet from the stop sign. The applicant is providing 11th Street trees along Smallman Street and 26th Street in compliance with the code. An alternative compliance agreement for landscaping and screening standards will be submitted by the applicant for review and approval by the zoning administrator for alternative tree spacing. On July 16th, 2026, the applicant requested a variance from section 905.04.I.1B to allow for a parking structure on the subject property that would accommodate a total of 60 parking spaces. On August 28th, 2026, an approval was granted by the board. The project was presented to contextual design advisory panel on April 14th, 2026. A summary is attached to this report. building height is 74 feet 2 inches which requires two bonus points as maximum height and the riv zoning district is 60 feet the applicant will need to demonstrate which bonus points from the list under 905.04k they will pursue in order to build to this proposed height further detailed drawings of the parking structure will be submitted and reviewed as parking areas must be screened on all sides at a minimum of 42 inches and minimum 80 opacity A construction management plan is required and will be reviewed by Domi and the zoning administrator. There are no registered community organizations for this neighborhood. There is an outstanding matter regarding the stormwater permit requirement. No hearing and action for Planning Commission will be scheduled until this is resolved. Under Section 905.04 , the Planning Commission shall review a project development plan according to the criteria listed in 922.10e.2 attached to this report. The applicant provided a memo indicating how the proposed development meets the criteria. That memo is attached to this report. I will now turn it over to the applicant. Is the applicant team online? Danielle? One second, Danielle. should be Danielle Mercer.

Okay, no, no.

There's two Danielle Mercer's. There's two now. I just said her last question.

Looks like one of us are now on. I apologize. We were looking to get it. We're unable to speak.

So I see this is Tom Ayoub. Can everyone hear me?

Yes, we can hear you, Mr. Ayoub, and we can hear Mr. Wright.

Good. Good afternoon. I'm the attorney for the landowner. Mr. Wright is the architect for the project in his office. is danielle who is going to be making the presentation uh so i see that she is on but maybe not yet fully connected yeah we're trying to work out getting her connection at this point there was also supposed to be john watson the developer, the principal of the landowner who's to join the call as well, but I don't see him on the Zoom meeting.

Yeah, he was watching as well, so you probably need access.

Yeah, can he be elevated to a participant as well, please?

He was just added as a panelist.

Thank you.

I don't know if you heard that, but just added as a panelist.

Great, thank you. Great, thank you.

Hello?

Can everyone hear me? Yes, we can. Perfect. Okay, so as Christian had explained, this project is on 26th and Smallman Streets on the corner and we are reusing a four-story existing brick structure and then adding two additional levels on top of that for a total of 38 units with one elevated of parking. So this will be 38 privately owned condominium units with 68 parking spaces to accommodate one space for one bedroom, two spaces for two bedroom and over with two regular parking spaces. The units range in size from 850 square feet to the largest unit, four bedrooms at 4,750. So we can go to the next slide. So this is the existing structure as it stands. We're going to try to reuse all of the existing openings for balconies and windows that replicate more of a warehouse style to fit into the context of the neighborhood. Can we go to the next slide? So shown here is what we are proposing. As you see, there's a mix of warehouse style windows, some more modern windows with more clean lines on the top, which has metal panels. It'll be concealed metal panels with a mix of different colors, some metal mesh railings, some nice roof terrace areas for those townhouse units. So those that you're seeing above the existing four-story structure are two-story townhome units with roof terraces, which are directed towards looking at the city. As you can see at the base, we have a little bit of a step up at the units. So it's up a little bit higher than the pedestrian view for those units. And so we're going to repoint, clean up the brick, the existing brick. And next slide. So again, this is a corner of the existing project at 26th and Smallman, just showing the windows and the existing brick that we are reusing. On the bottom at Smallman Street, you can see we're going to be punching larger openings instead of using these, but we are going to use the existing window height for those areas. Next slide. And that is shown in this rendering. You can see there's will be some more contextual images coming up. But again, this is taking you to the next slide. This is the existing 26th Street elevation with the loading dock. And you can see a little bit to the left that gravel lot and the two-story building that's going to be demolished in this phase and replaced with a one elevated parking deck. Next slide. Okay. And this is the updated rendering of what we're proposing. As you can see a little glimpse of the parking structure on the side with its screening, we're going to have some direct access stairs from that parking level down to the Main entrance was just shown here with the canopy more towards the right and then towards the left. There is the stair entrance This is where the street trees and we have some vegetation covering over there. Yep, you can go next slide, please Okay, and this is the existing corner on 26th and alley at Mulberry Way This is showing the existing gravel lot and the existing two-story structure that's being demolished. The four-story L-shaped brick building is remaining. Next slide. And this is just showing our proposed parking structure up one elevated level, screening with some vegetation. We'll carry that screening over to the far side on the left. which isn't shown here, the other two sides above the building. And we're trying to reuse the openings, as I had mentioned earlier, and there's a mix of balcony insets and large expanses of glass. Okay, next slide. And this is more of a contextual image of how it relates to the heights of the surrounding buildings. As you can see, there's a mix of metal and modern materials, as well as the brick surrounding warehouse style buildings. So it fits in with the neighborhood as well as the height. Next slide. This is just another view showing how it fits in with the context. With it, we have some of the warehouse style windows represented, inset balconies, and you can see it's pretty much close to the relation of the building across the street height-wise and the neighboring buildings.

Next.

And this is just a view looking down 26, I mean, looking down Smallman Street towards 26 and showing the neighboring buildings and how it fits into the context. This was also presented to the context design advisory panel. This is just a character shot of our rooftop townhome units. You can see there's a mix of roof terrace areas. There's lots of light filtering into these units and views to the city. Next. We're going to go quickly through the floor plans. This is the basement unit. where we're showing some wine storage, a fitness center, storage lockers for the privately owned units, a dog wash area, and some additional bike storage. Next slide. Okay, and this is the main floor plan, basically showing how we have some interior parking spaces, about 18 interiors parking spaces, and 50 parking spaces total on the in the exterior parking garage um if you zoom in a little bit christian you can see down towards smallman we have the units along smallman street we have a a nice lobby lounge and seating area with a side entry off of 26. we have additional interior bike storage for bike racks. And then we have the city standard bike parking that is located in the interior garage space. We also have a common space right across from the elevator lobby. And there's about four units on the ground level. The mix of one and two bedroom on this level. Okay, next slide. This is just showing basically a typical floor plate, which has a three-bedroom unit, I think the three bedrooms towards the corner on 26th and Smallman, and some two-in-one bedroom units, as well as the automated unit storage that's along the right-hand side. You can see there's the inset terrace areas within each one of the units. Okay, next slide. This is showing the rooftop level five off the existing building, and this is showing the ground floor of those two-story townhome units. Right by the elevator across, you'll see there's an outdoor amenity space for all the owners to use. And there's some pretty lush areas for these one-bedroom units as well. Those are all terrace areas with some greenery screening the parking below. Next slide. And this is just showing an upper floor plate of those two-story townhome units along Malmond. So that we're currently showing like an open to the lows. There's an open space looking below. and multi-level of roof terrace spaces. Next slide. And this is showing basically the rooftop terrace spaces of those units. So we have a small stair and a storage area for each of those, as well as some outdoor terrace space. Okay, next slide. This is showing some just general sections of the building. As Christian had described earlier, we're looking to get two bonus points in order to meet the height requirements. I think we're at 74.2, so we'll need those two bonus points height. So we're looking at using rainwater and proximity to transit within those. So you'll just see the various floor plates for the residential. as well as the parking garage area. Okay, next slide.

That's the final slide, Danielle.

Oh, okay. Lauren or John, if anyone wants to add anything to the presentation?

Not this time. Just note that we have taking the consideration the 10 foot step back to reach and to meet the city requirements i think that's demonstrated through our sections that should help you understand that we are trying to comply accordingly with the height when we add these structures on the top great thank you does that conclude your presentation well the only thing that i might add this is john watson from fourth river development it were the mr watson i'm sorry could you speak up a little bit you're a little quiet okay um

Does this help at all, hearing me? Yes. Okay. I just wanted to add that the presentation, I think, shows it very well, but the idea is that this is an adaptive reuse and not a teardown of a building that is about 100 years old. We don't have confirmation of the exact date of it from the seller. But I think it's important to note the fact that we're trying to completely reuse the shell of this L-shaped building. The addition that was put on probably in 1960 or 1950 is what we're removing to allow for the parking garage. And as Danielle described, part of the parking is in the building and part of the parking is in the new structure. So the idea of of keeping the look and feel of what was here and. Modernizing it with, um, the town homes on the roof. It's just a, a function of trying to bring. Some good and, uh, proper living. To the strip district with ample. Parking so as not to interfere with the parking requirement. Um. that the community group has asked us to to help facilitate getting more parking for this project um and so we feel we meet that i i don't there's not much more that i can add from the presentation but um yeah i think it's important to note the reuse of the existing building thank you at this time we do not take public testimony but we do open up the floor for commissioner comments commissioners

seeing none in the room commissioner burton paul please go right there uh quick question uh thank you mr watson for sharing that this is a an adaptive reuse uh and i i definitely appreciate that um did you do storm water did you do the storm water review on this given you're doing adaptive reuse

So I can address that. That would be fine. That's an open item that needs to be addressed. Christian Johnson, a summary indicated that the stormwater is outstanding. What we're dealing with is there's the 1960 addition in the back was not really the same quality of construction as this large L shaped brick building. And the plan is if you can show, keep scrolling through, please. There it is. That kind of grayed out area with some graffiti on is the lower building. That is to be demolished down to, but retaining the slab underneath it. The parking lot on the corner there, is stone and concrete it's compacted impervious stone the goal is to put a parking structure on site where that building and that existing parking lot is we're working with the city on whether storm water management plan is needed we believe what we're dealing with is a scenario there will be no modification of storm water on site impervious surface is being replaced with impervious surface We're not changing the direction, rate, or volume of flow in any manner. There's a concept that has been outlined to us by the city regarding the milling and overlaying. As long as you are not disrupting subgrade structures when you remove concrete pad and replace it with another concrete pad, stormwater is not needed. There is a level of disturbance that's I think about 550 square feet below grade for the foundation relating to the parking structure. And the goal is to work with the city to more fully explain what I just stated to make sure it's consistently shown in all of our submission and plans so that stormwater will not be needed because it's not being impacted by the development.

So are you saying that the city has agreed that it's not needed or you're saying that you hope that, I'm only asking because I'm wondering from a timeline, would that be something that we'd understand prior to when you come back?

Well, the city has told us that it has to be addressed prior to us coming back. And we believe we are compliant. I don't believe the city understands our position yet and we're hoping to have a meeting to go over it so that we could better understand the viewpoint of the city officials and they could better understand what I just in a very summarily, very summary way explained to you. we think uh it does not necessitate a stormwater management plan because of no change to what's being done to the impervious surfaces on the site nor any subgrade disturbance in excess of 5 000 square feet i believe that we've been scheduled for tomorrow oh that's great that's good the goal is to have this clarified before we come to final

Excellent. Well, that'll be fantastic. I like what you have here. There's no doubt about that. I always feel good about adaptive reuse. Very sharp. Just would like to understand where we are with that stormwater would be really nice. So I don't have any additional questions. So I'll kick it back over to you, Vice Chair O'Neill.

Thank you, Mr cantonia yes, thank you so much good afternoon, so this is quite an exciting project and it's fantastic to see, of course, a building being reuse. funny enough that slide right there is perfect, because I did want to just to ask you right behind this right next to this this. pizza place that I often go to and visit so already imagined that you guys are taking are doing more than just the fancy doing some sort of planting that grows on the fence or is it just going to be the shrubs that you see there.

Uh, right now that's a 5 foot kind of planting buffer strip on the 26 side. Yeah, we, we will while this image depicts that you can see through to the cars, we will meet the city standard for up to 42 inches of 80% opacity. We may have a different panel allows it to go a little bit more above that on the lower level of the parking structure. We're still working through that, but we will comply. We don't really have, we didn't really go to the idea of having. for example vining or anything that goes up the side of that because frankly it's seasonally based and doesn't look all the great when it gets into winter time anyway so right we figured a more thoughtful structure and a more thoughtful approach of how we deal with the screening that same screening is also going to translate to how we deal with the balconies so it'll be uniform to the building and uniform to the overall site we think that'll present just a general better aesthetic

I see. Well, thanks so much for that. And then my final, well, two more questions, if I may. One is lighting. So this area tends to be a little dark at night. I would imagine that you guys are going to have a lighting plan for the walls and also this wall of the garage.

yeah we have the intention of having not just safe lighting but lighting that complements the building uh we're still working through that this time but we would not want it to be something that bleeds out either we want to be very tasteful for the site and conscious of those residents that are looking back onto the site as you can see from this view uh so yes there are plans for that and uh we're still working through with the developer and the owner for that and great thank you it's we're very conscious of that need to be uh handled

Fantastic. Thank you. And then my final question was, you did say that there was a bike parking in the building, right? Yes. Okay, great. And that was it. Thank you.

then i think i just have one final question following up on commissioner cantina's question i understand with this rendering you're showing us kind of how the parking area is going to work but that for the city code this does need to be more opaque in screening those cars and that you're still working on that if when you come back to us if you could give us more details about that screening so we could better evaluate it uh particularly from the pedestrian walkway area there is a good amount of pedestrian traffic there walking to that restaurant and uh between the other parts of the strip so we certainly want to make sure that it's an enjoyable experience we will absolutely thank you all right without any further commissioner comments we will see you back here tbd great thank you thank you very much thank you all right the next item up for briefing is dcp-zdr-2022-11848 located at 2329 morton street this involves a five-story multi-unit residential building in the south side and discussing that project is mr fraker

Good afternoon, commissioners. I'll read in the report and then turn it over to the applicant team for the presentation. Project Development Plan DCP ZDR 2022-11848 filed by Buchanan, Ingersoll, and Rooney on behalf of Gray Star Development East LLC, the equitable owner of the property, for the demolition of existing buildings on site and new construction of a five-story multi-unit residential building in the Southside Flats neighborhood. the site is currently vacant but was previously used for industrial purposes including a paper recycling plant owned by the atlas waste company this application was originally submitted in 2022 but has remained on hold due to an appeal of the zoning board of adjustments 2022 decision to grant a variance for the project Separate agreements between the various parties were eventually negotiated, which is allowing the project to proceed now. Those agreements have resulted in some changes to the original proposal, including the removal of residential units at the ground level along Wharton Street and an increase in the number of garage parking spaces. per section 905.04.C.3 of the zoning code. Project development plan review is required for all new construction of 15,000 square feet or more. This project is 370,000 square feet. The project will have 365 units and 311 parking spaces at the ground level podium garage. A residential lobby is proposed along the corner of 23rd Street and the Wharton Street facade with additional residential amenity space on the fifth floor and second floor on the river. on the river facing facade. The building will have two interior courtyards that are entirely enclosed and a third that will be open on the 24th Street facade. The garage will have two access points, one on 23rd Street and one on 24th Street. Bike parking is provided within a bike room at ground level and exterior spaces are provided in front of the residential lobby. The application has been determined to be compliant with the riverfront industrial mixed use district standards. City planning staff have a few outstanding items that are remaining to be resolved, as noted in your report. The stormwater management permit for the site is currently under review and the transportation impact study is also currently under review by staff, the project received a variance for building length over 500 feet. The applicant must agree to certain conditions per that decision, a copy of the zoning board of adjustment decision is attached to your report. A settlement agreement was negotiated between the City and Zoning Board of Adjustment and a group of appellant neighbors who expressed concerns over traffic, parking and safety issues. That agreement includes but is not limited to action items summarized within your report. Those include a reduction in the overall unit count from 378 to 365 units, an increase in the onsite parking from 290 to 311 spaces, and that Gray Star must submit a plan to the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for two speed humps on Sydney Street between 23rd Street and 25th Street. and that residents of the development will be prohibited from participating in the residential permit parking area KK. A consent order and agreement with Alloy MAM Partners and Gray Star Development was also entered into as part of that agreement. Details of that agreement are outlined in your report. They include that Gray Star Development removed 12 on-street parking spaces and two bump-outs along Wharton Street, which they have done in compliance with that agreement. The agreement also states that if during the project development plan process it is determined that the configuration noted in one of the exhibits um inhibits llm's vehicle traffic that graystar may reduce the width of the sidewalk on wharton street from the 10 and 10 feet that is currently being proposed uh during the Project development plan process, Grace Gar must also provide a construction management plan that ensures alloy man's truck and vehicle loading dock access remains during the construction period. The applicant has submitted this to us and is compliant. Two development activities meetings have been held for this project with the Southside Community Council. One was in November of 2022, and the other was in August 2026. A copy of both of those reports are attached. The application was reviewed by the Contextual Design Advisory Panel on August 5th, and a copy of that report is also attached. With that, I'll turn it over to the applicant team.

I see a persona .

I have a .

Thank you, Joe. Good afternoon. My name is Sean Gallagher with Buchanninger, Soule and Rooney on behalf of the applicant Gray Star Development. I'll kick things off and then I'll before passing the baton on to our architect HCM and our project engineer, Kim Lee Horn. It is really a pleasure to be here today. This is a redevelopment project that is more than a decade in the works. After all this time and effort, it is really gratifying to be here and see this get to one step closer to a reality. So, hold on.

That makes sense.

As you can see just from the cover page, the project is on Warden Street in the south side. Everyone I'm sure is familiar with this area. It's a former industrial site and just spectacular views of the city right adjacent to the water. So as Mr. Fraker was saying, this is a former industrial complex. It's been, the building was built in 1941. It's a former paper waste facility. It's been vacant for more than 10 years. It's a visual blight. You can see there's no redeeming qualities of the existing building. It's 588 feet and takes the entire block. So the plan is, the current plan is to demolish it. Yep, gotcha. And replace it with a beautiful five-story multi-unit residential building, which HCM will go over in a second here. So as Joe had mentioned, there was this project, just for background purposes, There was a little bit of litigation involved with this. We received zoning approval in 2023. There were two separate appeals that went to the Court of Common Pleas and then on to the Commonwealth Court. um prior to getting to a resolution with the help of councilman charlin's office all the parties came together uh and were able to find a workable solution um i believe the councilman will be here next week or in two weeks to discuss that and hopefully some of the uh appellants will as well but uh you know we we met weekly for a couple months uh the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure and Department of City Planning were heavily involved. And as Joe mentioned, I won't go through them all, we were able to find a workable solution for everybody. So with that, I will kick it off to Chris Harvey.

