Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning will begin work on a city-wide comprehensive plan in 2024, and one of the major goals of that years-long process will be to recommend zoning-code changes to support a long-term vision for what the city should become. But during a Monday budget discussion, staff reassured city councilors that the department would not leave neighborhoods in limbo.
“We know … the needs from communities are not going to stop and pause and wait,” said Corey Layman, the city’s zoning administrator.
That assurance comes as council has expressed concern about the fate of two proposed housing developments that were shot down by the city’s zoning board. But it was only one of the topics discussed Monday morning: Planning staff also talked about their role in ensuring that residents benefit from new development in their neighborhoods, and a long-awaited plan to streamline the city’s permit- and license-application process.
‘Shot down’ by zoning rules?
Concern about whether the zoning code stands in the way of growth have mounted since the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment issued denials for two major projects that would have added hundreds of homes to the city.
At the former Irish Centre in Squirrel Hill, a Canadian developer wanted to build condos on land currently designated as park that lies adjacent to Frick Park. At the former ShurSave site in Bloomfield, Pittsburgh-based Echo Realty wanted to build a new grocery store topped with apartments, but at double the height allowed by current regulations.
Both proposals required variances from the existing zoning code, but the denial of the Bloomfield project was mourned by community members: The proposal emerged from years of community meetings and hewed closely to neighborhood goals. And on Monday, City Councilor Barb Warwick seemed to nod to the proposal when she said housing projects were being “shot down by the zoning board.”
“We don’t want to see that happen,” she said, adding “that is the rush” for making changes to the zoning code itself.
Planning director Karen Abrams said the city should not make zoning changes lightly, since any alteration can have citywide impact. “Zoning impacts every single resident in the city, and they should have access to what that means for them and to them,” she said.
The city plans to weigh zoning changes as part of a broader effort to draft a comprehensive plan for the city’s growth. But Layman said that in the meantime, there may be opportunities to rezone areas of concern. He cited recent changes in Oakland, as well as the multi-year effort to rezone 35 miles of the city’s riverfronts to respond to the need for mixed-use development.
Layman also noted the department is working with councilors on “low-hanging or slightly higher fruit,” such as recently proposed changes that would make it easier for people to operate child care businesses throughout the city. Ultimately, he said “we're still available to work with communities and with council to look at all possible options to make sure that the zoning isn't restrictive of high quality development.”
It’s not clear how officials will reconcile the desire for a deliberative process with the urgent desire for more housing. Councilor Bobby Wilson, for one, asked staff to respond to a hypothetical change that would allow 10-story apartment buildings in all neighborhoods.
Deputy planning director Andrew Dash said the department would engage with communities to respond to an October housing study that found that Pittsburgh is most in need of multi-family housing for people with lower incomes.
Still, he said the department is not comfortable making changes that would redraw already built-out neighborhoods “until the comprehensive plan tells us what that looks like.”
‘You’re limiting what the community can get’
Council members also discussed what role City Planning could play in helping neighborhoods to negotiate community benefits agreements, or CBAs. A CBA involves promises to community members who live near a proposed development, and it’s generally negotiated between a developer and an organization or organizations. Stakeholders in the Greater Hill District negotiated a CBA while a team of developers led by the Pittsburgh Penguins sought to remake 28 acres in the Lower Hill. Several groups in the East End recently signed a CBA with Walnut Capital if the city greenlights the company’s plans for an expanded Bakery Square.
Whether such negotiations should take place as part of the formal planning process itself has been a politically charged issue. Five years ago, union critics of UPMC and their allies sought to make wage and other requirements a condition for approving a proposed expansion of UPMC Mercy. Councilor Daniel Lavelle, who tried to help negotiate the Mercy CBA, cautioned against city involvement beyond offering community support.
“Once you embed the city in that conversation, you’re actually limiting what the community can get … because of rules and regulations or policies that the city has,” he said.
Assistant director Sharonda Whatley, who leads strategic planning, said staff have had discussions to understand the potential professional and legal barriers.
“We just want to make sure the neighborhoods are not being taken advantage of,” Whatley said, “and that they have the information at their fingertips, and that we can at least shepherd some of those conversations.”
Long-awaited moves
For more than two years officials have promised to open a new in-person, one-stop development shop – a single office where residents and businesses can obtain what they need for development projects, rather than requiring them to negotiate the various city departments that handle various aspects of the process.
During Monday’s hearing, Abrams told Council DCP hopes to finally move into 412 Boulevard of the Allies by the middle of next year at the latest. The counter could finally open, and allow residents to obtain permits and licenses, and information about potential street requirements or zoning changes, all in one place. The office would be staffed by representatives of City Planning, the Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections as well as the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
Layman assured Councilor Erika Strassburger that whether the resident who just wants to build a shed or a seasoned developer, people will be able to get in-person help, and not be shunted off with an email.
City Planning’s future neighbor at 412 Boulevard of the Allies, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, made its own presentation to Council Monday afternoon. The agency represents just over 7% of Mayor Ed Gainey’s proposed capital budget in 2024: Most of that will be used to help implement a $50 million federal Choice Neighborhood awarded to remake Bedford Dwellings.
Through the third quarter of 2023, the URA had invested more than $11 million in affordable housing, and James Reid, the URA’s senior manager of development finance, said it will continue to invest heavily in affordable housing.
“A lot of the work that the URA does is to fill gaps where the private market is unable to deliver, often due to price constraints or where the economics are particularly challenging,” he said.
