The Bethel Park Zoning Hearing Board is expected to rule in November on arguments that the municipal council’s decision to rezone a parcel in the Cool Springs Sports Complex to allow construction of a gas station and convenience store amounted to spot zoning.
The hearing board on Monday heard three hours of testimony regarding council’s decision on July 22 to rezone a portion a portion of Cool Springs Drive from residential to commercial to make way for an American Natural gas station and convenience store.
Representatives of Kaufman Jacobs, developers of The Sheridan, a senior living facility on Cool Springs Drive that is adjacent to the proposed gas station and convenience store, presented a challenge to the rezoning at an Oct. 7 zoning hearing board meeting.
Michael Parrish, an attorney for Kaufman Jacobs, said of the proposed gas station site, “It was a residential property that was rezoned at the request of the property owner to C-2 (commercial).” Mr. Parrish said the property should have remained residential because, “it’s important that the facility (The Sheridan) be in a residential environment.”
He added rezoning the property does not fall in line with Bethel Park’s 2009 comprehensive plan and was not recommended by Allegheny County.
Patrick Clifford, of Kaufman Jacobs, said the nearby Cool Springs sports complex, which is zoned residential, is a compatible use for the neighborhood, but a gas station is not. Mr. Clifford said having the sports complex near The Sheridan was “a big part of why we developed where we did” because of the green space it offered.
Steve Regan, president of the zoning hearing board, said the issue at hand is “whether or not that (council’s approval) constituted spot zoning.”
Three Cool Springs Drive residents spoke against the rezoning.
“They were passing it for a specific use and that’s why it’s spot zoning,” said Tim Enright of council’s July vote. He claimed that council rezoned the property at the request of a “specific customer.”
“Only one entity was interested in this specific parcel,” said resident Tom Busse. “It’s not, by any stretch, a general zoning request,” he said.
“This is a very different neighbor than a restaurant or a small store,” Barb Busse said.
Mr. Regan said the Sheridan property was rezoned in 2015 and had previously been zoned residential. At that time, a nearby area that fronts Baptist Road was also rezoned commercial for a strip mall, he said.
“It was necessary for your property to be rezoned to develop your project,” Mr. Regan said.
Mr. Parrish agreed the property where The Sheridan sits was rezoned commercial, but said the site “has a residential feel to it.”
Mr. Regan disagreed, saying Cool Springs “doesn’t seem to have much of a residential ambiance.”
Zoning hearing board member T.J. Willetts added, “My thought is that you’re attempting to create a residential feel and it (The Sheridan) overlooks a fairly large strip mall and other commercial businesses across the street.”
A Lowe’s home improvement store and The Paramount senior living facility are across the street from The Sheridan.
Mr. Clifford said the golf facility provides “a lot of open space” and a residential aspect to the area.
“One full side of your building overlooks a shopping center,” and the other side overlooks Lowe’s said zoning hearing board member Charles Koch. “That’s not what I would call a residential view,” he said.
Mr. Parrish said the way the building is constructed, the terraces overlook the golf course side of the property.
Carolyn Yagel, a senior associate at Environmental Planning and Design, was called as an expert to testify for American Natural, and said the matter at hand is not spot zoning. She added the ordinance passed by council in July provides for the same commercial zoning on multiple sides of The Sheridan’s property, adding she did not believe the proposed gas station property was “arbitrarily or unreasonably zoned.”
Bethel Park’s zoning hearing board asked all parties involved to submit their findings of fact and conclusions of law to the board no later than Oct. 24. The board is expected to render a vote at its Nov. 4 meeting at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers.
Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: October 8, 2019, 7:33 p.m.