Thanks, Sean. Again, my name's Chris Harvey. I'm a design principal at HCM Architects. Excited to be kind of walking you through the project today. We had some great meetings with CDAP and the community. really productive meetings and crafting the building, listening to them. I'll touch on a little of that today. And this first slide just kind of shows big picture in this image. Wharton is kind of on your right, going up left to right. The bridge is kind of in the front here where this little blue building is. And we do these diagrams just to kind of give a party or an idea about the building. This is a really amazing neighborhood south side. But as Sean mentioned, getting down to this site, it really drops off pretty quickly. And it's a bit of a bit forgotten and forlorn down there. So it's really going to add some activity and excitement. We're excited about what this is going to do because it is an amazing site, as Sean mentioned. So again, along Wharton Street, we have a piece of the architecture that really responds to this Southside neighborhood. There's a lot of great cues and richness of that neighborhood that we want to build in. This is a different scale building. We're aware of that, but we want to kind of make sure that it fits in and is a great neighbor. And then along the bridge, we have these kind of signature pieces. I think it was mentioned that our courtyard opens on 24th. It actually opens on 23rd, which is the bridge size. So that's really important for this project. We wanted to make sure that it kind of is engaging to this community. It's not just a bunch of closed off courtyards, but our amenity spaces kind of open out to these great views of the city. As you're passing by in the bridge, you're going to get a glimpse into this activity of the courtyard. And there's some other great amenity space that you're going to see as kind of a marker or a threshold onto the bridge. It's going to be a real gateway piece, which we're excited about. And then the riverside, a little bit different language. Again, that is less of a public zone. There's kind of a drop off to the train tracks before you hit the river. We will have it fenced. There is going to be a fire lane back there. But from a distance and driving and seeing it from the other side of the Mon, you know, it's going to be exciting. So we broke it up. staggered the building and we wanted this to really feel coming in over the bridge. This is again, something that really fits into this neighborhood. I'll show you some of those images. You can go to the next one. I'll just walk through some of these aerial shots before we get into a little bit more detail. So this is a view from 24th Street, which is in the foreground. Looking back, it just kind of shows you this great city view. You can see our courtyard in the distance there is opening up to the bridge. You know, again, the bridge is pretty spectacular with a city beyond it. So and the river views are going to be phenomenal as well. So fantastic sight. There is a little bit more of this industrial right across the street. That's Wharton Street right in the front. You know, but we really believe that this neighborhood, you know, this will be a real key parcel to bring other development into the area and make it a great walkable area. Wharton Street, as a lot of you know, continues in the distance, goes underneath the bridge as a path and a bike path. And it goes over to the Giant Eagle. which is just in the neighborhood, a grocery store. So there's some great amenities. And obviously Southside Works is just in front of this really close. So really great amenities for walking and biking to this site. And go to the next one. And this is kind of showing you from the bridge looking down. You can see there's this existing parking lot, again, not part of our property, that's in the front of this building. But as you come down 23rd Street, which is this street that parallels the bridge, again, currently it kind of just leads you into kind of a, somewhat of an industrial barren landscape. So we're really excited. What it's showing here is this building, as I mentioned, where our courtyard opens. It's also going to be at the end of 23rd Street. It's going to be our lobby. So we have a two-story lobby. I'll show you more close-up views of that. A two-story lobby right when you come down the street on the corner of Warden and 23rd Street. And we also have this great amenity space. You can keep it here. You can go to the next one. This is just kind of a closeup of that view. So the lobby, we're gonna show you that in a sec, is right to the right of this. And we have this great amenity space right before you go over the bridge, that top floor is an additional amenity space. So we have a great outdoor terrace and these are for the residents to kind of come out know how you know catch that great view that you just saw looking back to the city um and again this will be lit at night it'll be animated there'll be um activity down here and again that's that opening that i was referencing that looks into our courtyard where the pool is going to be and gets this great kind of western light coming into our courtyard um not just the views but it opens that courtyard to some some great light And this is, you know, access to our parking. We are going to have some bike areas here. Again, some of the concerns with the city is making sure that there's not just a bike room, but some other accessible bike areas because this is on a bike path. So we're going to have a great little area out in front of the building for some bikes right near our lobby as well. You can go to the next one. This shot shows, go back, yep. This one shows, so Wharton is on the right, 23rd is on the left. Where I was mentioning there's gonna be a little outdoor bike area there. And this is our two-story lobby. There's gonna be a great stair that leads you up, the residence. And all of that second floor over the parking level is all-amendancy space as well. That's gonna be our fitness center and work-from-home kind of area for residents to be here. That's pretty popular now. And you can kind of see in the distance that kind of two-story amenity space. So we're really kind of spreading out that activity of the building. Again, we don't like to hide them and put them in a courtyard, but we really want to put them out. So this really feels like it just changes this neighborhood completely. You can go to the next one. And one thing that was really important to us, you know, I had mentioned it as well as we knew for the community is, yes, this is a five-story building. Most of the context coming down to this on Southside, as a lot of you know, are two, three-story houses, but it's every style imaginable. There's mansard roofs, there's siding, there's brick, there's industrial buildings, there's a little of everything. So this, we wanted to, this is a very long building, as we mentioned. So we wanted to make sure that it was broken up. So we we introduced different profiles on the roof line so it wasn't just one continuous cornice line again that's kind of documented in the design guidelines we have to follow those breaks but we went a little bit further than that and did different style window openings two-story reads one-story reads punched openings uh two-story reads at the top versus one story and then this kind of head house that i was mentioning where the lobby is on the left that's kind of a special piece that's going to be a little unique. And it creates a little bit of a bookend down Wharton. It's a long street, so we like the idea. And I'm going to talk about that in a little bit. There are access points for the residents to come in on both sides, 23rd or 24th Street. We want people to be able to go over to Southside Works or go to the grocery store just to be able to move through from this building out into the neighborhood. And also how we treated this facade. This is facing the neighborhood. So we are bringing the brick all the way to the ground. We are bringing the highest quality materials. Yes, there is a garage that is going to be exposed. It was one of the comments through the community and CDAP that we consider even breaking up the mesh grid. So it kind of highlights, you can see the different, there's almost three different building styles along this facade that are broken by these vertical breaks. one of the suggestions was how about if the the mesh you know to screen that garage um was was varied and different as it goes through so we we introduced that i'll show you a little snippet of that so there's going to be even variety in how we do our screening uh as you're walking down the street lighting was brought up previously we were going to have some great sidewalk lighting we know now this is a very dark area so we want to make this feel really comfortable and And again, the two ends of this building will be lobbies and bike rooms and other things. You can go to the next one. And this is kind of looking downward from the other view, kind of looking west towards the city. So it's just giving you a little bit of an idea, you know, the center section. I talked about the bookends on the left and right. We brought the brick all the way to the top of the building. It has a little bit more of that industrial vibe that you might see. You know, in this neighborhood, there's some great old historic buildings. um that exist here so there's a little uh a little nod to that as as well as some of these other languages and you can see some of that screening that i was just referencing and the lighting um and obviously we're going to have all the landscape following the um the recommendations of the city uh trees street trees uh on a regular cadence through here uh and landscaping you can go to the next one So this is showing coming down 24th Street, and we do have a bike room. So, you know, it was mentioned before that the community wanted us to remove some of the walk-up units, but we felt really important that this corner here, just like the other corner on 23rd, would be glowing at night and would be animated. And sometimes these bike rooms are even better than retail. It might close at 6 or 7 at night. They're lit all night long. There's people in there. There'll be a bike working station in there, a little lounge for people to work on their bikes. We also have a resident entry right to the left. You see that door. We have a nice little canopy over that. So it's going to be a very visible entry. Again, folks are going to leave here from this building and head over to Southside Works or walk up into the neighborhood. So we like the idea that this is also going to be, you know, a quieter lobby than the main one, but it's going to be something that is visible and kind of anchors this end of the building. And again, you can see the language. We have this kind of two-story reed and then a kind of a three-story brick reed here. So we're really kind of mixing up the variety of the skin of the building. You can go to the next one. as we get around to the riverside one of the comments uh that we focused on from the community in the city was just making sure you know we we changed some of the material we have masonry at the base and up above we brought in some cementitious other materials a little bit more cost savings but kept the same language of architecture but they wanted to see the detailing of that so We are working on those details. We're submitting some of this. Just how we do. They want to just make sure that the quality of that was done right. So there's going to be trim pieces around this. It's not going to just look like an inexpensive treatment on here. And you can see how we've even stepped this facade. We actually have some of our better units. This is facing the river in the city view. So as it steps, it gives all these units. And you can see these corner units with these balconies. Just really fantastic views back. to the city skyline um and the views of the river so we've got lots of balconies over here i think and even terraces on our parking deck so it's going to be very quiet here there's a lot of green vegetation between this and the river and the railroad tracks but it will be um really fantastic and again Much like I was talking about the other side, this building steps, the cornice line does break. It won't look like one continuous facade that runs along here. You can go to the next facade. And we use the same screening on this facade as well. And getting back, this is that kind of top floor, that amenity room. The bridge is right to the right. So as you're coming over the bridge, which as you all know is kind of raised, it's almost at the third level of this building, you're kind of looking right up to that amenity area. And that'll always be lit. Very welcoming. We love the idea that it's going to give this kind of marker gateway when you come over into the south side neighborhood. We think it'll be a pretty cool amenity space. A little bit distant view. You're seeing some of that vegetation of the trees. It's really heavily treed between the river and our project. And then it comes up. So our project is kind of going to be sliding out of that. You see that amenity space, the open courtyard, that kind of glow of our lobby space right at the end of 23rd and Wharton. And then you see the neighborhood beyond. And we're very careful. No worries, you can go on. There were comments about screening mechanical units and we've incorporated all that and how we're doing our parapets. It's something that we're going to be very careful of because you are elevated on that bridge right there. And again, just quickly through the plans, it shows the lobby on the left of 23rd Street, shows the lobby on the right where that bike room was I was mentioning. That's a two-story lobby space on the left in a really super efficient garage. And that was important because the community really wanted us to park this. They didn't want to have you know, people parking in the neighborhood. So we did a really super efficient garage. You can see our fire lane on the north page, north side of this as well, and our servicing off of 24th Street behind that bike room and behind that lobby space that we're discussing. You can go to the next one. Again, just shows you the amenity on top. This is the podium level where we have these three courtyards, the one on the left opening to the city. And our amenity space is up there. So you will go out, access to the pool. We also have these great outdoor areas for the residents to kind of hang out out there. So it's going to be a real active area that we're liking. You can go to the next one. That's the typical plan. Next one shows this amenity space on that upper part of the plan, that kind of orange area. That's that top floor amenity with that big terrace. Just some simple elevations, you know, that kind of show how we broke it up, the different colors that we're bringing into the project, which, again, was all brought from the neighborhood. This kind of crazy palette that we found in the neighborhood. We documented it. We've incorporated it. Even the community embraced that, which was great to hear. You can go to the next one. Riverside facade, keep going. And it's just some simple sections. You know, we had a 60 foot height limit. So this was a lot to get in with this height. It shows you that parking level, that top and the bottom, one large podium with these different courtyards cut through. And you can also see on that top one, this is kind of looking back at the city or the bridge in the distance. So you see how our amenity space that you'd enter from 23rd and Wharton goes up and over, spills out to that courtyard. And then we have that other So again, as everybody's driving by, you're going to see a lot of the activity of the building, which we think is going to be helpful. Quickly, we dug deep into our masonry. As I mentioned, we're using a lot of beautiful materials, especially along all of the public sides of the building. We've got some metal panel. We've got three different types of masonry, kind of a light masonry, a red brick, and then kind of a deeper colored masonry as well. And then some of the sematicious is on the right, which again, pulls in that palette. And we're doing a different variety of textures with that. It's not all just... Lap, it sometimes is vertical. Board and bat and lap, it's a mix of things that we're doing to create this kind of variety in the building. These are just the different elevations that show you how we use all those materials in different places. And then this was that kind of a diagram of the different meshes, the three different buildings on Wharton Street are the upper images, as I was referencing, and then the images below are just this, you know, the 80% opacity, which you heard in the last presentation, we have to do that as well. And so I thought it was a great comment. Hey, how about if you change that up as the buildings change? So there will be kind of variety. We want that to be important as you move along. It just doesn't feel, and even the opening sizes change as you go from building size to building size. So it gives you a taste of that. And again, just some other details and how we broke up the building, follow the, you know, the design guidelines, just the window trim detailing, as I was mentioned, that was a comment from the city and the community. So we're kind of going through and addressing all of those, those details now. Thanks, Chris. Got it. All right, Shelly.

Hey, can everyone hear me? Yep. Perfect. Hi, I'm Shelly Parekh. I'm at Kilmeade Horn. Gonna touch really quickly on some of the civil aspects of the project. And Joe's already mentioned a few of these features, but it's going street by street starting on South 23rd, which Chris mentioned is our primary street, our lobbying leasing area. That street also has our garage access. It features the 10 foot sidewalks. It also has larger than the minimum tree pit sizing. We are using five by 10 tree pits. and features the outdoor bike racks on that side. Moving down to Wharton Street, that is where we have some areas for public parking, also multiple tree pits that are larger than the minimum size. And that's also where we're going to provide the trash pickup area. And then on South 24th, similarly, we have 10-foot sidewalks. And then on that side, we also have a loading dock and the garage entry and exit there. And in the rear of the site, we are featuring just a fire access lane. This is really not meant to be used for any of the residents. It will be restricted access with collapsible bollards. And we've been coordinating with the fire marshal to make sure we're meeting all of their requirements. We do plan on providing street lighting all the way around the site, including in that rear of fire lane as well. As far as traffic goes with 365 units, we understand that we will be generating trips as compared to the current state, but we are coordinating additional stop signs and speed humps with Domi. So we are just talking to them, making sure we're meeting all their needs. Next slide, please. Touching on stormwater, we are proposing four different kinds of stormwater control measures for our site. On the South 23rd Northwest corner, there is a small surface level bioretention area. And then within the footprint of the building, as well as under that fire lane, we are gonna have two underground MRCs. And then finally on that level two courtyard area, there's gonna be dedicated space in each of the courtyards for a green roof as well. So we are able to meet all city of Pittsburgh and PADEP requirements with these stormwater control features. We've already submitted for the conceptual stormwater review with the city, and we're working on addressing their first round of comments for that. Next slide, please. This is our landscape plan. I know it's a little bit hard to see, but we are using all native non-invasive species. We are meeting street tree requirements on two out of our three sides. We're not quite meeting them on South 24th just because there's the loading dock and we have our electrical transformers there on that side as well. So we will be applying for that alternative compliance form.

Next slide, please.

This slide just touches on a few of the details, the bike racks, the electrical equipment screening wall. You can see there on the lower left side. And then we do have a fence that's going to go across the rear of the site as well, which is just going to be a black aluminum picket fence, just to give ourselves some distance from the river and the railroad tracks.

Next slide, please.

All right. And I know Joe mentioned the construction management plan. us just coordinating with our neighbors. So we do plan on probably closing one lane of traffic on all of the three perimeter streets during construction as needed. Of course, we're going to try to restrict how long each of those streets would need to be closed for, but we are coordinating with our neighbors to make sure that they have access for their loading docks and things. So right along where it says Morton Street, you can see we've modeled their trucks to make sure that they have access in and out of their site. And then other than that, we'll be meeting all domain requirements for dust and timings and any detours needed for public transportation there.

Thanks, Shelly. That's our presentation. Thank you. If you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer.

Great. Thank you. At this time, because we are in the briefing portion of our meeting, we do not take public comment, but we do hear Commissioner comments.

No.

Anyone online? No.

Sorry. Hi, good afternoon. Thank you so much for your presentation. On the northern side, you said you can have a fire lane pretty much, right? Yes. What is the building condition it's going to be like, look like against that fire lane? Are there apartments on the ground floor or is that garage?

hey chris you want to handle that one yeah we go to the perspective there's a nice perspective view that shows that um so uh yeah sorry uh that's one i think there's one right before this yeah so um you can see on this side so that's the fire lane right in the front that's the railroad tracks in the foreground so we have this kind of plinth again this is not kind of a public area back here it's a fire lane um and then it does that drop off we are putting a fence there But we are treating that. So that is actually all masonry along that facade. There are no units down there. We still have the same screening. We actually have, you can see how we raise the parapets or the sill of that parking. So even when cars are pulled up there, you won't see the lights of the cars. It's gonna be screened right there. And then you have those terraces. What's kind of nice is we've kind of created these deep terraces one floor up. That's all resident outdoor terraces that are going to be on top of there and kind of gives them a view over the trees and out to the river valley. So in there will be lighting. You know, we can't keep people from going back there. They will go back there, but it's not a public road.

okay thank you so much yeah and actually this illustration shows exactly what my point was going to be which is hopefully you guys will be putting a lot of lighting there so yes that would definitely be a place that lighting would be um absolutely appreciated yeah people will bring their dogs back there you know i mean yeah we want to be smart about it and you know with all these terraces and outdoor balconies there's lots of eyes out there too which is it's going to feel good yeah thank you so much commissioner batts

Hi there. Yeah, so I just wanted to quickly commend the team on this. I think this looks like a great project. It's great to see all of these housing units being built in the south side and also just wanted to commend Councilperson Charland and the residents and the community groups that all worked hard together to get this to a conclusion. So I think it looks like a great project. It's great to see more housing units going in on the south side. And thanks for the informative presentation. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. I will just echo that final comment. Thank you for all of the collaboration with the applicant team and the community and the neighbors and the appellants. So thank you for the detailed presentation. And I don't see any other comments. So we will see you back here next time for hearing and action.

