Springdale planners recommend residential rezoning for former Cheswick Generating Station property

The Springdale Planning Commission on Wednesday recommended the former Cheswick Generating Station be rezoned for residential use, despite the property owner’s claims that doing so would make the property unusable.

The three-member commission — which serves as an advisory board to borough council — recommended the parcels north of Pittsburgh Street, about 29 acres, be rezoned for single-family residential use.

The commission recommended the parcels south of Pittsburgh Street, about 56 acres, be rezoned for multifamily residential.

The recommendation is “keeping things as consistent as possible,” said commission Chairman David Prevost. Most of the housing in the area north of Pittsburgh Street is zoned single-family, and most south of the road is multifamily residential, he said.

Prevost also said housing in the area is hard to come by.

“Our meeting of the minds said, ‘Hey, we could use some more housing,’ ” Prevost said.

The commission tabled the request in March, claiming more information was needed. At that meeting, Sam Miller spoke as a representative of Kentucky-based Charah Solutions, a remediation service that owns the power plant. He said the company was against rezoning the property for residential use.

That position didn’t waver Wednesday.

“We respectfully request the planning commission not make any recommendation for rezoning at this time,” said Pittsburgh attorney Jessica White, representing Cheswick Plant Environmental Redevelopment Group LLC, a subsidiary of Charah Solutions.

Miller reiterated White’s point and said the property operated as a coal-fired power plant for decades. The existing environmental conditions will be remediated to a standard appropriate for industrial use and complies with all applicable laws.

When the remediation process is completed, it will not be possible to build homes on the site, and a rezoning to a residential use would make the property unusable, Miller said.

The property’s environment and surroundings would make residential uses unsuitable, Miller said. The site consists of an operating rail line, a coal yard, bottom ash emergency pond and a recycle pond, waste ponds and a coal pile runoff pond.

Miller said remediation for residential use, rather than industrial, has more stringent regulations, therefore making the site not economically feasible for a future property owner to remediate for residential use.

He said it is the company’s position that a rezoning for residential use would constitute an unconstitutional “regulatory taking,” and the property owner would be entitled to compensation.

He said their goal is to redevelop the property in a way that would support the community’s tax base, and “a rezoning to residential is not (a) viable approach to make this happen.”

Springdale Solicitor Craig Alexander said officials plan to meet with Charah and address the concerns raised by Miller.

The plant ceased operations in March 2022. In January, a Charah spokesman said demolition of the power plant likely would be completed in 2024. The company last year announced its plans to demolish the plant and potentially use the property for renewable energy and battery storage options.

The item now advances to borough council for its consideration.