North Huntingdon board dodges appeal of 'family' definition for renters

A North Huntingdon woman’s challenge over what constitutes a family when it comes to renters in single-family homes will have to take her cause up with township commissioners.

The zoning hearing board cannot offer an “advisory opinion” on an interpretation of the zoning ordinance’s definition of a family, George Butler, zoning hearing board solicitor, told Detra Pivirotto of Lindale Court.

“What you are seeking, this board has no authority to do,” he told Pivirotto this week.

In order to change the definition of family in the ordinance, “you’ve got to go to the township commissioners to amend the section,” Butler said.

Pivirotto said she wanted an interpretation, not a change in the language. Still, she said she will go before the commissioners.

Pivirotto had appealed zoning officer Thomas McGuire’s decision that a contractor, his two sons, a son-in-law and three unrelated workers that lived at a Lindale Court residence this year fit the definition of a family. The ordinance defines a family is a single person, married couple or blood relative or up to four unrelated persons.

McGuire said he talked with Scott Butler, the homeowner, as well as the contractor who rented the house, after Pivirotto filed a complaint in January about unrelated workers living at the site.

The occupants moved out March 16. The house is now for sale.

“If the place is vacant, the issue is moot,” Butler said.

Pivirotto questioned what might happen if the situation occurs again. Used in that matter, the house fit more closely to the definition of a commercial boarding home rather than a single-family home, she said.