Yeah, really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. That concludes the briefing portion of our meeting. We will be back here in nine minutes at 2.20 for hearing and action. So we will see you all then. Thank you.

Yeah, that's the thing. But it's an installation.

Yeah, it's I know they don't want in there, but it's obviously just more on two page. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

They kind of she said it's down to what she's doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right.

It's 2.20. Are we all set to go back? Excellent. Thank you. good afternoon and welcome to the hearing and action portion of today's planning commission meeting for september 8th 2026. uh we will run through the agenda but first a quick access check uh chair burton falk president thank you commissioner hunt president commissioner anteriano president commissioner kelly president commissioner o'neill president commissioner cantania president commissioner batts president and commissioner walker present thank you all uh so on today's agenda we have five items a through e uh first up on the agenda is approval of commission minutes followed by correspondence plan of lots hearing and action under which we have three items and then a director's report We will start with approval of Commission minutes, and I understand we do not have any to vote on this week. So we will move on to correspondence. I will be reading into the record the list of correspondence. Apologies if there are duplicate names. That means that we received duplicate correspondence. All right. So in receipt of correspondence for September 8th, 2026, the first item is the policy and planning query with respect to the City of Pittsburgh planning grant application to USDOT under its Reconnecting Communities program entitled Manchester Reunited, Reconnecting Manchester to the River and the Region. And we are in receipt of correspondence from Manchester friends and colleagues, Deborah Blackwell-Battle, Chairwoman, and Roberta Baura, Vice Chair. We are in receipt of correspondence regarding Council Bill 2025-2224. I'm so sorry. I should have confirmed that the court reporter was online and available. Sherry, I see you. Are you there? I am here. okay good after i read off all these numbers it's good that you're here all right so council bill 2025 2224 that's dcp-mpzz-2025-00243 and that's the golden horizons pud we're in receipt of correspondence from tom kiesel tom kiesel and xander spike Regarding Council Bill 2026-0009, the short-term rental legislation, we're in receipt of correspondence from Lisa Trunick, Colleen Pollitt, David Eidinger, Dina Blumenfeld, Diana Lasoda, Jarell Lorenzo, John Allison, John Allison, Molly Youngling, Miroslava Slews, Ryan Springer, Suna Teo, Nirmika, I'm sorry, Nirmika Dev, Una Dowlin, Willett Tenney, Kathleen Stocky, Cassandra Brandy, Christopher Ward, Beth Ross, Douglas Schneider, Ellie Gordon, Wasiu Ogubwane, John Feghali, Julia Unitas, Janet Claudefelter, Traces Saunders, Yi-Liang Zhou, Michael Ling, Kathy Sedlock and Adam Sedlock, William Thornton, Daniel Kalau, Patricia Rice, Rex Peterson, Meredith Boyle, John Fangali, Terry Knight, Beth Ross, Kathleen Whitney, East Allegheny Community Council, AARP Pennsylvania, Tara Woods, T.B., Kathy Ray, Chamber of Progress, Tyler Wilson, Mark Noble, Jack Balto, Kara Kimikata, Cindy McCauley, Billy Kramer, Adrian Johnson, Walter Whitney, Tara Gray, Paige Fossey, Karen Benner, Ellen Mazzo, Candice Kane, Nicholas Halaburka, Shirley Joseph Geller. Final page. Chris Bream and Tara McQuaid. So please reflect that that correspondence is included in the record. Third up on the agenda is plan of lots. We have one item for plan of lots. That is GCP-LOT-2026-00182 at 4501 Hatfield Street. This is a major subdivision 2 in Central Lawrenceville. And presenting today is Mr. Shepke.

Thank you. This is the 4501 Hatfield Street subdivision. It's the proposed subdivision of one parcel into four parcels. The proposed lot 101 would have frontage on 44th Street and Hatfield Street and would be 81,943 square feet in area. The proposed lot 102 would have frontage on Hatfield Street and would be 33,849 square feet in area. The proposed lot 103 would have frontage on Hatfield Street and would be 130, 579 square feet in area. The proposed lot 104 would have frontage on Hatfield Street and would be 114, 430 square feet in area. A three-story industrial building and a 49-stall parking lot are located on the subject property. And this is a major subdivision which was first reviewed by the Planning Commission on July 28, 2026. The recommended motion from staff is to approve the 4501 Hatfield Street subdivision.

Thank you. At this time, we take public testimony on the plan of lots. If there's anyone in the room or online. Seeing none, any comments from commissioners? All right, we will do a roll call. Chair Burton-Volk? Aye. Actually, I'm sorry. I apologize. I'm out of practice. Do I need a motion to approve this? Yes. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved.

So moved, Commissioner Falk. Second, Commissioner Interiano. And then we will do a roll call. Chair Burton-Falk. Aye. Commissioner Hunt.

Aye.

Commissioner Interiano. Aye. Commissioner Kelly. Aye. Commissioner O'Neill. Aye. Commissioner Cantania.

Aye.

Commissioner Vatz?

Aye.

And Commissioner Walker? Aye. Thank you. All right. Now we will move on to the hearing and action portion. Yes. Thank you. We have three items up for hearing and action today. The first item is BDA-2026-05881, located at 777 Casino Drive. That's a high wall sign in the Chateau neighborhood. uh the second item is bda-2026-01401 at 30 isabella street that's a high wall sign in the north shore neighborhood and item number three is council bill 2026-0009 that's a zoning code amendment to add new primary accessory uses for short-term rentals with associated use standards that is citywide First up is the BDA 2026-05881 at 777 Casino Drive. And presenting is Mr. Raub.

Prior to, I'm just going to let you know that I'm going to recuse on this. Thank you so much. Sorry for the interruption. Thank you.

okay good afternoon commissioners uh mark trade on behalf of property owner holding acquisitions colp filing an application bda 2026 zero five eight eight one for installing a high wall sign in riverfront north shore zoning district in north shore neighborhood as per section one nine As per section 919.06.E.1A, the proposed sign requires a design review and approval from City's Planning Commission. The proposed high wall signs are as follows. Two high wall signs, logo plus reverse casino, will be mounted higher than 40 feet above the ground. One at the southern side, another one at the western side. it will not be mounted it will not be roof mounted nor projected above the parapet wall the proposed sign phase will be 810 square feet each which will be five percent which will be less than five percent of the exposed facade area of twenty seven thousand four hundred and sixty eight square feet at the western facade and twenty one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight square feet of the southern facade it will It will not include motion or animation and it will not exceed luminous of 2500 nits during the daytime hours and 250 nits during other times. The proposed sign will be in-kind replacement of existing approved signs at the same location with larger square footage. Existing signs were approved under certificate of occupancy 200902746 and 200902743. Design review staff has reviewed the question request with outcome not required. A development activities meeting is not required for this project. staff recommends that the planning commission approves this application based on the application filed by mark tritt on behalf of property owner with following conditions the final construction plans including site plan elevation will be reviewed and approved by zoning administrator prior to issuing a final record of zoning approval i will turn over to the applicant's representative ray for the presentation. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Ray Rakan. I'm with Rekonic Corp inside innovation. You can move to the next this guy here. Okay, next slide. This first slide essentially just touches on the newly enacted code as of 2026 for the North Shore District. As you know, this code expanded the sign allowances throughout the North Shore, and so essentially the areas highlighted are pointing you to the points of reference as it relates to these new signs that we're proposing. This is a plan view and a map of the existing Rivers Casino property to include the hotel area. As you can see, it's in the North Shore. It's in the casino sub district of the North Shore Planning signboard. This next map here essentially shows you the specific location of the existing signage, which is outdated and starting to show its age. The proposed signs that we're showing are going to be the new Rivers Casino branding, which is consistent across all five locations that they have nationally. This is the only one that currently still has the old branding. This slide shows both the west elevation and the east elevation, different perspectives, vantage points, photos as you get both close to the west and east elevation. This slide here is a specific breakdown of the signage being proposed square footage. It also talks about the allowable square footage up in the right-hand corner there. Essentially, we are, per the code, can have up to 1,523 square feet. We're proposing 809 on this elevation. Next slide is the west elevation, which again shows dimensions and also highlights the proposed west elevation square footage. Also talks, references the code there as well. This slide here on the left-hand side is showing the existing signage. In the Center and on the right hand side is both the daytime and rendered nighttime view of what the signage will look like with this new proposed signage again both from the east and west elevations. This slide here again is a elevation view to scale of both east and west elevations showing these letters and the signage to scale on the building. This slide is a deeper dive into the construction of the signage, discussing the lumens and construction methods, methods of attachment. Of course, everything will go through zoning and permitting and such. It will all go through engineering and be stamped by a professional engineer. So we are respectfully requesting a recommendation of approval for the proposed structure-based public destination facility signage as presented here in this meeting. That concludes my presentation.

Excellent. Thank you so much. At this time, we will take public comment on the presentation. Just a reminder quickly for this presentation and the remainder of the day, anybody from the public will have up to three minutes. We do have a court reporter online, so please state your name, your address, and any organization you're authorized to represent. Please be clear in speaking and don't speak over each other because it makes it hard for the court reporter to accurately take down testimony. We have received letters. If you've already submitted a letter, we've read it and read it into the record. Please don't feel the need to repeat, but please take your time as needed. We acknowledge that we've read them. On this item, is there anybody in the room who would like to speak? Are there any hands raised online?

No.

Hearing none, are there any comments from commissioners on this application? And seeing none, do I have a motion to approve as written in the staff report? So moved.

Second.

So moved. Commissioner Kelly, seconded Commissioner Interiano. We'll do a roll call. Chair Burton-Falk has recused. Commissioner Hunt?

Aye.

Commissioner Interiano? Aye. Commissioner Kelly?

Aye.

Commissioner O'Neill? Aye. Commissioner Cantania? Aye. Commissioner Vatz?

Aye.

Commissioner Walker? Aye. All right. Motion approved. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right. The next item for hearing in action is BDA-2026-01-401. That's located at 30 Isabella Street and involves a high wall sign on the North Shore. Presenting from staff is Mr. Fraker.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. An application BDA-2026-01401 was filed by Colano Design on behalf of HTA Jackson Row LLC, the property owner, for the installation of a high wall sign in the North Shore neighborhood. The application is for one 206 square foot high wall sign, PJ Dick Trumbull, at 85 feet above grade on the southerly facade of a six-story multi-tenant office building. There is an existing high wall sign on the building for Wabtec that is 177 square feet. Per section 91903M7C of the zoning code, review and approval by the Planning Commission is required. The application is compliant with the code requirements of that section. A development activities meeting was not required as there is no registered community organization in the neighborhood. The sign was approved for a variance by the Zoning Board of Adjustment in Zone Case 46 of 2026. A copy of the ZBA decision is attached to your report. The ZBA decision granted a variance to allow for two high wall signs on the same facade. In that decision, the ZBA noted that the facades along this section of the building are distinct. The decision stated that the area of the proposed sign must not exceed 2% of the area of the westerly half of the Isabella Street slash Range Way facade. The applicant has submitted a revised plan reducing the size of the proposed sign from 236 square feet to its present 206 square feet to comply with that decision. With that, I'll turn it over to the applicant team. Sorry, I have to read in the motion. My apologies. Okay. The recommended motion is that the Planning Commission of the City of Pittsburgh approves the project development plan BDA 2026-01401 based on the application filed by Kalano Design with the condition that 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. Okay. Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you, Joe. I'm Bill Colano here on behalf of PJ, Dick and Trumbull. The property is at 30 Isabella Street. And I'll try to make what Joe very thoroughly presented visual for you. So we are in the downtown riverfront zoning area and the code on the right says that we are allowed 2% of the building facade up to four signs per building, one sign per facade. And so the building has a very unique configuration in that it has this big fold in the bottom of it. And we're looking at the existing Wabtec sign in the lower right corner defined by a red box. And then the new building ID sign for PJ Deck Trumbull is on the bottom left. and both face Isabella Street. And this building creates a kind of, because of the setback, a rhythm with the buildings around it, which is a very unique architectural situation. We have 20,600 square feet on the entire facade. Half of that is 10,000 square feet. So we're using 2% of that 10,000 in order to determine the size of the sign. In the upper right is reference to the variance that was granted for the second high wall sign. And since that has been approved, the building is foregoing any signs on the remaining three facades. And from the ground, we can see that I think I went ahead too much. Wait a minute. There we are. This explains it much better. WebTech existing sign on the right, PJ Dick on the left. And you can see that center foldback of the building. And from the ground, this is what it looks like looking up. And there was a little bit of confusion about determining the 2% allotment for PJ Dick. And Wabtec uses less than half of the building facade signs. So we first went in and said, OK, we'll use up the rest of the 2%. and the zba came back and said no no we're splitting it 50 50. um they gave up their right to have it bigger you can have yours exactly based on half of the building and so that is what is before you and the lower right is a reference to a letter that was sent in uh making the sign owner compliant with the lighting code that's my presentation for today

Thank you very much. At this time, we take public testimony on this application. If there's anybody in the room, please step up to the podium. Seeing none, is there anyone online with their hands raised? No. We now open the floor to Commissioner comments. Seeing none. Do I have a motion to approve as read into the record? So moved just commissioner Walker. Do I have a second second commissioner interior now? All right. We will do a roll call chair. Burton Paul. Aye. Commissioner hunt. Aye. Commissioner interior. Aye. Commissioner Kelly, commissioner O'Neill. Aye. Commissioner Canton.

Aye.

Commissioner bats.

Aye.

And commissioner Walker. Aye. All right. So moved. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Right. The last item up for hearing in action today is Council Bill 2026-009. This is the zoning code amendment to add new primary and accessory uses for short-term rentals with associated use standards and this applies citywide. Introducing the bill is Ms. Ristow.

Good afternoon again, commissioners. For the court reporter and anybody else who doesn't know my full name, I am Carolyn Ristau, R-I-S-T-A-U. I am the zoning administrator for the city of Pittsburgh. And I'm here today to talk about the short-term rental zoning bill. As you may remember, we saw this in briefing right before the recess. And so we'll just be going back through the same presentation. This bill was introduced at City Council on January 12th of this year with Council sponsors Councilwoman Gross and Council members Coghill and Wilson. It was, after consultation with DCP, it was amended by substitute on February 11th and sent to Planning Commission for report and recommendation. However, before we got that scheduled before you all, it was recalled to Council and there was a further amendment by substitution at that point. And the new version was referred to you all for report and recommendation on June 24th. The primary purpose of this bill is to introduce new uses for short-term rental. One new use for short-term rental as a primary use and another for short-term rental as an accessory use. And these both of these are dwelling units or for the accessory, it can be a portion within a dwelling unit in which sleeping accommodations are provided to one or more guests for a fee on a nightly or weekly basis. For the primary use short-term rental, there are a couple of use-specific standards that are proposed. The first is regarding the concentration of these kinds of uses. In buildings with 20 or fewer units, there is a max of two short-term rentals allowed as primary uses. In buildings over 20 units, the maximum is five short-term rental units, again, regardless of the unit count overall. There is a specific prohibition against hosting public assembly, recreational entertainment or hospitality activities in a short-term rental unit. And there is a companion bill to establish licensing requirements that it would be an annual license managed through the permits, licenses and inspections department. Short-term rental as a primary use in the current version is permitted by right in the zoning districts listed on this slide and shown on the map. A summary version of those districts is districts that are captured in our use table and that allow multi-unit residential They also in this amendment would allow short term rental as a primary use. for the accessory use version the um the rental short-term rental unit must be managed by the owner of record of the property who is also a resident of the property again these may not be used to host public assembly recreational act entertainment or hospitality activities and again these also require the licensing um That's in the companion bill and managed by the Department of Permanent Licenses and Inspections. There's also a concentration limitation for the accessory use in that only one short-term rental accessory use unit is permitted on a single zoning lot. Up until this time, the city of Pittsburgh has not had regulations for short term rentals. And as I'm sure we're all aware, there are many short term rental uses in operation throughout the city. The If this amendment does pass, those existing units are allowed to continue to operate if they have an existing if they have a valid certificate of occupancy for a dwelling unit. All existing short term rentals are also subject to the license requirements. And so if if both of these bills pass, the existing units would also need to comply with the annual licensing requirement in the companion bill. The other thing to note is that in the districts where the short term rental as a primary use is not permitted, which includes our, our ones are our two and our three zoning districts, any existing short term rental units in those districts are required to come in within the next 12 months and apply for a certificate of occupancy under the legal non-conforming requirements of our code. And the applicant has the burden of proof to provide us with the evidence that they were in operation prior to this amendment. We are recommending that you the Planning Commission makes a positive recommendation with a condition to amend by substitution. The latest version or the The first version included permitting short-term rental as a primary use in those residential districts, the R1s, the R2 and R3, as a special exception, and that included additional use-specific criteria for those uses in those districts. the amendment that council made when they called the bill back was to remove that special exception and make it so that short-term rental as a primary use is not permitted in these districts but the use specific regulations were left in and that is not something we can administer if a use is not permitted we have no ability to apply a use specific criteria And so our recommended amendment by substitution removes those use regulations. As the licensing bill is within the purview of the Permits, Licenses and Inspections Department, it's not something that we as Planning Department or Planning Commission have regulatory or not. We're not a part of the regulatory process for it, but because it is related to the zoning bill, we are providing a brief summary It will go through the standard city council process with public comment and vote, and then it will go to the mayor for final approval. And again, the permits licenses and depart and inspections department is responsible for the rules and regulations, including the inspection process. And as part of the inspection process, managing the maximum numbers of guests permitted. A brief summary of the operating standards in that licensing bill is that it limits the maximum stay of any guests to 28 days. Guests must be 18 years or older unless they are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. The operators must maintain a daily register of the guests. And for the primary use version, the individual responsible for any issues that may arise must be located within 25 miles of the short-term rental unit itself. And the licensing reiterates that on the accessory short-term rental, the unit is managed by the owner who is also a resident. The zoning code currently has related use types. So we currently regulate hotels and motels as a single use type. And we also regulate bed and breakfasts. These have a lot of similarity to the short term rental. And they are But they are being maintained. They are not impacted by this amendment. So the existing regulations for Hotel Motel and the existing regulations for Bed and Breakfast will be maintained. um so today is our hearing in action before planning commission at which point as we all know we take public testimony and then after public testimony our assumption is that the commission will take action and make a recommendation to city council Once that recommendation has been made, the City Council will then hold its own public hearing and there will be a 21 day notice ahead of that public hearing once it is scheduled and public testimony will also be taken at that time and registering in advance is highly recommended. If Council then takes action and votes on this amendment, the legislation will then go to the mayor's office for final approval. And as we've noted throughout, the licensing bill will also need to be reviewed and voted on by the city council and signed by the mayor in order for the zoning regulations to work. And that is the end of DCP's presentation. I believe at least one of the Council sponsors is in the audience and would invite Council sponsor to come up and say a few words if you so wish.

