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From YouTube: Pittsburgh City Council Public Hearing - 11/23/22
Description
Bill #2022-0819: Zoning, Downtown Districts updates
A
A
A
C
Hello,
can
you
hear
me?
Yes,
we
can
excellent
good
afternoon
council
members
and
staff
I'm
Bruce
Chan
senior,
director
of
Urban
Design
of
the
Pittsburgh
downtown
partnership
representing
downtown
Pittsburgh.
Thank
you
for
the
opportunity
to
speak
in
favor
of
the
amendment
student
zoning
code
for
the
Golden
Triangle
to
support
office
space
conversions
in
our
Central
business
district.
The
pandemic
has
changed
many
facets
of
our
life
and
none
more
significant
than
where
and
how
we
work.
Virtual
meetings
and
hybrid
work.
C
Experiences
are
likely
here
to
stay
and
with
such
radical
change,
comes
a
need
to
rethink
downtown
a
place
historically
dedicated
to
commercial
offices
as
the
center
of
our
region
and
an
economic
engine
for
southwestern,
Pennsylvania
downtown
has
remained
overly
reliant
on
Commercial
office
for
far
too
long.
In
fact,
we
ranked
fifth
in
the
country
in
this
category,
with
66
percent
of
downtown
real
estate
dedicated
to
office
use
additional
residential
growth,
presents
an
opportunity
to
create
a
more
resilient
neighborhood
with
active
vibrant
streets
that
can
support
a
dynamic
retail
environment.
C
So
these
proposed
zoning
code
amendments
will
support
residential
conversion
of
historic
Office
Buildings
to
residential
in
downtown
updating.
The
zoning
code
will
begin
to
counter
declining
office,
occupancy
and
utilization
rates
that
threaten
downtown
vitality
and
will
prevent
further
erosion
of
an
important
component
of
the
Region's
property
tax
base,
along
with
funding
from
the
American
Rescue
plan,
the
era,
the
county
and
the
state.
C
These
zoning
changes
will
help
eliminate
hurdles
and
decreased
barriers
for
developers
and
Property
Owners
to
overcome
the
high
cost
of
building
conversions,
increase,
the
supply
of
affordable
Workforce
housing
and
support
the
overall
health
and
vitality
of
downtown
Pittsburgh.
We
appreciate
you
of
leadership
of
deputy
director
Dash,
the
zoning
administrator
Layman
and
the
whole
planning
department
on
tapping
the
sometimes
on
glamorous,
but
very
important
task
of
reviewing
and
updating
the
zoning
code
to
reflect
the
values
of
our
city
and
I
hope
that
the
city
council
will
support
this
important,
Economic
Development
tool
in
support
of
downtown.
A
D
I
didn't
know
if
I
see
Kate
rakis
here
joining
us
I
didn't
know
if
there
was
something
in
particular
that
that
the
planning
wanted
to
convey
to
council
want
to
get
that
opportunity
and
if
not,
that's
also
fine,
but
I,
don't
want
to
put
you
on
the
spot,
but
if
there
was
something
in
particular,
you
wanted
to
share.
Thank.
E
D
E
E
Will
hire
Planning
Commission
review
and
approval
and
there's
also
a
minimum
lot
size
per
unit.
So
the
idea
behind
this
would
be
to
prevent
really
small
units,
or
you
know,
sort
of
really
dense
developments
but
existed
inside.
We
didn't
really
feel
like
that
was
something
that
was
needed
anymore.
So
this
this
removes
both
the
Planning
Commission
review
and
the
minimum
lot
size
per
unit,
and
then
there's
also
a
conditional
use
for
a
transfer
of
development
rights
to
exceed
that
minimum
lot
size
per
unit.
E
E
But
because
this
legislation
would
remove
the
minimum
lot
size
per
unit
that
would
take
away
that
would
also
edit
the
zoning
code
to
take
out
that
transfer
development
right,
because
that
would
no
longer
be
needed
and
then
finally,
right
now
exterior
Renovations
downtown
greater
than
fifty
thousand
dollars
requires
Planning
Commission
review
and
approval.
So
this
is
pretty
low.
It's
existed
like
this
I
think
even
predating
the
updates
to
the
zoning
code
for
19.99.
So
it's
really
never
been
increased
for
inflation.
E
Exterior
renovation
would
require
planting
commission
approval
and
again
this
is
just
trying
to
you
know,
remove
those
small
projects
from
having
to
go
to
Planning
Commission.
You
know,
we've
had
projects
that
have
been
like
door
Replacements
that
exceed
fifty
thousand
dollars
and
have
to
go
to
Planning,
Commission
and
really
there's
no
there's
no
need
for
the
smallest
project
size
to
go,
and
then
we
did
change.
E
This
came
through
Planning
Commission,
so
extra
Renovations
less
than
that
250
000
would
have
to
go
to
a
staff,
design,
review
and
site
finder
view,
so
it
just
wouldn't
be
an
automatic
approval.
Voting
staff
would
be
able
to
review
and
comment
on
that
as
well,
and
then
one
last
sort
of
cleanup
item.
That's
in
this
legislation,
electronic
message
signs
are
permitted
as
a
conditional
use
and
two
of
The
Golden
Triangle
sub
districts,
Golden
Triangle
sub
District,
a
and
sub
District
B.
E
D
E
Downtown
parking
reduction
area
does
not
exactly
match
the
Golden
Triangle
zoning
districts,
there's
a
little
bit
of
the
Golden
Triangle
zoning
District
that
goes
out
into
the
Strip
District
and
that
part
is
excluded
from
the
zero
parking
reduction.
But
otherwise,
yes,
the
entirety
of
sort
of
what
you
think
of
is
downtown
is
is
100
parking
reduction,
no
parking
requirement,
but
again,
there's
just
that
little
part
of
the
GT
zoning
District
that
goes
out
into
the
Strip
District
and
that.
D
Is
not
parking
exams?
Thank
you
yeah,
so,
in
other
words,
another
another
factor
that
should
ostensibly
lower
the
cost
of
of
conversion
or
or
development,
and
therefore
make
it
ideally
more
likely
that
there's
Workforce
and
affordable
housing
included
here
in
the
housing
conversion.
Thank
you,
I
appreciate
it.
Mr.