Council Discusses Parking Lot, Needs More Time on Height Ordinance

Borough Council has postponed discussion of the revised height ordinance until next month, providing council members with more time to review a drafted ordinance that limits building height to 45 feet by right and 60 feet by exception.

“I would personally like some more time to review these,” said Council Member Stephen Shinn, a sentiment echoed by fellow council members. At a special meeting held January 30, Council voted to push back the conversation until June but authorized the borough’s solicitor to draft a new ordinance.

A potential area of concern includes an overlay district that extends from Franklin to Adams Street. “It would make writing this ordinance a lot simpler if you could pull that line back to Franklin Street,” said Zoning Officer Mike Perrone. "This would allow 75-foot buildings east of Franklin Street."

Council president Holly Brown expressed her concern that “one or two blocks” were left out and suggested members review criterion, one by one, so that next month “when you have the questions you are asking tonight, we’ll have those answers for you.”

Another hot agenda item was also tabled until April: the potential zoning revision to allow residential use on the ground floor in some areas of the town center. According to Perrone, the Planning Commission had looked at this issue for two months and decided against it.

Council Member Jordan Norley voiced his fear that this may lead to an increase of students living in that district. “I would rather delay until we come to some sort of conclusion in whether we are going to disallow student use in the Town Center,” he said, referring to a discussed ordinance that would eliminate student housing as a permitted use in the Town Center.

“We are going to put this off for at least one month so we can take a stroll around,” concluded Shinn, noting that council members will review which blocks in the Town Center would be appropriate for residential use and discuss again at the next meeting.

Council agreed to move ahead with a proposed ordinance amending the zoning code to allow parking as a permitted principal use in the Commercial Service District. Providence Church petitioned a 100-space parking lot in the CS-district and Borough Manager Ernie McNeely said the issue came down to two questions: how big or small of a parking lot the council is willing to allow and what percentage of the required space can be used for ‘other’ parking.

In this case, the church petitioned that 80 percent be leased to the county for other use, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“You would be putting ‘commercial parking lot’ in as a use in the CS-district, a use that right now doesn’t exist,” said McNeely. Although any number of manufacturing or industrial buildings in the CS-district could be converted to churches in the future – and therefore be permitted to have parking lots under the proposed ordinance– it is not exactly opening up a “can of worms.”

The Commercial Services district, which does not include the Town Center, is “where you encourage things like drive-in and automotive uses,” McNeely explained. “It’s the ‘Car Service’ district,” joked Norley.

Zoning Officer Perrone also suggested it is a good idea for the borough. “We are an urban setting and should have shared parking,” he explained.

The Council agreed to move ahead with the church’s proposed figures of 100 spots, with 80 percent leased to the county.