also have a staff person from councilman wilson's office he sends his apologies that he wasn't able to be here today intended to be here um and councilman kaka would have been here as well but he's out of town so appreciate everybody's um time i will keep it brief we had a very robust discussion when we were here for the briefing and i hope that that answered a lot of the planning commissioners questions um And I just wanted to give a little bit of a recap looking back at the YouTube link for the public. I always recommend going to the YouTube video recordings of our public meetings because you can navigate really easily and watch it in double time. So we really, I think, touched on two points that there's really two issues, right? We have nuisance and disruptive and violent behaviors, and that is a regulatory problem. but we also have an industry that has changed dramatically in the last 10 years and is negatively impacting our housing stock in the city of Pittsburgh. Those are two parallel issues. And so we have two pieces of legislation. Today, we're here to talk about the zoning legislation, which addresses where certain kinds of activity are best to have where in cities. And with this zoning legislation that it's in front of the planning commission today, we will be able to put some guardrails on where you can do this commercial activity that I like to call the kind of absentee landlord short-term rentals. uh where you know you might live in florida you might not even exist you might be a private equity company you might be an llc and you're buying up homes in our neighborhoods to operate like a scattered site hotel that's a commercial activity the jurisdiction the powers and i think the responsibility to restrict that to the commercial zones in the city of pittsburgh and that's what this legislation proposes and with that i think we can help alleviate part of the problem of the plunder of housing. Not all of it, certainly, because there are certainly LLCs and private equity companies gobbling up housing and operating them not as short term rentals. But there is a subset that is operating those. And what those does is not just remove housing, inflate the costs of housing, but also takes away neighbors. And that tears apart our neighborliness in our districts and our social fabric and the capacity for us to look out for each other and have more people there to look out for us. And so with this legislation, I think we can make significant progress. I'm going to put on the record one tiny technical point, which is that council can amend without amending by substitute. And when I look at the part of the legislation that was up on the board, that was just an oversight because we already amended this legislation to remove the special exception for residential areas, but we forgot that one subsection, it's like two sentences, three sentences maybe, it's like B sub one sub two. That's an easy just like motion to amend and then strike section 911.04.A.101 subsection B. And so we don't need to amend. Amending by substitute means you've put an entirely new complete ordinance in front of us. And then we have to comb line by line to make sure that the planning department didn't change lots of other sections. So I'd prefer that the approval today, if you choose to vote to approve, The recommendation back to council just reads amend or change and not amend by substitute, which means that you've been amending by substitute really means that you've made. so many changes and so many sections of a long set of text that you just have to replace the thing and it's in toto and we're not replacing it in toto we're just like literally deleting one subsection that's the recommendation of your setting administrator so that was the one technical ask but i'm fully in support of that amendment but it's a very easy strike out and it could just be like one bullet point in your in your packet that you send back to council

um other than i think i'll stop there thank you morgan thank you good afternoon my name is morgan martin and i serve as a legislative aide for councilman bobby wilson of district one and i'm here on behalf of the councilman who unfortunately cannot be here today councilman wilson would like to start by thanking the planning commission for taking the time to hear this legislation today as well as his co-sponsors councilwoman gross and councilman coghill for their work on this bill Short-term rentals have become an increasingly important issue for neighborhoods across Pittsburgh and in District 1, where we have seen firsthand the challenges they can create for residents and public safety. District 1 has experienced several shootings connected to short-term rental properties. These incidents have raised serious concerns among residents and reinforced the needs for standards. And this legislation today updates our zoning code to establish clear rules for where short-term rentals can operate and where they can be used. And finally, Councilman Wilson would like to thank all of the community groups and residents who took the time to speak today and share their perspectives. And additionally, thank you to city planning and everyone who has participated in this process. Councilman Wilson looks forward to continuing this conversation at City Council. Thank you.

Thank you. At this time, we do take public testimony. We will start with people attending in the room, please step up to the podium. You will have three minutes. If you have submitted a letter, please note that. For the record, it just helps us with housekeeping. And if you agree with anything that somebody has said before you, please go ahead and note that. We appreciate the sentiment. I will have the timer. Please make sure you state your name, your address, and any organization you're authorized to represent.

okay yes thank you

Hi, my name is Pamela Raul Johnston, R-A-L-L-J-O-H-N-S-T-O-N. I live at 211 Ballou Street in Fineview, Pittsburgh 15214. I'm also a janitor at the University of Pittsburgh, a union janitor at that, and I'm here to discuss the impact, the nuisance that it's had on the Fineview community. whether it be just the garbage in the streets on a regular basis and i mean daily and base basis continue with all kinds of rodents regularly in main streets right off a city bus line plus just the disrespect and security in our area that's been, the police are there on a regular basis because of calls for parties that are just uncontrolled. And we are a senior area, at least where I live, and we have seven Airbnbs within a block radius. Our seniors are being affected. People are turning up on their porch at 1, 2 a.m. fighting. They're scared. They're impacted with they can't even park in front of their houses. I mean, it's just ridiculous. And the fact every once in a while they may have a cleaning crew come in and they say, oh, well, you make people lose jobs. But as a janitor, there are plenty of janitor jobs in Pittsburgh that need filled with good benefits, good pay. And I'm sure these people aren't being paid well. And most of them are immigrants. And to stay under where they could have a good job, that's not even an excuse to keep these airbnbs flowing it's ridiculous and i really hope that you take the nuisance off the neighborhood because we live in a beautiful neighborhood we had a we have a beautiful overlook the block before is being literally ransacked by garbage it's disgusting so if you could definitely vote to pass this i would appreciate it thank you thank you

Good afternoon. My name is John Hanrahan. I'm a resident of Fineview. A little while back, a spokesman for the local Airbnb industry told the local press, quote, I think that people like the idea of community, but in 2026, we're on our phones. We have neighbors on our phones. We were all a little taken aback by that. But I think what perturbed me most about that statement was not only how foul and hopeless it was, but also the fact that it did ring true. Right. This bill here speaks to a lot of different issues, noise, cleanliness, safety, housing, affordability, city revenues and so on and so forth. But I'm not really here. I'm really here to because this speaks to my and maybe our nagging sense that there's this emptiness to our collective lives right now. We we do see less and less of each other in person. Our civic life is under attack. Our political parties are hollow. Our fraternal organizations are dwindling. Our unions are struggling to get out of a slump. And on our own blocks, houses sit empty, waiting for guests who check out just as soon as they check in. the airbnb vision for our communities that dark vision of community i quoted earlier they remind me of that famous thatcher thatcherism that there is no such thing as society only men and women and their families airbnb's version of that is there are no neighborhoods only parcels and their structures and that's what we're up against That's why I'm here with all of you today. I don't want neighbors on my phone. I want them in my neighborhood. This is not about good Airbnbs and bad Airbnbs. This is about fewer Airbnbs, period. So I support zoning bill nine. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Callie DeSabato. I live in East Allegheny on Tripoli Street, very near the both shooting locations on the north side. And just this morning, I read a statement from an Airbnb from Airbnb about local efforts to regulate short term rentals. Quote, home sharing works best when residents, hosts, and guests can all live well alongside each other. We would welcome the chance to work with the ward on measures that target the problem more precisely. This prohibition across residential zones would close thousands of registered homes affecting compliant and responsible hosts, while leaving untouched the unregistered operators behind much of the disruption residents describe. We believe there is a version of this ordinance that protects residents' quality of life without closing responsible licensed hosts, and we want to help find it. This is about Tokyo, but if it sounds nearly identical to what we hear in Pittsburgh, it's because our city is not facing a unique crisis and Airbnb's corporate influence is here in our city just like it is in Tokyo. The difference is in the spines of local lawmakers and those that shape local policy like you all. I'm here today hoping to find some spines and to give strength to any backbones in need of encouragement because this bill needs to be strengthened because all of the existing Airbnbs are about to stay here. So the conversation should be about responsible lawmakers, not about responsible owners. Responsible lawmakers understand that this is an unregulated hotel industry affecting not only our housing market, but also our city's tax base. Responsible lawmakers know not only how many short term rentals exist in our city right now, but they also know the costs of turning a home into a full time short term rental. This year alone, are you all aware of how much the city is going to lose in potential wage tax revenue because it's substantial? And from our so-called responsible hosts. It should come as no surprise to us all that the areas hit hardest by the school closure plan, Northside, Southside, and Lawrenceville, are also the areas with the densest short-term rental populations. we have allowed for 2 400 houses to be removed permanently from our housing rent market because they are whole home rentals that's all they are 2 400. we're about to grandfather in with this zoning legislation is it um but airbnb wants us to think about responsible owners we have our own top responsible host here in pittsburgh sorry chad but i'm about to call you out chad wise chad has been quoted saying you're trying to regulate something you don't understand and i actually agree with him on this point but we don't fully that the issue is not that we don't fully understand what's happening the issue um sorry sorry i felt bad about coming after chad but i'm gonna go still um okay anyway i agree with chad we don't fully understand what's happening with this issue but i know it's because we've been pretending like the problems we face here are unique and not conditions created by a corporate playbook again in city after city around the world We got to look back at Chad, a top rated super host with 94 listings here in Pittsburgh to see it more clearly. His company deals exclusively with whole home rentals. Please wrap up. Okay. His website notes, you are a perfect client if you own an investment property and would like to earn more money with less headaches than you do with long term rentals. His business model requires the ongoing removal of long-term housing from the rental market, regardless of cascading effects, last sentence. And while Chad is certainly a convenient villain in this story, zooming out reveals he's a small pawn in a much bigger game. This is an extractive and practiced business model repeated over and over again, Chad after Chad and city after city across America and around the globe. Let's do some more here. Thank you. Thank you.

Good afternoon Planning Commission. My name is Karlyn Christie. I'm a homeowner on Veruth Street in Brighton Heights and I work with PA United. This legislation is long, long overdue and we should be vigorously protecting the integrity and social fabric of our neighborhoods that make up the great city of Pittsburgh. So I'm in full support of keeping short term rentals out of residential zones and I support this legislation to remove primary use from most residential zones. We should go farther and extend the removal to areas zoned as multi use residential as well. And I don't believe, like Callie said, in grandfathering in thousands of short-term rentals. They have caused a whole host of problems for our communities. In 2022, I worked as the union representative for 1,400 hospital workers at Allegheny General. They shared stories of how caring for the injured and murdered at the Airbnb mass shooting that Easter weekend was traumatizing and chaotic. Within the last year, another shooting took place on New Year's Eve on the north side. A neighbor was shot in the leg by people at a party at an Airbnb across the street. This past April, an innocent passerby walking on Butler Street was senselessly shot and killed by someone at an Airbnb party near the corners of Butler Street and Stanton Streets. So people's lives and neighborhoods are forever altered because we've let a for profit entity run rampant with zero regulations for at least 15 years, while other cities across the country have put laws on the books. So until we do the same, investors will see Pittsburgh homes as an easy pathway to profit. But to me, the value of a home is community and neighbors, something short-term rentals carelessly destroy. So I want to talk about my house. In 2017, when I bought my house, I was greeted by my elderly neighbors, Nick and Marianne. Nick is a retired plumber. He loves to garden, and his yard is filled with blooming flowers all spring and summer. My first spring at my house, Nick offered to tear out some ugly bushes in my yard and share a few of his plants. And one day I came home from work, and not only had he removed those ugly shrubs, he had planted over 100 plants and flowers in my yard. Hostas, irises, black-eyed Susans, daisies. So yeah, I got free landscaping from Nick. In the nine years I've lived across the street from them, Nick has helped fix my toilet, shower, installed a new faucet. And when I was unexpectedly out of town last year for six months while caring for my dying father across the country, Nick and Marianne kept an eye on my house every single day. when i finally came back they gave me a plate of cookies the kind you'd find at a wedding table a cookie table at a pittsburgh wedding a sympathy card and a hundred dollar gift certificate to giant eagle so these are the kinds of neighbors that make pittsburgh special but my neighbors are both around 80 years old and i know they won't be here forever if their house is sold one day to a real estate investor who would turn it into a short-term rental i don't think i could put into words how heartbroken i would be So let's finally protect our communities, the people who live here day in and day out. Let's get this zoning bill done. We need neighbors, not Airbnbs.

Thank you.

My name is Candace Kane and I live at 334 Lafayette Avenue in Fine View. As a Fine View resident, I am glad City Council has decided to regulate future short-term rentals. However, the City must also ban existing short-term rentals in all residential areas, just as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court instructed in its case, Slice of Life. It was a unanimous decision. They were citing earlier cases, the case of Albert and Miller. These two earlier cases are from 1986 and 2004 and show that Pennsylvania's prohibition against transient housing in residential neighborhoods such as Airbnb was in effect years before the first Airbnb appeared in Pittsburgh. The case citations are in a letter that I emailed to you last week. As a result, all short-term rentals in Fineview and in all of Pittsburgh are currently operating unlawfully. It is time for Airbnbs to be explicitly banned under any new ordinance. After slice of life was decided, real estate law firms in Pennsylvania published articles warning clients of the risks of investing in short-term rentals in Pennsylvania. Now the short-term rental industry is asking you to cover that risk for them by grandfathering in existing ones, and we urge you not to do it. The reasoning in Slice of Life applies to Fineview, a residential neighborhood. Furthermore, Fineview's experience with short-term rentals and Airbnbs shows that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court correctly determined that transient housing, such as short-term rentals, is incompatible with residential neighborhoods. You can read about these experiences and problems Airbnb have caused in letters mailed by Fineview residents. This fight is not about the property rights of short term rental owners because the industry thinks nothing of trampling over the property rights of residents. Instead, Pittsburgh must ask whether it's serious about bringing new families into the city, including working class and low to moderate income families who used to be able to purchase houses in fine view. The question is, how can we possibly repopulate Pittsburgh's neighborhoods when no one wants to live next to an Airbnb? Thank you.

Good afternoon, Commissions and community. My name is Yvonne W. Rainey. I am a resident of the north side. I am a grandmother. I'm also the president of Zone 1 Public Safety Council. We have 19 neighborhoods on the north side. My concern is my neighbors, whether we're rentals or homeowners. Would you want to live by an Airbnb with your grandchildren? with the parks around the community. My neighbors on Garfield and in Fineview, that is a nightmare. Lives are at risk. We have seniors that scared to live in their homes because we allow Pittsburgh to be a dumping ground for Airbnbs. Is that fair? I'm highly upset for the simple fact is when I get a call from my neighbor, and the holidays are here, they're scared. Is it fair to us? I'm a senior myself. What are you all gonna do? Regulate or just put your head in the sand? Get the work done for people like us, 19 neighborhoods that's growing their families and the seniors are getting, we're enjoying our golden age. Do we have to live in fear? Do our children have to be afraid to go to a playground? I have a friend that lives on Garfield. Playground right there. Airbnb right on the same side. They blocked the street off with a U-Haul and parlayed. She's handicapped. Children have a playground. Two o'clock in the morning, they're still in parlaying. These people come in and disrupt our community. They have no respect because they want to parlay. Is it fair? to the homeowners and the rentals to live like that? Would you want to live in your community like that, to be afraid? I'm afraid for my grandkids to go to a playground. How would you feel? Because in this day and time we're in, it's scary. And we have to look after each other. Regardless, we're diverse. We love our community just like everyone else in Pittsburgh. But somebody got to be accountable and regulate for us. We need help. Don't let this keep coming and being a dumping ground, a dumping ground for Pittsburgh. Regulate, please. Please, because Councilman Bobby Wilson has been a staunch reporter. So has Ms. Gross. All I'm saying is this. Remember who we are. Remember we live here. We're not going nowhere. We're seniors. We want to have a safe space in our neighborhoods. And thank you very much. Thank you.

