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OVERLAY ORDINANCE FATALLY
FLAWED
By Murrysville Councilman Dennis
Pavlik
The Overlay Ordinance is fundamentally
flawed and should be defeated. Not because of the Manor Development
proposal nor because of the mediation agreement. But because it will
not accomplish what the proponents claim that it would.
Proponents of the Overlay claim that the
Overlay will:
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Address the need for more
non-residential development called for in the Comprehensive Plan and
Patz Report.
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Solve the problem of transitioning
from business to residential
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Address the problem of continual
re-zoning requests from residential to business
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Eliminate street cuts and small
business parcels along our major highways (Routes 22, 66, 286, and
366).
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Gives Murrysville greater flexibility
and control over the zoning and planning process.
NON RESIDENTIAL
DEVELOPMENT
The Overlay ordinance was started 6 years
ago, according to John Cardwell Executive Director of the Murrysville
Economic and Community Development Corporation (MECDC).
Mr. Cardwell in a June 2007 letter to the
Planning Commission states that the “The MECDC has been directly
involved with the conceptual design and logistical development of this
ordinance for over 5 years.” Notwithstanding that I find it
objectionable that this group would be writing Murrysville Ordinances
without public input. It was based on data from several studies that
said Murrysville needs more NON RESIDENTIAL land for the tax base.
I agree Murrysville needs a broader
non-residential base. However, being able to state a problem does not
mean that your solution is a good one. First, the framework was
developed over 5 years ago. Gas prices were under $2 a gallon and
commuting was cheap. Second it was developed by people whose interests
are in retail sales in other words shopping.
The comprehensive plan and Patz report did
not call for more shopping, but rather more non-residential
development. Given today’s gas prices we should be focusing on
attracting businesses that employee skilled workers rather than minimum
wage clerks; businesses like Resperonics, Westinghouse, even insurance
businesses like Erie. When Resperonics was looking to expand their
operations where was the MECDC? They were out courting Starbuck’s,
Tractor Supply, and McDonald’s renovation.
TRANSITION FROM BUSINESS
TO RESIDENTIAL
When a property is re-zoned to business
the property values of adjacent residential developments is lowered as
people don’t want to be looking into the backs of parking lots or
stores. The Overlay solution is to have them look into the backs of
carriage houses and apartments. But what kind of demographic is
attracted to carriage houses and apartments? Murrysville’s character is
built upon the single family home with long term commitment.
Multifamily dwellings attract transients who have a greater demand for
city services. They also have more turnover generating a 5% commission
for the real estate interests.
GREATER CONTROL DURING
RE-ZONING AND SITE PLAN DEVELOPMENT
There is no element of the Overlay
ordinance that can not be achieved by changes to the existing Business
zoning requirements. This include setbacks, architectural standards,
and buffering. Increasing control for re-zoning means making more uses
conditional rather than permitted. The Overlay ordinance does exactly
the opposite. It increases permitted uses giving less control during
the site planning stage. It also presumes you have a council that wants
to exercise that control. This council has granted nearly every waiver
that has come before it. Including decreasing setbacks for buffering,
narrowing roads to one-lane, and maximizing allowable housing units in
PRD’s.
ELIMINATE STREET CUTS AND
UNSIGHTLY SMALL PARCELS
When questioned about the Overlay
completely encompassing the routes 22, 286, 66, and 366 corridors
proponents dismissed this a misinformation and stated they were no plans
to extend the Overlay beyond the few parcels already included. If that
were true then how would the claim that street cuts and small parcel
scattered development would be eliminated come about? Simple, the
Overlay ordinance is the framework of rules. Any property owner would
file a zoning change request like they do now. Perhaps that is why
several members of the Planning asked about Overlays 2 and 3 already
being in the works.
Since only the big developers would be
able to afford the cost of developing the large parcels, the small
businessman who owns both the business and property it is on would be
eliminated and turned into a small business owner land renter just like
the serfs of old.
ELIMINATES CONTINUAL
RE-ZONING OF RESIDENTIAL LAND
This ordinance only makes sense if it
encompasses the properties along the entire lengths of the defined
business corridors of Routes 22, 66, 286, and 366. It has in place the
procedures for extending Overlay designation to any road that touches
these roads. It will create more requests for re-zoning and only
accelerate the “domino effect” of residential conversion.
CONCLUSION
Neither Council nor the Planning
Commission wrote this ordinance where the public exposure would have
shown its shortcomings. Make no mistake, the ordinance as written was
hatched in the bowels of the MECDC in conjunction with the Somers
Administration and was given to the Council and Planning for minor
tinkering to the overall agenda. The Manor Development issue was a red
herring so if people started looking too closely they would be
distracted from the insidious details of this ordinance.
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