Pittsburgh Planning Commission adopts Oakland Plan as concerns persist about proposed zoning changes

Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a document that is intended to guide development in the city’s Oakland neighborhood for years to come.

In the same meeting, planners recommended a package of hotly debated zoning changes to City Council with several conditions.

Before voting on what is known as the Oakland Plan, commissioners saw a presentation outlining changes to the Oakland Plan since they were last briefed on it. Most of the changes were minor.

Andrew Dash, director of the Department of City Planning, said officials took public input into account. Planning Commission Chair Christine Mondor said the city collected about 900 comments on the Oakland Plan.

“That’s a testament that people do care,” she said.

Many Oakland residents have spoken out against the plan.

Millie Sass said it was “flawed” because many people working on it do not live in Oakland.

Andrea Boykowycz, assistant director of the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation, said she thought residents were “outnumbered by institutional and economic development organizations” whose priorities may differ from what residents want.

Others have spoken out against the proposed building sizes allowed under a related zoning change, with some suggesting buildings should be larger and others calling for them to be smaller.

“There are just a lot of different viewpoints in Oakland that are advocating for different things,” Dash said.

Mondor joined Commissioners Lashawn Burton-Faulk, Jean Dick and Becky Mingo in voting in favor of adopting the plan. Commissioner Sabina Deitrick abstained from the vote, and Commissioners Jennifer Askey, Fred Brown, Dina Blackwell and Rachel O’Neill were not present.

Still, Mondor said, “I’m left wondering why the community feels the way it does still and how we might do our planning processes better, despite all the great stuff that happened here.”

Also Tuesday, the Planning Commission voted to recommend a package of related zoning changes in Oakland that will now move to City Council for approval.

The measure includes three new base zoning districts that will apply to portions of the neighborhood:

• Urban Center — Employment, where zoning would allow for a wide range of commercial uses and multi-unit residential housing only if all units are affordable or if residential use makes up no more than half of the property’s gross square footage.

• Urban Center — Mixed Use, where there would be a wide range of commercial and residential uses.

• Residential — Mixed Use, where zoning would allow residential uses, plus some smaller-scale commercial uses.

Commissioners said they shared the concerns of some residents about green space and the size of buildings permitted under the new zoning, which, in places, could be up to 400 feet long and about 200 feet tall.

Such buildings “do not belong adjacent to residential areas,” said Elena Zaitsoff, one of several residents who urged officials to shrink the allowable building sizes.

Commissioners voted to recommend the zoning changes to City Council with conditions, including that City Planning provide more information to council to show there is no detrimental effect to the building heights allowed at Coltart Street and that parking garages should come before the Planning Commission. They also formally expressed their belief that buildings spanning 400 feet are too large.

Commissioners Burton-Faulk, Dick, Mingo and Mondor voted in support of the zoning changes. Deitrick voted against the measure. City Council will have the ultimate determination on the matter.

This comes as City Council is still grappling with the zoning regulations that would allow the controversial Oakland Crossings development to proceed. The Planning Commission recommended the measure to council — though some commissioners expressed concerns with it this week.

Walnut Capital, the Shadyside developer that revitalized Bakery Square, needs zoning changes in a portion of the neighborhood for the proposed 17-acre development they have proposed. Their proposal includes a grocery store, a 25% increase in urban green space and an elevated pedestrian bridge stretching over the Boulevard of the Allies.

Some have opposed the proposed development, with many arguing that they felt it was inappropriate to proceed with that development before the Oakland Plan was adopted.

Mayor Ed Gainey attempted to strike a compromise in an agreement with Walnut Capital that included “narrower and more clearly defined zoning,” as well as an affordable housing requirement.

On Wednesday, City Council members debated the zoning that would allow the project to continue. An amendment to the measure would allow building lengths to jump from 400 feet to 425 feet, and included a provision requiring that the facade of the former Isaly’s building in Oakland be preserved.

Councilman Bruce Kraus, who sponsored the amendment, said later in the meeting that he did not realize the measure allowing buildings to go from 400 feet long to 425 feet long applied to the whole area. He said he had previously thought it only applied to the grocery store, which he would support as it would allow them to load trucks inside the facility. He said he did not support the additional length at other buildings.

Gross also raised concerns about the process through which the zoning changes were introduced. The legislation originated with former Mayor Bill Peduto’s office. Gross said zoning changes must either be sponsored by a council member or through a property owner appealing to the planning department.

Council members unanimously decided to hold the measure and revisit it next week.