Hello, team. My name is Mark Nobile. That's K-N-O-B-I-L, Melwood Avenue, Pittsburgh 19. That's Polish Hill. And we believe in the urban village, we like to call it. It's a safe, happy, and connected community. And that's what we all want. But I look and see short-term rentals in the community. I'm talking about the absentee-owned ones. And I see a lack. I see no family building wealth and stability. I see no neighbor shoveling the oldster's sidewalk. I see no neighbor meeting kids at the bus stop. I see no neighbor looking out for each other. And each STR makes our community weaker, I think. And each STR, to me, represents a real family that got outbid by a predatory investor. And even if they do everything right, you know, there's no police calls, no noise complaints, no trash, no ice-covered sidewalk. um which is unusual but from a community building point of view it's still a black hole that house is a black hole in our community the legislation this legislation is particularly critical right now because i think upcoming zoning changes might increase the ability for people to have accessory dwelling units adus And to have ADUs in single family properties makes them exponentially more valuable to investors. So they'll bid up these properties against real families trying to have real houses in a real community. So now's the time to restrict uh adus to owner occupants just that one thing will help so much so to protect and strengthen pittsburgh's communities and the families that build them i strongly support this legislation thank you thank you

Good afternoon, commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Nick Petrillo, P-E-T-R-I-L-L-O. I'm a resident of Brighton Heights and I'm the president of the Brighton Heights Citizens Federation, the registered community organization there. Our board met on February 5th and passed a resolution in support of this legislation. And that meeting was actually only about a week after there was a large party in Brighton Heights that was broken up. We're all thankful that it was nowhere near the devastation that had happened in some of the other neighborhoods that we've heard about here today. But I do want to call attention to the fact that sometimes I think people really don't understand the differences between our neighborhoods. Brighton Heights has two bars, I'm pretty sure I counted earlier today. Maybe a third one if you count the very border. You can't see downtown other than the very tip top of the PPG place. So it's not as if Brighton Heights is really in need of a nightlife or of people out there searching for nightlife. What we really would like is in Brighton Heights, we want more neighbors. We want more people to send their kids to the local schools and to enjoy all the events that we as an organization put on. Airbnbs are not going to send their kids to Morrow Elementary or families go to St. Cyril's. And I'm not going to go on too long. I know we've had a lot of discussion here today. So but please do support this legislation. Send it back to city council with a positive recommendation. And thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Dave Bringen. I'm the co-director of Lawrenceville Together, which is the merged organization of Lawrenceville United and Lawrenceville Corporation. Our mission is to build opportunity and community for all who live and work in Lawrenceville, and we have a membership of over a thousand residents and businesses. I want to thank Councilwoman Gross for sponsoring this bill, and we want to express our support for it and ask that Planning Commission positively recommend it. In fact, we think this legislation doesn't go far enough. We think Planning Commission should recommend this legislation with a condition to also address the existing operating short-term rentals. In just the past four years since the shooting on the north side, we've seen short-term rentals double in Lawrenceville to approximately 200 active listings. The majority of these short-term rentals are available full-time, meaning these are not being used for primary residence most of the year. Their primary use is as a short-term rental, Airbnb, and the proportion of these has only been growing since we've been tracking that statistic. So I think it's an important factor is that these are not... Airbnbs where somebody's living there and then they're renting out, you know, on the weekends, they're not around for a lot of the 200 listings. That is their only purpose. And as others said, taking up a lot of our valuable housing stock, we've seen the proliferation of these short-term rentals caused some serious issues in Lawrenceville, as many have already addressed, particularly on our residential blocks. Just to highlight some of them, public safety noise, disorderly conduct. Our only homicide in Lawrenceville this year, as somebody else said, was related to an Airbnb party. And even without physical violence, we have seen full-time short-term rentals cause issues of litter, noise, parking issues, other disruptive behavior to their neighbors. One party, our neighbors were reporting that there was a security guard for an Airbnb party with an assault rifle positioned on the front porch right next to the, on a residential block. Another concern is how the proliferation of full-time short-term rentals is exacerbating our affordability challenges. As others have said, the 200 short-term rentals in Lawrenceville are 200 homes that are not available to people who want to live in our neighborhood. For those of us who believe we do have to build a lot more housing to address our housing crisis, short-term rentals constrains our supply when it's desperately needed. And studies back this up. It's shown that proliferation of Airbnbs is associated with higher housing costs. And conversely, that regulation has marginally helped to bring down rents and finally short-term rentals can create a real loss of community on residential blocks as we've heard from residents who expected to live next to neighbors and find themselves surrounded by a constantly changing group of visitors the research supports that that this effect is not just a psychological one but also has material consequences as well One group of researchers found that the proliferation of short-term rentals was associated with higher violence in the neighborhood, not because the visitors were more likely to perpetuate crimes, but because the long-term effect of short-term rentals, as a lot of people here said, was to undermine the neighborly connections that actually help you to prevent crime in the first place.

Three minutes. Please wrap up.

Okay, and so I'll just say for all these reasons, it does make sense to prohibit short-term rentals as a primary use in residential areas. And again, we would stress that the city should go further and not grandfather in the existing ones. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Adrienne Johnson. I live on Meadville Street in Fineview neighborhood. I did previously write a letter to you. I'm just here to emphasize the point that grandfathering does not apply in this situation. And now, while it's wonderful that you're going to be limiting future Airbnbs, baking in 200 in Lawrenceville, 27 in my neighborhood, 2000 maybe, the problem is there and needs to be addressed. Grandfathering is a concept that applies to when you had a legitimate use and then you planning commission comes along and decides to change it and make it a non-conforming use. It was legal before, it becomes illegal afterwards, but you grandfather and sunset it. this isn't the case here because it has never been legal to run a business providing accommodations to transient visitors in residential neighborhoods it has never been allowed this isn't a change of the law this is just a clarification and if you past this and grandfather, you're basically destroying residential neighborhoods. There will be no residential neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh. They will all be invaded by commercial uses for transients. The second point that I wanted to make, it seems like everybody has already, that seems like it's already resolved the language in that one particular section of the proposed legislation. My third point is uh some of the airbnbs the whole house airbnbs that we have in our neighborhood are uh they can hold 12 or more people they have accommodations and they have hot tub in the bath in the back they have fire pits they might have swimming pools and when you say that these aren't to be rented out for recreational and entertainment all of the guests are there for the recreation and the entertainment, the registered guests. So I don't know how you're going to be handling that. They might be registered guests, but they are still causing abrasion with the members of the community. And thank you very much for this opportunity to speak to you. And I hope you pass.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Armeen Sami, last name is spelled S-A-M-I-I, and I live in Friendship. I am both an Airbnb host and I'm in support of these regulations. And like the previous two speakers said, I also think they don't go far enough, but I understand I'd rather have something that passes now and doesn't have to spend several years in court. So I support this legislation as is as much as I wanted to go further. Let me share how I got involved with Airbnb. When Taylor Swift came to town a few years ago, it was during the Heiress tour, and my wife and I decided to list our spare bedroom on Airbnb. We got $550 for one night, and the guests thanked us for being so cheap. So that was an awesome amount of money. And then we learned to really love hosting. We hosted people most weekends throughout the summers, and we'd take that money and spend it on date nights. So when the guests were there, we wouldn't be in each other's space. We hosted a mortician, a glass blower and a chocolate shaman. I don't understand what the chocolate shaman did. I think he hosted like ayahuasca style ceremonies, but without drugs, but with chocolate instead. Anyway, he gave us free chocolate. Anyway, so I moved out of Lawrenceville about a year ago. And I began renting my row house to a full-time tenant. And in January, she had an issue with one of the neighbors a few doors down. And so she asked to break her lease and move out. And in exchange for breaking her lease, she said that she had a friend who wanted to turn my house into an Airbnb. he would rent it, he would pay more than she was paying, and he would take care of all the maintenance. So for me, that's a really good deal. I get free maintenance, I don't have to find a new tenant in winter, which is a really tough time to find a tenant, and it would make sense for me financially. The people it would hurt are my two neighbors on the other side of my row house. And I did not think it would be fair to them. So I said no. I did find a new tenant. There was a gap because it's hard to find people in winter, but that was a worthwhile trade-off to not turn that house into an Airbnb. And now we've got a phenomenal tenant. And it's important because us three row houses looked after each other. We texted each other when problems came up. We texted each other through the problem neighbor because it was a big increase in police activity from him. And so we helped each other out through all of the issues that were happening. We swept each other's snow. We took care of each other's cats. None of that happens if I turn the house into an Airbnb. Once it's an Airbnb, that community fabric shreds apart. So yes, it would have been easy for me, but I said no. One last point. I just moved to Friendship and I finished renovating the third floor of my new house last month. I built a guest suite designed mostly to my mother's specifications. So everything is designed for her height and I'm so excited to host her. I'm trying to convince her to move to Pittsburgh. I don't think she'll do it. But she's visiting December. And until she comes, I've put it back up on Airbnb. Again, it's a guest suite. It's an accessory use. The primary use of a house is to be a home, not an Airbnb. Thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Jamie Guan. I have been a resident of the city of Pittsburgh for about six years now. And during this time, I lived in different parts of the city. I recently moved to Findview and I plan to stay and be a part of this community for years to come. I'm glad the city is taking action to regulate short-term rentals, but I'm asking the Planning Commission to address the short-term rentals that already exist in Fineview, not just prevent the new ones. Fineview has only around 1,200 residents. It's a very small community. And our community organization estimate that there are roughly about 20 to 27 short-term rentals here. For a neighborhood this small, that is very significant. I can see a concentration on my own block. I personally found at least five short-term rentals just on my block the city already created a rental registration program that included short-term rentals when it launched in december 2024 registration was supposed to be voluntary only until june 20 until june 1st 2025 after that enforce enforcement was supposed to begin But that never happened. Instead, the voluntary period was extended. And today, the city's own website still says registration is voluntary until further notice. How is the city supposed to know how many short-term rentals are operating, where they are, and who's responsible for them? How are we supposed to grandfather them in if we don't even know how many there are, if we don't even know where they are? So how that makes sense, I just don't understand that part. We see the impact. We see the trash left behind. We see cars parked on sidewalks and on already narrow streets. We also have parties that disturb the people who actually live in our neighborhoods. Less than two weeks ago, a large party at a short-term rental on Katama Street became serious enough to require a significant police response. Residents should not have to deal with these because the residential house is being operated as a party destination. I mean, we don't even have a partner store on Fineview. We don't have anything. We don't have bars. We don't have anything. We just have houses. So I just don't understand how are we permitting these businesses to be in our neighborhood. Near my home, I've also seen vehicles from out of state plates that arrive at this Airbnb with people entering for very short periods of time, sometimes around 15 minutes or less, and then leaving. I also found the place is also rented by individual rooms. I don't know what's happening inside. I want to speculate, but I can only tell you what I've personally observed.

That's three minutes. Please wrap up.

I understand that tourism is important, but there is a difference between renting part of the home and being an absentee owner. Please don't protect find me only from next short-term rentals. Please address the ones that are already here. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Maria Proto. I live on Stanton Avenue in Lawrenceville, and I've had the displeasure of living next to and sharing a wall with an Airbnb for the past several years. I moved back to Pittsburgh in 2018, and I was happy to come back because I've always loved the Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a unique vibe and a great feel to it among the neighbors. I've been very disappointed in how the Airbnb has ruined the charm of my residential block in Lawrenceville. I've had to track down contact information for most of the management companies who have representation at these meetings because of this one property. The property is owned by a woman who lives in Nevada under the umbrella of an LCC. To be clear, this is not what you'd call a nuisance property. I've never called the police. They have 4.9 stars on Airbnb. I have, however, had to call management several times and I've had to report garbage overflow to the city and I've had to contact the owner about property maintenance issues and drug use overflowing onto my property. The real problem here is the lack of regulation from the city. When I bought my house, the adjoining row home was a long-term rental duplex. I got along great with the neighbors and knew them on a personal level. I've never agreed to live next to a short-term rental and to have strangers coming and going almost every day. Beth from Nevada got to start a business with unattended customers in a hot tub directly next to my house with zero input from me. The property is under-maintained compared to others in the neighborhood. It removed two long-term housing units, and the owner has a history of owning dilapidated buildings in Pittsburgh. I support this legislation and I support further strengthening this legislation by regulating existing Airbnbs and not allowing them in our residential neighborhoods. I do however understand the sense of urgency that is needed to get some sort of legislation through. This particular house is up for sale and it is selling as an Airbnb. I personally need this legislation to go into effect now. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Harvey Holtz. I reside in East Liberty, and I am here with PA United. I speak in support of your proposed ordinance concerning short-term rentals, but I will provide some context for grounding a couple of other ideas that might be worth talking about. A distinction needs to be made between use value and exchange value. A house has use value in that it provides essential shelter for human beings. In capitalism, the house instead is transformed into a commodity designed only to yield profit at any cost. As you know, home rented nightly to tourists yields far more revenue than the same home rented monthly to residents. So rentier capital seeking the highest rate of profit abandons the long-term rental market and explodes into the short-term one. These profits accrue to commercial operators that rent dozens of units and to their management companies who take none of the risk. Capital socializes the risk onto neighborhoods and long-term renters while capital privatizes the game. This is the logic of rent. Rentier capital does not build housing. It produces nothing. It merely acts as a middleman. Additionally, rentier capital externalizes does not pay for the full cost of activities that is the destruction of communities and the impact on inhabitants. Externalization may be clearer when we see fossil fuel companies externalize the cost of destruction of human beings and the environment. Rent their capital externalizes the cost of rising rents, vanishing inventories and neighborhoods hollowed into transient zones with no stable community remaining. So I make the following suggestions. It is not enough to limit how many units one investor may have, but a limit should be placed on the total number of rentals in any neighborhood. Second, the long-term residents who must leave the neighborhood or pay higher rents should be paid reparations by these existing companies. And we need to eliminate not only new ones, but we need to eliminate the older ones. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Andrew McLeod, last name M-A-C-L-E-O-D. I am the president of the Fine View Community Organization, and I'm a little bit tired. Not just of Airbnbs in general, but also I woke up at 4.30 this morning so I could start work early, so I could end work early, so I could be here to speak about this. And it sounds like a lot of people are out here. A lot of respect to everybody here. Anybody speaking for Airbnbs is probably trying to preserve their income stream. Anybody speaking against them is doing it for the love of the game. So I personally don't really like the grandfathering clause because we live in a residential neighborhood. I'm in Fineview, it's a little bit up the hill behind the north side. I am 15 minutes, and according to my Fitbit, 47 flights of stairs away from the nearest place I can go to buy a bag of Skittles, but two doors down from me. a nuclear family with two children moved out and their house was replaced by an airbnb that i have called the fire department on i think five times because they run a fire unsupervised after 11 among other things um there are three i can throw a football too and i was picked last in gym class a lot um And so they really just should have never even been there in the first place. They should have been squelched by a lot of the anti-business stuff of a residential neighborhood. But, you know, the second best time to forbid them from doing it is now. So please don't let them grandfather that in. How much time do I have left?

115.

Oh, all right. Well, that's all I really wanted to say anyway. Have a nice night.

Thank you. Ms. King, you've already spoken.

Yes, I did. And I was just going to ask permission to speak on behalf of Catherine Broski. She tried to be here. She started a new job. Her computer would not let her speak or tune in. So I have her letter. If you have her letter, you may submit it. Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. That's all. Thank you.

Is there anybody else lining up? Oh, yeah, I am. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. My name is Danielle Graham Robinson. I am a homeowner for the past 11 years in the Brighton Heights community. I'm the 27th ward chair for the Democratic Committee. And up until March, I was a real estate agent for the last 10 years. I'm now a mortgage loan officer. And in both roles, I have specialized in helping low to moderate income buyers utilize down payment and closing cost assistance offered to them if they purchase in the city of Pittsburgh. And while my experience is admittedly anecdotal, I can tell you that a vast majority of my clients who have gotten passed over for offers that they have made on properties lost their deal to cash buyers. One of the realities of being a cash buyer who is purchasing a home for a primary use is that they can offer a little bit more because they're paying right now, or they can offer a little bit less because they're paying right now and they can close faster. Many of the down payment assistance programs take 60 to 90 days to close a house. A cash offer could close in two weeks. So what I'm seeing in the real estate business is that the reality of cash buyers is absolutely harming the ability of people to actually purchase homes that are typically more affordable for folks that cannot afford much more than that. When my husband and I purchased our home 11 years ago, we purchased it from a family who had lived there for 65 years. When the 95 year old matriarch passed away, her adult children committed to selling their childhood home to owner occupied buyers out of care for their neighbors. These were not housing activists. These were not people trying to speak to their city council person. They were people that cared about what they were leaving behind for the little block of our perfect little neighborhood in Brighton Heights. In the last 10 years, I've seen over and over that when folks who buy whole houses for the sole purpose of using them as short-term rentals are eroding our communities. When these homes are used in this way, you operate a commercial business in a residential neighborhood, as many people have already said. you also erode tax revenue and you contribute to the higher property values and therefore higher property taxes as we all know assessments are coming for that reason it's important to understand that there is no responsible primary use short-term rental owner i'm going to say that again there is no responsible primary use short-term rental owner. I don't care if the garbage is taken out every week. I don't care if you rent to the most prestigious, you know, quiet people. It's irresponsible on the face of it because of what it is doing to our communities. That's three minutes.

Please wrap up.

Okay. I'm strongly in favor of community first policies. I know the only people who are supporting primary use short-term rentals are the people who own them. The other justification for short-term rental is that many take side hustles of cleaning these houses in order to make extra money. And why do they do that? Because they can't afford to live here. So it is very important for us to not continue to have a circular exploitation of housing in our neighborhood and in our city. Don't grandfather it in.

