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The city Zoning Hearing Board Wednesday granted permission for Adams Electric to expand its non-conforming use that it has occupied for a century, before there was zoning in Altoona.
The company plans to build an addition to a garage for storage of a lift, trailer and other equipment at its property on the 800 block of 31st Street.
It makes sense to allow the expansion in that multiple household residential zone, just as it would make sense to allow a zookeeper to obtain a bigger cage for an elephant that has outgrown its current one built before zoning, said board solicitor Bill Stokan.
The back of the proposed narrow, deep, 648-square-foot addition will be parallel to the back of the property, while its side will go against the existing two-bay garage -- whose back is also at the rear of the property.
The addition will not impinge on any required setbacks, according to Adams partner Pete Long.
The company formerly rented a lift when necessary, but it bought one last year because the business is growing and having one on site alleviates worry about whether a rental lift would be available when needed, Long told the board.
The addition will enable the lift and trailer to last longer, because they'll be out of the weather, he said.
The board recently granted permission for the company to build the garage, to which the proposed new addition will be attached.
The company uses that garage for a new facet of its business: installation of lights and other equipment on ambulances, police cars and other emergency vehicles, Long said.
Board member Horace McAnuff asked if the garage could have been constructed to serve that new aspect of the business as well as to hold the lift and related equipment, "kill(ing) two birds with one stone?"
At the time, company officials didn't know they'd need to come back before the board to get approval for the addition, Long said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.