GETTYSBURG TIMES: Gburg leaders content with updated zoning ordinance (10/04/07)

"Height limitations worry officials"

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Times Staff Writer

GETTYSBURG: Officials representing three Gettysburg Borough governing panels — Gettysburg Borough Council, the Gettysburg Planning Commission, and the Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) — convened Wednesday afternoon at Borough Hall to peruse the latest draft of the town’s revised zoning ordinance.
The 150-page document, which was heavily doctored by the Planning Commission and West Chester consultant Tom Comitta, is being revised an eleventh time, and will likely focus on ideas pitched Wednesday concerning building height.
Last year, backed by a $25,000 grant, the municipality hired Comitta to assist the Planning Commission in its quest to update the borough’s zoning code.
“There has been some confusion about this zoning ordinance process,” town planner Rad Schultz said during Wednesday’s two hour meeting. “We were assigned the role of tweaking this ordinance. The borough didn’t have the money for an overhaul. For this to be done properly, the borough should do a comprehensive plan. A lot of this stuff, and the things we’ve heard, belong in a comprehensive plan.”
Wednesday’s workshop was attended by six councilors, four planning commissioners, Comitta and several HARB members, as well as high-ranking individuals from Gettysburg Hospital, Gettysburg College, and a legal team representing local developer Dave Sites.
The borough’s Zoning Hearing Board, a quasi-judicial panel that regulates Gettysburg’s zoning ordinance, submitted written comments via the board’s solicitor.
“Now that we’re cleaning this up internally, the next step is releasing it to the public and having a public hearing,” said Council President Ted Streeter.
Town leaders, throughout the duration of the workshop, questioned the intent of the ordinance.
“Isn’t the purpose of a document like this to tell our Zoning Hearing Board what the rules are?” asked Councilwoman Holly Giles. “We’re trying to tighten it up so that they don’t have any questions when the ordinance is challenged.”
The borough’s Zoning Hearing Board is called upon when project applicants seek waivers to the municipality’s land-use regulations or zoning protocol.
“The purpose of a zoning ordinance is to make it more difficult to get variances,” said HARB member Gary Shaffer. “You have to prove a hardship.”
The majority of Wednesday’s discussion involved ordinance definitions, height limitations, apartment unit sizes, and streetscape appearances.
“Every legal use has to be taken into account,” explained town planner Walton V. Davis regarding ordinance definitions. “There are some exceptions — we don’t need to define or zone for spinach farms.”
A handful of the definitions within the revised zoning ordinance — particularly adult movie theater, build-to lines, industrial operations and mobile home park — raised eyebrows Wednesday afternoon.
“Why have definitions of a mobile home park?” questioned Streeter. “We’re not going to have them in Gettysburg. Or an open door firing range or a truck terminal. But my understanding is that, legally, we have to define these uses.”
Building height has been a controversial issue ever since the municipality hired Comitta last year to update the zoning ordinance. Some officials feel the that the historic Civil War town, presently a three-story borough, should become a four-story town, but others disagree.
“Our thinking behind this was maintaining the streetscapes and corridors,” said Schultz. “When people drive into town, we want the heights to have a neighborhood feel.”
Lincoln Square possesses the town’s tallest buildings, with the Gettysburg Hotel (six stories) and Wills House (three and a half stories), abutted by Carlisle Street, which is home to the Majestic Theater (four stories), and Chambersburg Street, home of the James Gettys Hotel (four stories).
“They are historic structures,” Giles said. “But I don’t know if we want a six-story building on Carlisle Street in the middle of town.”]
Councilman Bill Monahan concurred: “I would have a problem with a building that doesn’t fit in with the architecture of a given street.”
Town planner Ramona Overton explained how the Planning Commission devised its proposed height restrictions.
“It’s a wedding cake theory,” Overton told officials Wednesday afternoon. “What the planning commission decided was: we liked taller buildings in the center of town. The buildings should be taller in the center, and smaller as you progress into the suburbs. If you put a four-story building beside a two-story building, it will be noticed. It is a difference.”
In most of the borough’s districts, height is limited to 45 feet or three stories.
“It affects our streetscape,” said Schultz. “We didn’t want to change the character of Gettysburg, or our main streets.”
But with the new zoning, in the Institutional (Gettysburg College) and Healthcare (Gettysburg Hospital) districts, a building — the revised ordinance states — may be constructed “to a height greater and a number of stories taller than is specified for the district, provided that the required front and side yard requirements are increased one foot of additional height up to a maximum” total building height of 75 feet and five stories.
“We know that the Healthcare (district) needs to go up,” said Overton regarding Gettysburg Hospital's tentative plans to build a multi-story parking deck, and add at least two floors to its present day facility. “It won’t affect them. And in the Institutional zone, it won’t affect the college. They can go four stories or higher.”
Shaffer opined that limiting building height to three stories would hinder economic development in some areas of town, particularly in the REDDI zone along the borough’s railroad corridor.
“I really don’t think REDDI is going to work with a three-story limit,” Shaffer said. “Some of the things I’ve seen or heard that are being planned are four-stories. I don’t see the threat of allowing four stories in the REDDI zone. My only suggestion is that in certain core areas, four stories be allowed.”
As long as multi-level buildings aren’t out of place along a particular street, planning commission members indicated that they were in favor of Shaffer’s suggestion.
“I have no problem with the REDDI area and height,” said Schultz. “It’s along the railroad tracks and tucked away.”
Going more than three stories tall in other areas of the borough might require further investigation.
“If we go four stories, that is a major change to Gettysburg,” Schultz said. “We weren’t supposed to change Gettysburg. We were just supposed to tweak the ordinance. That is a major change, and will require a major study.”
Borough leaders instructed Comitta to incorporate the building height ideas in the zoning ordinance's ensuing 11th draft.
“I’d suggest that some kind of flexibility be written into this so hardships don’t deter people from pursuing projects here,” Streeter said.
Generally, officials who attended Wednesday’s session indicated that they were pleased with the zoning document. No major changes are imminent.A
public hearing hasn’t been planned, and the zoning ordinance must be reviewed by the Adams County planning office.
Contact Scot Pitzer at 334-1131, ext. 247 or spitzer@gburgtimes.com.