I'm Joy Snyder. I live at 4023 Eden Way in Lawrenceville. became aware of the row house beside me being a bed and breakfast when two very diverse groups had parties at different on different days and every other word that they used in their sentences started with an f and ended with a k and they were extremely loud and so i brought that up with the uh with um the owner, the person who directed the housing, housewives. And he just kind of shrugged his shoulders. Then it became clear to me that I wasn't safe there. And I feel like Ms. Rainey who testified earlier, I'm 80 years old, with the way things are today with people getting randomly stabbed and shot, what am I doing there? It scares the hell out of me. And then to make matters worse, i am at 40 23 40 23 and a half is next door that's where the bed and breakfast is but everybody comes to my house and tries to get in the house because i'm at 40 23 and they can't find 40 23 and a half for some reason they're always watching their um looking at their phones for the maps so um one day one evening at 11 p.m two great big hefty guys looking like henchmen for Tony Soprano came to my front door. And I could see them walking up all dressed in black with these big heavy valises. And I didn't know what they were for. I thought they were going next door to fix something. But they came up to my door and they were fooling around outside with my combination. And finally I said to them, what are you doing there? And they said, oh, you're not the bed and breakfast. so um i don't feel and i one another time a dog walker came by he was going to walk the dog next door and um thought was trying to get into my house again so you know i just am very terrified of what's going to happen and um i i don't know what to do about it except you know i i see these people as not being responsible um my house can catch on fire that something terrible could happen and um i see my only recourse is maybe uh using the personal injury route with my son who's an attorney at Morgan and Morgan and a partner there and actually taking these people to court when they do these kinds of things and I would like to see somebody who cares about me rather than what's happening with the bed and breakfast um in other words I the man from housewives came by one day and said i have the 13 that's four minutes please wrap up i have a 13 foot ladder i'm going to put it bring it through your backyard is that okay and um it would have to go through my backyard the house behind me and then into his and i just said no because he didn't offer me any compensation no help so i you know it's just a very frustrating situation thank you

Hello, my name is Calliope Levendos, L-E-V-E-N-D-O-S. And I don't know if I'm friend or foe here now. After hearing a lot of this testimony, I am a co-host of six Airbnbs in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. I want to say that this is not difficult stuff. These Airbnbs need to be managed with precision, integrity, and common sense. This is something that has always been in the mirror. There is no secret to this. One has to be decent to one's neighbors. The Airbnbs that I actually help co-host, nobody knows are an Airbnb. One of them is actually up by Children's Hospital. And to speak to the comment about there not being a reason for Airbnbs, that's simply not true. My Airbnb by Children's Hospital is actually houses guests that come for their children that need specialty care, where we offer a huge discount to those guests. So yes, we do have a reason. It also affords other neighborhoods to come and see other neighborhoods. When you have extended family, for instance, staying with you for the holidays or whatever the reason may be, it affords someone else to come in and see another part of the city. There is no reason at all why there is violence. None. There shouldn't be. The fact that it's taken this long is disgusting. And after that first shooting, they should have been assembled and taken care of. Now, I will say that there are some of my colleagues or, if you will, competition out there that are absentee. That is absolutely correct. My work comes to me by word of mouth. They ask me to come in because of the diligent care I take in every aspect. And I do this because I'm proud to do it. It allows me and affords me the opportunity to promote my city and my neighborhoods. And for that, I'm grateful. I do feel that there is a right way and a wrong way. It's simple. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Chad Wise. I live in Manchester and I represent Steelstra, the Steel City Short-Term Rental Alliance. On July 13th, several of you asked the bill sponsors, one of which is openly hostile to the entire category of short-term rentals, direct questions about this bill. How many short-term rentals are there? Who owns them? How many are owner-occupied? Instead of answers, You were told the data's over a year old, individual properties couldn't be identified, owner occupancy was a best guess, and the current data costs $350, which you were all invited to buy for yourself. Since the sponsors of this STR ban could not provide you real data on the state of short-term rentals in the city, I will. First, supply. As of August, there are approximately 2,100 active short-term rentals in the city of Pittsburgh. That's down 2.6% year over year and down 10% from the peak in May of last year. The count peaked that month at 2,400 short-term rentals and has been shrinking since. Whatever's driving Pittsburgh's housing pressure today and expanding short-term rental market is not it. second scale the census counts approximately 168 000 housing units in this city and 25 000 of them sit vacant that's 15 percent that are vacant uh short-term rentals makes up 1.3 percent so there are roughly 12 vacant units in pittsburgh for every short-term rental and these are furnished market rate homes that generally don't meet uh They don't meet affordable housing standards that the city uses. So eliminating them does not create affordable housing. It creates more vacancies. It removes a lever to invest in vacant homes. Counterintuitively, rather than increasing housing stock, banning STR reduces it. Third, we already have a case study in STR bans. New York City imposed a de facto ban on short-term rentals in 2023. More than 90% of the listings disappeared. And what happened? Rents didn't fall. They rose more than 8% over the following two years. Rental inventory did not meaningfully improve, but hotels did very well. A peer-reviewed study published last year found the ban increased hotel room rates by $16 per night and transferred 13% or $2.5 billion in additional revenue to hotels in just the first 18 months. New York City didn't solve its housing crisis by limiting short-term rentals. Instead, it dramatically reduced consumer choice and shifted billions of dollars to wealthy hotel owners. Pittsburgh shouldn't repeat that failed experiment. Fourth, what this city gets in return. Short-term rentals pay the same 14% lodging tax that hotel rooms pay, which in part funds the convention center and Visit Pittsburgh. Airbnb's research shows that for every $100 guests spend on lodging, they spend another $264 locally, and 41% of that remains directly in the neighborhood where they stayed. That's over $250 million landing in Brookline and Beachview, not in a downtown lobby. With a short-term rental ban, much of that money disappears to other cities with tourist-friendly policies. uh we're not here to oppose regulation we've been asking that's three minutes please wrap up we have been asking for licensing for four years council should pass a workable bill or version of bill eight require 24 7 uh responsible contact enforce noise trash and nuisance rules shut down problem properties using real trackable data but don't recommend bill nine is written zoning cannot you cannot zone accurately against numbers that nobody has

Thank you. Okay, well, last in person.

So, hi, my name is Michael Subkowiak. It's spelled S-O-B as in boy, K-O-W-I-A-K. I live at 300 Coulthard Ave in Oakland. I am a short-term rental host. I host four properties in Oakland. I do shovel my neighbors' driveways. My neighbors all know who I am. I am an integral part of the neighborhood. And I wanted to show one other face of what short-term rentals can do for the community. I've been doing this for 12 years. I was one of the original early adopters for Airbnb. I've hosted over 2000 guests from around the world. And to me, short term rentals play an integral part to our community in terms of hosting folks coming into the city. I've had folks come in. I'll give you a couple of stories. One is I had a gentleman who's coming in. His daughter was having brain surgery at Presby and he just needed a place for the weekend. He ended up staying with me for six weeks while she went through recovery. And so to paint these folks as transient as some sort of demons coming into our community just really hurts me to hear the effect I've seen on the people who've come and stayed with me. And so these people are integral to our community. They provide economic opportunities for all of us. They spend money at our restaurants. They go to our hotels, to our different events. They go to our hospitals. They teach at our universities. They are nurses. They are doctors. There's a whole mix of folks who use short-term rentals. And so to have this broad brush and sort of destructive term to say, we must get rid of all these, these are somehow horrible, There's no one here representing those transient evil people that you've been presenting. They don't have a chance to have a voice here. Those folks are desperate when they're coming here often, right? They need a place. They need a place for their families to be and to meet and to get healthy and to learn about this. I've helped people find housing here in Pittsburgh, right? They've come in here and talked to me and I showed them different neighborhoods so they could move into Pittsburgh. I've been a host and a guest and a representative of Pittsburgh. And so to sit here and hear Airbnbs be bashed and not have an opportunity to have the 2,000 people who have stayed with me come and speak on behalf, I think it's just, it's difficult to sit here in the room and hear this. I'm all for trying to figure out some proper regulation. And we have a lot of great regulation, right? We have parking and trash. My neighbors throw trash out. They're long-term residents. They put their trash out early. We have ways of dealing with this, right? We are a community. We all have to learn how to work together, be it long-term, be it rental, be it guests, right? We have legislation on, am I done?

You have eight seconds.

Anyway, I think the way this legislation is written is there's a lot of mistakes in it. You have a gap, like what happens if you stay for 29 days? There's a whole number of things about this thing that's not written correctly. So I wish you review it before you go on. Thank you.

Thank you.

good afternoon commissioners my name is maddie mcgrady i'm a renter and resident in highland park and also a co-chair of the pittsburgh housing justice table we're a diverse coalition of groups organizations and individuals working together to bring healthy affordable and accessible housing within reach to all in pittsburgh and allegheny county as a human right I'm speaking today in support of this bill and to urge the Planning Commission to positively recommend it today. Housing is first and foremost a basic need and a social good and it should be treated as a human right. It's like clean air or clean water. We need it to be able to live and if we can't access it or we can't afford it or it's inadequate, people suffer greatly and struggle immeasurably to meet their basic needs. We are in the middle of an affordable housing crisis in Pittsburgh. Every day, hundreds of people in the city are facing forced eviction and displacement due to the rising costs of housing, utilities and other basic necessities. Our homeless shelters are full every night and people are sleeping outside. service providers are at capacity people who would like to purchase a home are locked into renting and increasingly and about half of these renters are cost burdened meaning they're paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing alone we can't afford to have single-family homes or long-term rentals in the city being converted to short-term rentals we shouldn't have be converting housing in residential neighborhoods to businesses when we need housing. Left unchecked, they're not, I want to speak to what some of the operators said, they're not buying vacant properties and rehabilitating them. They are purchasing naturally occurring affordable housing that would be available to a family or a renter and turning it into a business. um so this legislation as others have said doesn't go far enough we need to be doing so much more to protect preserve rehabilitate housing creating more deeply affordable housing for the people who are being priced out but this is just common sense as a first step to protect our existing housing stock for long-term residents in our residential neighborhoods thank you thank you

Hi, my name's Andrew Mercer, 1245 Denison View Street, Pittsburgh. I've been a short-term rental host since 2018. And right when I first moved back to Pittsburgh, I re-fell in love with the city. I'm a boomerang, just like so many others. And I just wanted to look at kind of a retirement plan. I didn't have a 401 , I didn't have a pension, anything like that. So just as a way to ensure my future, I wanted to own real estate. That's turned into a whole lot more in the years since. And like the other hosts have said, not everyone is a bad neighbor. I have endless stories of knowing all my neighbors, being reachable, mowing their lawns, shoveling their driveways. We all remember the storm back in January. I hired on every set of hands I could, not just to shovel out my guests, but to shovel our neighbors' stoops, to clear off their cars, and then do it all over again when the plow trucks came through and bury them right back in. Since then, we have grown our team. We try really hard to make sure everyone has not only a good time at work, but they have sustainable work going forward. And now all of our neighbors even know our teams as well. So I just want to say I am not an out of state faceless corporation. I'm a local Pittsburgher who couldn't wait to move back. And I did just that. And even the biggest host in the city, Chad, he has a name, he's right there. He is not an out of state venture capital firm gobbling up all the housing stock in the city. We take houses that otherwise would be nuisance properties and sit vacant. And a good host like Chad is, like I am, we make sure we're not only good neighbors, but we make sure that we take care of the nuisance properties. I look at my neighbors. I have some great ones that I love. I have some bad ones that like many of you, do not like and you want to stop their bad activity i get it my neighbor who smokes pot next door to my guests all day long i don't want to deal with that guy but i certainly don't want to go after his source of income and try to ruin his income and ruin his life I have no desire to do that. And I just ask that you think about who you're dealing with and you talk to us as neighbors, not as out-of-state corporations, because we're here. All my neighbors know me. I'm sorry for everyone who has had a bad experience, but just because a crime happens in a certain venue doesn't mean you should be in the venue.

Thank you. I think we'll go to people online, assuming there's no one lined up behind that large pillar.

If you're able to. Hello? Up.

All right, we can hear you. Can I hear?

Yes. Hi. Hello, dear planning commission. My name is Ilnar Akhmadjanov. I live on Penn Avenue and I'm a Pittsburgh resident living in Bloomfield neighborhood. Also a dad of three small children and a friendly neighbor. So I know all my neighbors and I'm a host in the city of Pittsburgh. A few years ago, I purchased a small multiplex where I live, and I rent the other units at short-term rentals. Like many Pittsburgh residents, I use this income to help pay my mortgage, cover my bills, maintain my property, feed my family. I support reasonable regulations. I believe every short-term rental should be licensed, inspected and required to meet fire and safety standards. In fact, my property recently passed city's long-term rental inspection and the inspector complimented the condition of my property. Responsible hosts have nothing to fear from reasonable regulations. What I cannot support are the proposed caps on the number of short-term rental units allowed within the building. I respectfully ask, what problem do these caps actually solve? If a property is safe, well-maintained, properly licensed, and does not create issues for the neighborhood, why should it matter whether there are one, two, or three, or four rental units? Reasonable operators should be judged by how they manage their properties, not by an arbitrary numerical limit. Short-term rentals also benefit our communities. I hire a local handyman, a local cleaner, and every guest receives recommendations for the neighborhood restaurants, coffee shops, small businesses. My guests support those businesses every time they visit Pittsburgh. This issue also affects my family. My retired parents live in Pittsburgh and they own a multiplex where they live in one of the units and rent the other units as short-term rentals. It has become their retirement project and they enjoy welcoming visitors and sharing everything Pittsburgh has to offer. Under the proposed caps, they too would be significantly affected despite operating responsibly. I respect the city to work with responsible hosts to develop balanced regulations, focus on enforcement on operators who repeatedly create nuisances, allow disruptive parties or fail to follow safety rules. Those are the operators who should lose their licenses, not responsible hosts who consistently follow the law. Please do not penalize the overwhelming majority of responsible hosts because of action of a handful of bad hosts. Work with us to create regulations that protect our neighborhoods while allowing responsible property owners to continue contributing to Pittsburgh's economy and welcoming visitors to our city. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Kelly, if you're able to unmute.

hi can you hear me yes we can go ahead hi um i'm kelly hart i live at 304 katoma street uh in the fine view neighborhood and i i agree with a lot of the sentiments of the of the neighbors who who spoke and i can also appreciate the you know local business owners um i i do think that extremes of any sort probably aren't a great thing there are a lot of problems up here with the airbnb i have to tell you we get solicitations in the mail probably five six times a month asking us to sell the house and so when we are ready to sell do you think we're going to sell to somebody who wants to buy pay for 500 000 for the house or a family who can only afford 200 It's pushing out families. And as a lot of people said, there's a big homeless problem, people not being able to afford even the rent prices. And I know that that problem has contributed to beyond the Airbnb. I think that a cap in the neighborhoods would be a really good idea and not grandfathering in everyone. Homes, when they were first even conceptualized, came about, they were never meant to be for profit. they were meant to be for people living in them. And I understand everybody needs to make money somehow. But you know what? I got to work. I do community treatment through UPMC. And I don't have the luxury of being able to just buy up houses and rent them out so that I can not have to worry about having a job to go to every day. And can also say that people who live there year round will also contribute financially to the businesses in the area just as much as somebody who was coming from out of town does that conclude your testimony kelly it does thank you very much can you hear me

Yes, Mr. Prosky, please go ahead.

Good afternoon. My name is Mike Prosky, and I am the owner of Curbside Appeal LLC, a Pittsburgh area small business. Curbside Appeal works directly with short-term rental operators and property management companies throughout the Pittsburgh area. And I want to start by making my position clear that we support responsible short-term rentals, and we believe that they are an important part of Pittsburgh's economy. Short-term rentals support far more than the property owner. They create work for cleaners, contractors, maintenance companies, property managers, waste service companies, tradespeople, and many other local businesses. So when we talk about broadly restricting short-term rentals, we are also talking about the businesses and workers that depend on that activity. At the same time, I understand that neighborhoods have legitimate concerns about poorly managed properties. Trash is one of those concerns. Overflowing garbage, loose debris, animals getting into trash, bulk items accumulating, and absentee owners who may not even know a problem exists can absolutely become neighborhood nuisances. But those problems are manageable. Pittsburgh already has extensive ordinances and standards dealing with trash, refuse, property conditions, dumping, and neighborhood cleanliness. The city clearly recognizes that trash management is an issue throughout Pittsburgh, not something unique to short-term rentals. My company helps solve that problem every day. Curbside Appeal physically visits properties to take out the trash and bring the trash back in. We photograph and document our visits. We clean up loose garbage left behind from collection crews and animals. If we find overflowing trash, bulk items, dumping, or another problem, we photograph it and notify the property manager so it can be addressed. When additional removal is necessary, we handle that as well. That means, in this very small example, that there is a local company physically checking these properties multiple times each week and creating accountability for the condition. And the property owner pays for it, not the city and not the taxpayers. That is why I believe Pittsburgh should focus on regulating the actual nuisance behavior rather than broadly restricting responsible short-term rentals. If trash management is a concern, create a clear standard for trash management. If local accountability is a concern, require operators to demonstrate that someone is responsible for the property. If an operator repeatedly creates legitimate nuisance conditions, enforce the rules against that operator. but give responsible short-term rental owners a clear pathway to comply and continue operating. I would also encourage the city to involve the people who actually deal with these issues every day when those standards are developed, like short-term rental operators, neighborhood representatives, property managers, et cetera. Curbside Appeal and myself, as well as probably a lot of short-term rental owners, would be willing to work directly with city planning, PLI, environmental services, city council, and short-term rental.

That's three minutes. Please wrap up.

And the short-term rental community to help develop practical standards. So we are willing to help. And if Pittsburgh ultimately requires documented trash management companies, we would be there for them. That's pretty much it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Andy, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Sure. Andrew Kelleman, K-E-L-E-M-E-N. Can you guys hear me okay? Yes, we can. wonderful so i've been a resident of lawrenceville since early 2018 and i really just want to talk about something that's kind of hard to tangibly put in a spreadsheet and it's really this idea of what makes a neighborhood actually feel like a neighborhood i feel like the best term that sort of encompasses it that councilwoman gross actually said at the start of all this would be the social fabric It's really that idea of relationships and trust that kind of builds up over time between neighbors who interact on a daily basis. Personally speaking, I'm thinking about my elderly neighbor, Nancy, who, if I don't see her car move for a few days, I wonder if she's OK, or borrowing tools from my neighbors for house projects, or my neighbor Lou cleaning up a planter that was broken because he knew I was out of town, or having these five-minute conversations with people that turn into 20. And none of those things are really particularly dramatic. But if you put them together over the years, that's really what makes up a community. And that's what's really worrying to me about the rise of short-term rentals. If you take my block here in Lawrenceville, there's 24 houses and currently eight of them are short-term rentals. So that's one third fewer people that know one another. That's one third fewer people that have a stake on that block six months from now of what's happening. And it's fewer people that are really building those invisible relationships that make a place feel safe and familiar and human. And it's something that statistics can't really quantify. I think it's also interesting, like with Pittsburgh, that our neighborhoods have these distinct personalities and these traditions and these histories, and they've developed because of generations of people that have really stayed here long enough to create them. So to wrap this up, for all these reasons, I'm very much in support of prohibiting short-term rentals on residentially zoned blocks like mine. And I actually encourage the Planning Commission to positively recommend this legislation. However, I do want to note that I don't think this legislation would really do anything to address the existing eight STRs on my block, and I think that's a real missed opportunity. So I would actually ask the Planning Commission to send this back to Council with a recommendation to not grandfather in the existing short-term rentals in residential areas. That concludes my testimony.

