Murrysville looks to add housing options for seniors
A few years ago, a development group from Kentucky approached Murrysville officials about the possibility of building a senior high-rise.
It was then, municipal officials realized, the existing zoning code doesn’t have any areas that permit such a structure.
In the past year, Chief Administrator Jim Morrison and council discussed offering more options for seniors, both those interested in moving into the community, as well as those already here and possibly looking to downsize from a single-family home on a large lot.
“It requires council passing a resolution saying its zoning ordinance is deficient,” Morrison said. “This revision will correct that deficiency.”
The curative amendment would insert two new conditional uses: senior high-rise apartments in the “B” business district, and senior planned residential developments in the three residential zoning categories.
Morrison said it was built around Murrysville’s existing planned development ordinance, which offers developers the use of smaller lot sizes.
“The challenge was finding densities and uses, as well as where high-rises would be located,” Morrison said. “And high-rises would be limited to 65 feet (five stories), which is the current limit in the business district.”
Density calculations for planned senior developments, he said, were set up to be a multiplier of the the density in the underlying district: R-1 districts would be permitted 1.5 homes per acre, R-2 would be permitted three, and R-3 would permit up to six multi-family units.
The municipality would also set a qualifying age limit of 62.
“Overall, it looks like a good idea,” said Council President Dayne Dice. “I also like the idea of setting the age at 62, but I do wonder, how do we enforce that?”
Morrison said that responsibility would fall to individual homeowners’ associations, whose covenants would need approval from council.
“They’re required by law to take certain information from residents in those developments,” he said.
Amending the ordinance will require a public hearing to take comment from residents. A date for that has not been set.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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