The yearslong effort to rezone Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood will continue into 2023, but that comes as a relief to Pittsburgh City Council. Members thought they had to vote on the changes by next week but discovered on Wednesday that they instead have almost three months to refine the nearly 200-page bill that will govern future development in Oakland.
When the Planning Commission approved Oakland’s community plan — itself a yearslong effort — in June, commission members also advanced a series of zoning changes for City Council’s deliberation. The zoning recommendations have been persistently divisive: residents, businesses, and large institutions such as the University of Pittsburgh have expressed concerns about how the changes will affect them.
At a public hearing in September, three major Oakland community groups opposed the changes, and Pitt officials went so far as to ask council to send the zoning recommendations back to Planning Commission. The feedback was so robustly negative that council paused the hearing and reconvened it this Monday.
Despite work in the interim to address those concerns, many remain. Speakers on Monday urged councilors to reconsider issues such as allowable building heights near residential areas, possible large-scale demolition, and how educational institutions could develop the Fifth and Forbes Avenues corridor. Speaking after the meeting, Strassburger said a matter of concern from resident groups is “unintentionally allowing for universities to continue to expand beyond their existing footprint.”
The legislative process has a number of different ticking clocks, and during Monday’s meeting, it seemed as though council had only until next week to vote on the zoning legislation. However, the city’s planning and law departments confirmed Wednesday that councilors instead have 90 days. While they took a preliminary vote to approve 10 amendments — to fix some clerical errors and to increase building lengths from 250 to 300 feet — members voted to hold the larger bill for at least six more weeks.
Councilor Erika Strassburger, whose district includes parts of Oakland, said there is still work to be done, and volunteered to help do it.
“Really to make sure that the third largest downtown in the commonwealth is--that we’re getting it right,” she said. “That we’re really getting the zoning right for this really critical downtown center where there’s a lot of interest and a lot of potential development and a lot of potential impacts to residents.”
Councilor Daniel Lavelle, whose district also includes parts of Oakland, thanked his colleagues for continuing to refine the bill.
“We probably will not make most [people] happy, which is probably the art of compromise,” he said. “But I do thank them for their willingness to try to get as many parties comfortable with this bill as humanly possible.”
Strassburger said she and her fellow council members would meet with stakeholders about the legislation before it comes back to the table in the new year.
The proposed legislation would expand the city’s existing inclusionary zoning policy into Oakland and create three new sub-districts:
- Urban Center-Mixed Use (UCMU) would cover an area near Boulevard of the Allies and aims to encourage the development of small businesses and commercial uses for the neighborhood, along with affordable and workforce housing. Buildings here would have to be at least 24 feet tall.
- Urban Center-Employment (UCE) would cover the Fifth and Forbes Avenues corridor and aims to “support life sciences, healthcare,” and other major employers. The proposed language emphasizes transit and, where parking is needed, sharing it. Buildings here would have to be at least 40 feet tall.
- Residential-Mixed Use (RMU) would cover Central Oakland and aims to encourage the restoration of historic homes and the creation of new apartment buildings as well as retail spaces. Buildings here would have to be at least 24 feet tall.