Thank you.

Nick, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Perfect, thank you so much. Nick Farrar here, homeowner and North Sider for over 10 years. I originally was going to go through a story prior to living near Allegheny General. I lived directly next to the infamous Easter Airbnb shooting location, being told by law enforcement that if I didn't like it there, I should just move. It was myself and my residents cleaning up our neighborhood, not the property owner of this short-term rental, but it was us that weren't in attendance, have never even made it to this location, that were left cleaning up our streets. I did leave. I bought a house right on the other side of 279. I wanted to invest in my community as a homeowner, not as a profiteer. But what was funny is moving in, one of the first questions I got from my new neighbor was, oh, are you flipping it or renting it out? as if finding a place to call my own in this city was second to the persistent and unchecked property buying of absentee opportunists. And by absentee, I mean even people neighborhoods over that have been hollowing out our 90 neighborhoods we consistently tout as a place of community and as a place where life can be built. Now, I come before you in full support of this licensing legislation. It seems like a unifying factor here even with those that are against this piece of legislation is that some kind of rules should apply. Zoning exists for a reason. It is, we talk a lot of like, oh, broad swath policies. Zoning is designed to organize our neighborhoods in ways that are appropriate to build community and have spaces for everyone. I fully encourage these short-term rental owners to go before the proper channels and find carve-outs so that they can operate in residential zoned districts. But until then, hotels they have regulations that exists apartment regulations exist it's about time short-term rental regulations exist and we can't just let them skate by in residential zoned areas waiting for just I don't know us to finally move forward with, okay, we finally got along to do this. I don't think that, you know, grandfathering in is appropriate, but I do understand for the sense of time and urgency moving forward with the legislation as is a good common sense start in reclaiming our neighborhoods for those that wish to call Pittsburgh their actual home. Thank you.

Thank you.

Brian, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Brian, if you're speaking, we cannot hear you. You went on mute, Brian. Let's try and unmute.

Fran, you there?

We cannot hear Fran. Could we move on to the next applicant and then come back to Fran?

Sounds good.

Thank you. I'm sorry, not an applicant speaker.

Janet, you're able to unmute. Yes. Please state and spell your name for the record. Note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Hi, my name is Janet Dorsch, D-O-R-S-C-H. I live at Contoma Street in Fineview. And I am calling in representation with some of the neighbors as well. I fully don't, I don't want to say that I'm against the Airbnbs. It really depends on the size of the neighborhood. And where I live in my neighborhood, it's very small. I look out my back door. There's an Airbnb. I come out to the front porch to the left up the street on each side around the corner. There's Airbnbs. There's also one that rents rooms that I have a problem with as far as the size. You know, we had a party up here the other night. It was local. I don't know who it was, but if they were young kids, which that there is a trend for that in the city where the kids are. who organize large groups, they rent the Airbnbs when they turn 18 for a party. That's a whole nother issue, but that's something that should be addressed as well. Also, the parking, you know, you want to get in, when you're in a neighborhood, you want to know your neighbors. And, you know, when this, as small as we, where we live, it's, it's just, it's not, it's just not the same, same kind of a community. Now where we do, we are close with our neighbors, but when you have all these Airbnbs right in the same corner, it's, it takes that away. And that's my concern. They need to be regulated as far as if there's noise complaints, you know, if there's drinking underage. So many times that you get a warning, you shouldn't be able to have a license. And, you know, these homes are made for families. I understand, you know, renting like long term, you know, but as far as like parking. That's a big thing. Like if you're if you're advertising, you can have eight people, but there's like all street parking. That doesn't work well. And that's just going to make the neighbors, you know, upset. And I don't want to sell our house to another Airbnb. And then my neighbors are dealing with it. It's just something has to be regulated as far as the size of the neighborhood. How many homes can have it? How can you rent a home and rent rooms? That's that's that's another issue as well. I don't know. you know, about that. But that is my concern and just the sense of community. You know, who wants to buy in a neighborhood? If you're a young family, you want to move into a neighborhood and you look it up and there's three Airbnb's right on your street. Is that really where you want to want to raise your kids and maybe, you know, get friendly with the other kids? That's how I grew up. We grew up on the north side. You knew your neighbors. You knew you grew up with the kids. That's not happening anymore. You know, and like I said, that some of the guys that we're talking on here that own them, they they seem very responsible. You know that I don't have a problem with that. But if their property is not being maintained or in a neighborhood where you don't have enough space for the parking and just you're having, you know, parties and that's a problem and that that needs to be addressed. But that's that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. We will go back to Fran, please. If you could unmute Fran, let's try again. Hello?

Fran, are you there?

I'm sorry, Ms. Dase. We're trying to work with Fran and then- Fran, are you there?

You're able to unmute.

Fran, you are unmuted, but we cannot hear you.

You know what? This is Janet. I just spoke.

Yes, Janet. Okay. We'll move on to Amy Zace. Amy, if you could unmute. Thank you. Thank you.

Amy, please state your name.

Yes. Go ahead.

Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to make your statement.

Thank you. My name is Amy, A-M-Y, Z, as in zebra, A-I-S-S. I'm only speaking from my personal experience. I'm a resident of the Beachview neighborhood. First of all, I'd like to point out that many people here today are using the argument about our housing shortage in order to encourage regulation on short-term rentals. But when it comes down to the numbers, there's only about 3,000 short-term rentals operating in the entire county, not even just in the city. And this represents less than half of 1%, 0.5%. of housing stock the same people who make these arguments um in favor using them in favor of short-term rentals are are unwilling to use the same arguments when it comes down to other zoning reforms which would actually uh you know deal with the issue of our housing shortage so i'm very frustrated to hear people use data in that way um second i'd like to say that The most obvious thing here is the issue with disruption, noise, trash, garbage. These are already issues we have regulations for, and we should be using the laws and regulations available to us If they're not robust enough, city council can go back and make them better. I lastly want to say from my experience, I moved to Pittsburgh in November of 2020 from California. Moving cross-country in the thick of the COVID pandemic was not logistically easy. I rented an Airbnb in Pittsburgh for at least a month to help me move, look at neighborhoods, figure out where I was going to land. The demonization of short-term rentals is very close to the same way people demonize regular long-term rentals. And I hate to see people use that kind of language. So please think of the traveling nurses, think of the families coming to support people who are giving birth or having medical issues. Think of the students who are coming here for just a summer program or a few weeks to check out college campuses. We're all real people who use Airbnbs for a legitimate purpose. Thank you. Thank you.

Sophia, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Okay. All right, hold on one. Okay, there we go. Can you hear me okay? Yes. OK, wonderful. So my name is Sophia Sanseri. I'm in Lawrenceville, 234 42nd Street. And I am a host. I have one place. I bought an uninhabitable vacant place that was actually Um, not even zoned for, um, you know, being a resident as a business long, long time ago. And, um, its main resident there was weeds and garbage. And matter of fact, one of our neighbors had just called in a huge complaint because the weeds were so bad. And, um, There was still an open outhouse in the back and it was just completely uninhabitable. Matter of fact, the family who sold it didn't want to sell it to big contractors so that they would just knock it down because it's a really, really quaint, cool place and it had a history. So we took it and we renovated it over several years, my husband and I. And our main focus was sustainability and sustainability with a budget. So it's not just for really wealthy people. So through the years, we've gotten to know our neighbors. I've developed some really good friends because I'm there all the time. I'm working. I mean, we just had a huge leak in our business. because it's two houses and we were there and our neighbors were helping us and one of our neighbors gave us a huge fan and we all know each other. We went to Home Depot and we saw one of our neighbors there who has a truck. He's like, hey, do you want to put the wood in our truck instead of trying to stuff it in your Prius? And we're like, thank you, you know, and Another neighbor and I, we're working on street calming measures with Councilwoman Gross, and I'm also giving them a crock pot, an old crock pot to get the paint off their hardware in their house because this is their first time buying. There's a lot of seniors on our street, and I help one of the seniors with her gutter problem and her sidewalk problem. Checking in on another one. I mean, I'm there all the time because I'm working all the time. And I mean, I had a whole thing written out that I'm kind of just I was listening to everybody. And I get the whole thing about being I get it. I mean. I mean, it makes me so angry to hear about these. I call them predatory hosts, but I like what Councilwoman Gross was saying, absentee landlords.

It makes me- That's three minutes. Please wrap up.

Okay. All right. So basically- My whole thing is that I'm in full support of these regulations. And I do believe in the grandfathering in, but I also believe that you should really go through the people that are here. And I know I stand differently than a lot of people, but I think you should go through and say, hey, do you, I mean, I volunteered. I've already gotten my registration, you know, all that kind of stuff. You need to be stepping up. Everybody needs to step up as hosts and show that we are responsible and we're a part of the neighborhoods. Thank you.

Please wrap up.

I was going to say the old school idea of a local person creating an authentic experience for people to visit Pittsburgh. It's going to be wiped off the surface if you just kind of do these blanket, like just no more. I put a lot of time into my guests and helping them. And I really enjoy it, as I hear a lot of other hosts do. But that's it. Thank you.

Kelly, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kelly Bethke. It's B-E-T-H-K-E, and I live in Manchester. I am a member of Steelstra, Steel City Short-Term Rental Alliance, and I'm here today to ask you not to recommend Bill 0009. I want to focus on something a little different from the overall number of short-term rentals in Pittsburgh. And this is whether the problems this bill is trying to solve are actually widespread enough to justify citywide zoning restrictions. The common argument, as we've heard today, for banning short-term rentals is usually nuisance. So parties, noise, trash, parking, those are ones that are commonly cited, and they are real concerns. But the evidence suggests they are the exception, not the rule. Airbnb reports that fewer than 0.06% of stays in the U.S. resulted in a reported party last year. So that's roughly six out of every 10,000 stays. and yet this bill does not target the 0.06 percent the original sponsor of the bill wants to ban non-owner occupied short-term rentals and she is attempting to leverage zoning to accomplish it this bill restricts an entire category of property use including operators who have never received a complaint never hosted a party maintain 24-hour local response monitor noise screen gas employ professional cleaners and Pittsburgh residents on their team, and actively work and care about their neighbors. This is one of the fundamental problems with using zoning as the first solution. Zoning cannot distinguish between the operator with five years of spotless history and the property generating complaints. It treats both as the same land use problem. And several of the restrictions of this bill have no demonstrated connection to nuisance at all. For example, a duplex or triplex on a single lot is limited to one short-term rental. A 21-unit apartment building and a 300-unit building are both capped at five. One building can be more than 14 times larger than another, yet the proposed zoning code treats their supposed neighborhood impact exactly the same. Those numbers are not based on complaint history, neighborhood impact, parking capacity, noise, ownership, building size, or any other measurable harm. They're just arbitrary caps. when you asked the sponsor where those caps came from the answer was i quote i don't remember that should matter when this commission is being asked to recommend permanent zoning restrictions across an entire city and it matters because short-term rentals are not just investors or vacation homes as many of the hosts today um have stated there are places that are used by families coming to pittsburgh for weddings and graduations their patients and relatives traveling for medical care. There are even people displaced from their homes by fire insurance claims, workers relocating to the region, and visitors who want to stay in neighborhoods where hotels don't exist. The city already has a better first step. A revised Bill 8 can create a licensing system that creates accountability based on actual behavior. That's three minutes. Please wrap up. Yep. Then the city and council would finally have something to do that they do not have today. They'd have actual Pittsburgh data. And you'd know which properties generate complaints, if there are concentration problems, whether certain types of properties create greater impacts, and whether the problem this bill assumes actually exists. And if the data eventually shows that licensing and enforcement are not enough, zoning can be considered. Nothing about licensing prevents the city from revisiting zoning later. But zoning should be the first response. Thank you.

yep thank you i put a phone number down for reaching zoom via phone that's more so for fran if she was having trouble reaching uh using her audio on her computer earlier but that's a resource that's available thank you and that number's in the chat if you are online do we have anybody else with their hands raised Alison, Alison, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Oh, thank you. My name is Alison Keating, A-L-I-S-O-N-K-E-A-T-I-N-G. I live in Manchester. I wanted to clarify a few things. Nobody is banning Airbnbs. This legislation does not ban Airbnbs. A lot of folks have brought up, or at least one person said that folks' lives would be ruined by this legislation. And I just want to make sure that everyone is aware that they can be long-term landlords. This legislation might deal in future restrictions on short-term rentals, but it does nothing to prevent anyone from doing a long-term tenancy for anyone. And I want to use, based on the number supplied by Chad Wise, 2,100 rentals, the city is losing over $4 million in income tax per year based on that number. If we assume the census median income of $67,000 per household. That $400, $4 million would be almost 10% of the future budget gaps that we're going to be having in years coming. And I also wanted to touch on, and I know it's not part of this text that's in front of the commission today, but the alleged compromise to grandfather the units via an occupancy permit is very concerning because I don't see how these are legal non-conforming uses because they are businesses that are operating in residential zones. And I'm personally in favor of more businesses operating in residential zones, but it needs to be supported by the community. Um, and, and this is not, um, and, and, uh, providing those units occupancy permits, you know, like that's something that an owner can draw on 20 years from now, you know, like, like they, it, it could, it could become a single family home for, you know, next year. And then, you know, 20 years from now, someone could call on that and be like, oh, well, I have this occupancy permit for a short trip, you know? And so that's, that is, that is a bit concerning that, that, that seems to be an odd way to, to, to create that compromise to me. And I think that that was everything I wanted to touch on. And thank you all for listening to us for so long. Thank you. Thank you.

Colleen, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Hi, thank you so much. Good afternoon. My name is Colleen Cadman, C-O-L-L-E-E-N-C-A-D-M-A-N, and I'm speaking today on behalf of AARP Pennsylvania. AARP is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that works to empower people to choose how they live as they age. And a key part of that mission is promoting housing policies that expand choice, support financial security, and help people remain in their homes and communities for as long as possible. AARP Pennsylvania supports ordinance number 20260009. This proposal establishes a clear regulatory framework for short-term rentals across the city of Pittsburgh. The ordinance defines short-term rental uses, establishes where they may be permitted, requires licensing, and creates operating standards intended to balance homeowner flexibility with neighborhood stability. It also restricts the use of short-term rentals for public assemblies, recreational entertainment, and hospitality activities, helping to ensure that these properties remain compatible with surrounding residential uses. Of particular interest to AARP is the ordinance's treatment of accessory dwelling units, often called ADUs. The proposal creates an accessory use short-term rental category that may include rooms within a dwelling unit or an accessory dwelling unit. It also requires that these rentals be managed by the property owner who must reside on the property and defines a short-term rental or accessory use as occurring within a dwelling unit or accessory dwelling unit and requires management by an owner who is also a resident of the property. These provisions recognize an important reality for many homeowners, particularly older homeowners. Housing costs, property taxes, insurance premiums, and everyday expenses continue to place pressure on household budgets. Allowing homeowners a reasonable opportunity to generate supplemental income from their property can help them maintain financial stability and remain in their homes and neighborhoods. AARP policy supports the ability of individual homeowners, particularly older homeowners, to generate income through short-term rentals when appropriate. At the same time, AARP recognizes the importance of balancing that opportunity with the need to preserve community character, support neighborhood stability and maintain housing availability. We appreciate that this ordinance seeks to strike that balance. The owner occupancy requirement promotes accountability. The licensing requirements provide transparency and oversight. The operational standards and limitations on the concentration and use of short-term rentals help address potential neighborhood concerns. For older adults who wish to age in place, for family caregivers seeking flexible housing arrangements, and for homeowners looking for responsible ways to supplement their income, this ordinance provides a thoughtful framework that supports both housing flexibility and community stability. And for these reasons, AARP Pennsylvania respectfully supports ordinance number 2026-0009 and encourages the Planning Commission to advance the measure for further consideration. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Brigitte, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Thank you. My name is Brigitte Marisil. It's spelled B-R-I-G-I-T-T-E M-A-R-A-S-C-I-L. I have lived in Fineview as a homeowner on Pittsburgh's north side for 16 years, and I own and operate several furnished and short-term rentals in and around Pittsburgh. I was a college professor and eventually I became tenured. I worked incredibly hard for that career, but it kept me away from my children far more than I wanted. Short-term rentals gave me another path. They allowed me to leave teaching full-time, be present to raise my children, and invest in the community where we live. I purchased severely distressed houses in my neighborhood, borrowed money to renovate them, and turned them back into beautiful homes where visitors can experience what it actually feels like to live in Pittsburgh. And there is a misconception about who those visitors are. The majority of my guests stay for 30 days or longer. They are relocating, working here, receiving medical treatment, or they're displaced from their homes. In fact, while I was preparing these remarks today, I received a request for one of my Northside properties, and the guest wrote, I quote, I am looking for temporary accommodation before I get permanent accommodation, and I am new to the city. That is who we are talking about, someone coming to Pittsburgh and trying to make this city their home. They don't want to live in a hotel for months. They want a kitchen, a living room, and they want a Pittsburgh neighborhood. For the time they are here, they want Pittsburgh to feel like home, and we always welcome them as Pittsburghers. Short-term rentals have also allowed me to grow from renovating individual houses into larger development projects. Today I am a part of a team investing millions of dollars to restore Needs Hotel in Lawrenceville, a historic property that has been closed since 2018. I was never a large developer. I was a teacher who started renovating houses. That is why I am so concerned about legislation that makes responsible short-term rental operation financially impossible. Many of Pittsburgh's distressed properties require enormous investment. Investors borrow money to acquire and rehabilitate them, and traditional rents often cannot support the debt required to save them. Furnished rentals can make those projects viable. Eliminate that economic model, and you also eliminate an incentive to take a chance on the houses Pittsburgh most desperately needs someone to save. I support regulation, register us, inspect us, require safety standards and responsible local management, hold bad operators accountable. But regulation should make responsible operators better, not make responsible operation impossible. Please don't eliminate a pathway that allows Pittsburghers like me to restore homes, create jobs, and welcome new residents and reinvest in the city. Short-term rentals didn't pull me away from my community. They gave me the opportunity to become more invested in it. That's three minutes. Please wrap up. Thank you.

David, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Hi, my name is David Metcalf, D-A-V-I-D M-E-T-C-A-L-F. I live on 4119 Rosalia in Greenfield. Um, I'm don't represent anyone. I represent myself. Um, just want to say I was, you know, I got divorced, just a software engineer, found it kind of difficult to, you know, take care of both my family and a place for myself to stay. So I, after things happened with me personally, I took a couple years off and lived with my ex wife and my mom and I'm in my forties, you know? and saved up and looked for a home. I chose Pittsburgh because I believe the original rental ordinance was intended to partly address short-term rentals. So to me, back then when I was saving up, this was part of my calculation. A place where I could play by the rules and register whatever the city wants and be able to afford taking care of both my family and a place for me to stay. Regular rent wouldn't accommodate that. i enjoy short-term renting i live here it helps to provide a place for me to stay so it's a multi-family unit and i can say this house was under maintained it was a blight to the neighborhood when i bought it when i saw this house i knew what it had as a tower and it was originally put here so it was built by a steamboat captain and his wife so the steamboat captain's wife could see him coming and going on the river so i know it's a beautiful part of pittsburgh history and it's now that i have taken out a lot of money and invested in this house something that has added value to the city i know my neighbors are very happy that they look over here and it's now well taken care of plenty of my own parking i live here i don't allow any issues. And I know I'm just speaking for myself, but I think I'm a representation of what this bill does in its current form that preserves people that were, you know, trying to do the right thing. And for something to come in and say, you know, we take away the grandfather clause, Yeah, this would be detrimental to me. This would be a foreclosed home on the market. I mean, most likely I wouldn't be able to continue to keep this home. So I'm glad you've considered that. And I think it was a nice balance. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mary, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you represent today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

Hi, this is Fran. It's Mary Frances. I was on the computer and I can't make it work. I don't know. But my name is like Mary Frances Barbush. I live at 828 Beach Avenue. I've lived here for more than 50 years. We've worked very hard. I live in Allegheny West to try and improve the neighborhood since we've been here. And the Airbnbs are so bad, like some of the neighbors have moved. They also stipulated in their moving unit that they not be allowed to be turned into short-term rental properties. I understand that some of these people are making money, but this is the deal. You have two groups, by the way. Do you hear me now talking?

Yes, we do.

Okay, cool. Okay, so you've got the people who are making money off of the efforts of neighbors who have been here a long time working to improve Pittsburgh. And then you have the rest of us who are the neighbors. So when you talk about a neighborhood, it's neighbors in the neighborhood. The people who have Airbnbs, they're not neighbors staying in those homes. And that's the big problem. We want people to have this be their homes. And the city of Pittsburgh needs people to have people... as homeowners or residents who are tenants long term because they're the ones who are voting for you to be in office. They are the ones who are paying the, you know, the taxes continually. They are the ones who have children in the schools that we're supporting. And they also support those businesses at restaurants or the movies or little shops, bookstores, whatever it is. And the people who complained that what would I do after I spent this money renovating this house, somebody said they had 2,100 units. They would be people living in those units that would be able to actually live there all the time as opposed to not having a home. And Someone said, don't ban the venue. That states it right there. These are not homes. When you turn it into a short-term rental, that isn't a home anymore. It's like a hotel. And those people who want to come to Pittsburgh They will still come to Pittsburgh. They just won't be in a short-term rental. If you want to have that ability, it needs to be a zoning issue, just like a hotel would be a zoning issue. And you would have certain areas that are for short-term rentals, as opposed to little, you know, in a block that here's people who are trying to go to work. And they have the kids going to school and then people are partying and having we've had fraternity parties. We've had bachelorette parties. We've had a whole family reunion. You know, they're unless somebody is there in the building monitoring like the people who live there. OK, I get it. And maybe you want to have a few of those, but. If you really want to put it, really find out, you shouldn't have a vote. Put it on the ballot and have it neighborhood by neighborhood. And you can see how many people. That's three minutes. Please wrap up. Okay. How many people who actually up here want this to happen in their neighborhoods? Because I bet you most of them don't. Thanks so much for your time and for listening and for hearing my point of view. Have a good day. Thank you.

Looks like there is one more hand raised. Brick, you're able to unmute. Please state and spell your name for the record and note any affiliations you're representing today. You have three minutes to provide your statement.

OK. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. OK. So my name is Brick Brickman, B-R-I-C-K-M-A-N, very much like the house. I am a resident of Bloomfield. I'm thrilled that our city is finally catching up and regulating Airbnbs. And I actually want to encourage the commission and our council people to go further with this legislation. I know people are scoffing at the concept of an affordability crisis in housing, but it is here, I'm sorry. And so far as Airbnb goes to play into this, initially it was created as an opportunity for homeowners to earn extra income by renting space in their primary residence to help... Hello? Sorry, please continue. To help them build personal... Oh, that's okay. To help them build personal financial stability or to get them through a temporary hardship. You know, this wasn't meant to become like a consistent forever industry for them. You know, that small scale format has been manipulated, you know, by, you know, uh commercial groups and and and you know profiteering individuals you know uh not to like not to shade the individuals necessarily but it it is in effect staffing available housing stock and operating against the interests of neighbors and their community and what they want removing opportunities for homeownership or long-term rental housing not only rents holes in the existing social fabric but prevents new lasting ties from forming and increasing feelings of insecurity isolation and vulnerability among the long-term residents who remain and and yes you know like with with this legislation please do restrict airbnb hosts uh to be of properties uh where the owners live there their primary residence that that sounds great and it helps it helps them keep their property helps them keep their homes And it still provides a place for people to come in from afar and make a direct connection with a resident and see our city. But do not leave the door open for multi-property owners or multi-unit buildings to host Airbnb units. That is not their business. And we do not need to agree with them when they say it is. A space that doesn't serve as a short-term rental can be operated as a traditional medium So to long term rental, you know, or even become an owner occupied property. Nor do I believe that automatically granting automatic grandfathering should be allowed. You know, these are not legacy businesses that have been integral to the economic and social fabric of the neighborhood. They remove livable space, consolidate and sometimes extract wealth from our region. And they resist neighborhood connection. They do not serve the community. And taking those that don't qualify... That's three minutes. Please wrap up. Okay. Essentially, you know, if you remove the Airbnbs that do not qualify, you know, as primary residents, you can strengthen these neighborhoods by creating housing so that it's needed, connections between individuals who will live there medium-long term, and increased a most thankful neighborhood voter base um just to say that's time for me okay thank you thank you that appears to be the remainder of public comment on zoom excellent

Thank you very much and thank you to everybody who testified. We will now open the floor for Commissioner comments. Just one, I'm sorry, two clarifications before we begin. We are looking at the zoning ordinance amendment that was proposed by Council. There is a companion licensing bill. There has been some reference to some of those provisions. Those are not before us. um and then this is my personal public plea to everyone and i'm sorry if i'm educating you or telling you things you know please stop using the term grandfathering the zoning code uses the term legal non-conforming use which is long grandfathering has subjectory and negative connotations to it if you're going to use the term legacy would be the more appropriate term To the extent there's been reference to a legacy clause, that is not before us. There was reference included in the presentation to the legal nonconforming use. That is existing zoning code language and is not proposed to change. It was included in there for reference. If there are proposals to kind of that language in the zoning code, it would impact those provisions that affect every use. Um, so that may be a separate conversation, um, but. To the extent that there is discussion of legacy uses, um, that's not necessarily before us today. It's not in the bill before us today. Um, so I will open up the floor.

Brainstorm trying to get all this in my brain again.

Yeah, Commissioner.

Thank you. I guess, Carolyn, I. Some questions, I think, for for you in the department. I guess, as you know, I asked during the briefing, and I know that, you know, several of the folks during public comment, you know, alluded to different numbers of, you know, short-term rentals, both within the city and within Allegheny County, but was, do you have, you know, data on the approximate number of, you know, short-term rentals that are, you know, currently active within the Taylor Swift concerts or NFL drafts, but on a typical night?

I don't believe we tracked down any data since the briefing.

Okay. And then the separation standards, my question is, how are these determined?

The limitation on two units if it's a 20 unit building or smaller and the five units fits at more than 20 units that um i believe that was one of the things that was worked out before um i came on board um so i'm i'm not sure what the what the full you know decision making process was that led to that

Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools, Okay. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools, That that that's helpful to I guess know know some of the history, but. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools, You know I I personally just just see those numbers, you can see those numbers is a bit arbitrary so that was that was the reason for the question. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools, My my third question here is, you know how are. Pure cities handling this issue, obviously, you know, Airbnb has grown within the city of Pittsburgh, but the nuisance issues have also.

If you know anyone who hasn't commented yet. Comma get them to mention Mr. Rogers.

Can we mute whoever is speaking?

Yeah, was that a was that a part of public testing?

It looks like that was a public person who was was still off mute, and they have since muted. Okay, thank you very much.

Yeah, I guess, you know, my question is the issues relating to, you know, housing affordability, the problems that can arise in certain Airbnbs, you know, how are other cities, you know, handling this issue? I guess, You know just through personal experience and research, you know. i've read about the law that was in place it in New York City, but like how does this, you know proposed legislation compare with. That legislation and then maybe other you know smaller cities that are more similar to Pittsburgh.

I'm afraid that, again, that's a question that I haven't spent much time looking at these kinds of regulations for our peer cities. I have, in my prior work, did do some work on short-term rentals for smaller cities in Pennsylvania. And I feel like the intent of this legislation is similar to the ones that I've seen for those smaller places. But I don't personally have off the top of my head any of our peer cities and how they're handling short-term rental.

Right. You know, I'll just stay with my own recommendation. You want to make sure that... with my vote that we're looking to accomplish the problems that are set out here. And then my last piece before I wrap up, I appreciate everybody on both sides of this issue coming out here and spending the time after the long weekend, because as we all do, we care about our communities and the city. So those are my three questions here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kelly.

Thank you.

I'll be brief. Just a quick question. I understand that you say you didn't have the data as far as rental usage, how much. But under Cityscape, are we able to get the data how much public safety is being used by the address? Because that's something that can be downloaded in a matter of minutes from public safety. Based upon we can load it through. I mean, there's, there's multiple as being a city firefighter. I know what I'm going to. I don't know. I'm going to an Airbnb. I don't know if I'm going to a home that is broken up into a hostel. I don't know what it's that's I mean, until do we, do we have that data? Are we able to get that?

I'm. I'm not sure if your question is if we can provide data to the Fire Bureau and EMS.

No, to us. Can we, are we able to cross-reference all of, we have, like you said, we have a database, correct? Of short-term rentals? No. Right now, I mean, so we're in the process of, you're actually answering my question without realizing it. So right now we have no idea. that we are going to a short-term rental for a call. I have no idea what the purpose of it is. I know a hospital, I know a college, I know a daycare. I know I can go all the way down a line that I can tell you where I'm going to at any time, whether it is a police call, a fire call, a BBI, things of that nature. So under what we currently have, I have no idea what I'm going to. That's my assumption. Thank you.

Chair Burton-Fall, please go ahead.

Hi there. Thank you, Vice Chair O'Neill. I think, Commissioners, as we sort of digest pre-going into break and then today and some public testimony, there are a few things that I'd like to point out or suggest that we begin to think about as it relates to this bill. If we are considering that something would need to be done, then we want to make sure that what we recommend does what we think the proposed is intended to be doing. So for example, my concerns um as it relates to this would be uh maybe uh first and primary is what is the pathway uh to enforcement as it relates to these strs right um if we get a complaint then what happens um if we investigate and confirm a problem uh who gets noticed like how does this How do the current STRs get addressed, and do we feel that STRs need to be regulated in some way? Commissioner Batts?

Oh, no. Sorry. You can finish what you're saying.

Um, and then we need to kind of understand like who and what department in the city will handle this. I think that the questions that we're asking for, uh, specific data today, we may not have that specific data, but we do recognize that there are some challenges and some, some changes and, and things that are happening and we are, um, looking to address those and i think that what we have before us uh may do some of that uh but there are sort of where i don't know that we're quite there yet i i think that there are some other things that we need to to understand and i think that uh pathway to how this gets enforced and and how does this impact current uh we'll call them not just STRs, but maybe, you know, business owners. And I'm really just kind of laying this out a little bit in terms of my thoughts and maybe to try to help provoke some thought thinking and some discussion as it relates to commissioners here. And Commissioner Vatz, I think that may be what's happening with you and maybe we can have some dialogue.

Well, yeah, so I think So there are a couple of things that came out of the briefing that I'm not sure if we've gotten answers on. And so one of the items that I recall us discussing was getting a legal opinion from the city on the overall legality of this. And I think that in addition to that, I mean, I know that one of the things that I'm trying to digest now is there was a lot of discussion from the testimony today from the community members about, not allowing any of these legal nonconforming uses to continue operating. And I think I'm not even clear if that in and of itself would be legal to do that. But I think also just understanding what are the powers that the city has as a second class city in Pennsylvania to regulate these sorts of things. And I think especially around the I know this is not exactly what's in front of us, but the intent of this is to enforce it with a licensing regime as well. Is that something that's going to just end up in court for the next 10 years like the rental registry ended up? And so I really do want to. I think, get some of that information from the legal department. And I don't think we've gotten that yet. I know it's something that we requested at the briefing. So that's kind of my primary thing that I'm trying to understand. You know, I think like broadly, I am very much in favor of common sense regulations on this. But I also just want to understand what is within our power as the city and how can we put something together here that's actually going to solve the problems that are in front of us and will stand up to legal muster.

And I would agree with Commissioner Vatz. I would say as well that I definitely do generally support, but that sort of pathway to enforcement, how do we enforce this? What happens? And Commissioner Vatz, you are right. We had discussed during briefing having some legal opinion and Is it Ms. Ristow, can you confirm that we've obviously not gotten that because nobody's giving that opinion here today? Is that accurate?

Yes, so after briefing, staff did forward the planning commission's request for the law department to review the legislation, and they have been working on it. They confirmed this morning that they have made progress, but they did not have a full review ready to share as of this morning. So that's the update on the legal review.

So... Well, I will say that if they're close, then I would be very concerned about us making a decision prior to that, because the intent of the legislation, and I do, as a commissioner, absolutely support So those who proposed, you know, counsel, I do support, but I want to make sure that whatever it is that we're doing, that it is going to do the intended, the intended outcome is going to occur. That would give me pause for today. Personally, I would not want to vote on something that I don't know if it's going to do what it needs to. And I'll leave the floor open for other commissioners at this time.

Sorry, this is Commissioner O'Neill. I am in favor of that. Certainly if there's going to be a forthcoming legal opinion, I think that would inform our vote. And I think we would also request kindly that legal send a representative to our next meeting so that they're able to discuss and advise.

I will make sure to forward that request.

Understood.

Can I ask one follow up? Can we also ensure that the issue doesn't come back up until that guidance has been given by legal? I guess I don't want to be in the position again where we invite the community to come give testimony when we are still waiting on something that was already requested.

i don't know uh thank you commissioner hunt and uh vice chair o'neill uh i don't know that we'd leave public testimony open i think that what we're what we as commissioners are up against right now is understanding that what we would vote on would do what the and or or would uh would do with the intended outcomes are expected here. And if we leave it open for public testimony, I mean, I don't know that we should do that.

Sure. I don't know that we've taken public testimony, so I don't know that additional public testimony is needed, but I think that we could wait to put it on the agenda. until after we have the legal opinion um so for everybody who is here if they would be able to monitor the agenda for the next meeting or the following i would hope you know we respectfully request that the legal department issue it with time for us to consider it at the next meeting but understanding that may not be feasible um i think we could move forward in that manner and i would agree with that

i'm sorry mr stowe sorry i was just going to affirm that i am happy to help coordinate that so that we are making sure that it's on the agenda when we do actually have an opinion um with sufficient time for you all to look at that before the the whichever commission meeting that ends up being

So I think based on that, and please interrupt me if you need to, I would make a motion that we table this item until after receipt of a legal opinion from the legal department.

And I would second that.

All right, I will do a quick roll call, just to make sure we're all on the same page. All right, sorry, Chair Burton Falk. Aye. Commissioner Hunt.

Aye.

Commissioner Interiano. Aye. Commissioner Kelly. Aye. Commissioner O'Neill. Aye. Commissioner Cantania.

Aye.

Commissioner Batts.

Aye.

Commissioner Walker has left the building. All right. So motion carries. This item will be tabled until planning commission is in receipt of an opinion from the legal department. Please stay tuned and watch the agendas for our future meetings. Thank you. And thank you for everybody who appeared in person and online. We understand it was a long day. Thank you. The last item on our agenda is a very brief director's report.

Yes, thank you for sticking around for a very short director's report. We are once again, just reminding you that we are kicking off the September public engagement sessions for the comprehensive plan. They start next week, a week from today, actually on the 15th. We have five community meetings scheduled. We encourage you all to attend and participate in the one that works for you. And there is also an online survey that will be available during that time.

And then we have one more.

And, you know, just a reminder of the overall timeline. This is our public comment and engagement period before we get a final draft in October. And we will be beginning the briefing with you all in November. Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes.

One more thing I forgot to mention. Also, as a reminder, the six months or six months ago, you all voted the chair, vice chair and Is there one secretary? Secretary. For a six-month period that you were going to revisit at that point, that would be our next session on the 22nd to take a new vote to appoint the chair, vice chair, and secretary for the remainder of the term.

Excellent. We will be prepared to discuss at the next meeting. Thank you. Do I have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

So moved. Commissioner Cantania, second? Second. Second. Everybody, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Thank you to everybody who stuck around.

Thank you. Good job.