Allegheny River Towns Eye Development
Aspinwall Hearld
3 November 2011
By Mary Ann Thomas
Officials from local communities will weigh in on the future of
riverfront land during a Nov. 16 meeting hosted by the Allegheny
River Towns Enterprise Zone, or ARTEZ.
"It will be their first meeting with the consultant input about
what people want to see their community look like in 20 years, so
we can design overlay districts to get there," said John Stephen,
executive director of ARTEZ.
Attending the 7 p.m. meeting at the Millvale Community Center will
be local government representatives from the ARTEZ communities of
Aspinwall, Blawnox, Etna, Millvale, O'Hara, Shaler and Sharpsburg.
The ARTEZ communities have agreed to participate in the overlay
district, which will rezone riverfront parcels in all communities
to encourage riverfront development, whether for a park or light
industry.
"This will create an environment for high quality development and
business development," Stephen said.
"It makes for a more attractive community and a more attractive
community for businesses, as well," he said.
An Allegheny County grant of $30,000 is paying for the consultant,
Pashek Associates, a North Side planning firm, to develop the
overlay district.
Aspinwall Borough Councilman Joe Giuffre said the upcoming ARTEZ
meeting would be an opportunity to look at every possible zoning
district in Aspinwall and see how the zoning could be changed to
woo new businesses.
Having all of the communities on the same page with similar zoning
codes will, he said, be especially helpful for business owners who
want to locate on the border line of two or more municipalities.
"If we have similar zoning codes, it will make it easier to
develop those sites," Giuffre said.
The overlay district will allow individual communities to tweak
their zoning codes to cater to future growth.
"If a community's goal is to provide public access to the river or
a trail or to better manage storm water to prevent future floods,
then those zoning codes could provide for that," Stephen said.
Mary Ann Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tribweb.com or
412-782-2121 x1510.