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The Altoona Planning Commission uses its broad discretion to grant or withhold waivers of code requirements when considering applications for land development, so that it can help maintain a pleasing "urban fabric" in the city, while also allowing developers reasonable leeway, according to officials at a meeting Tuesday.
The commission wants to enhance livability and connectivity, create consistency along the streets, create conditions that allow for good property management and help ensure traffic and pedestrian safety, in its rulings on whether developers need to comply with regulations on plantings, property buffers, curbs, sidewalks, parking lot islands, traffic flow and stormwater control, according to commission Chairman Dave Albright and others.
A discussion of those issues arose after the commission approved all 10 waivers requested by the consulting engineer for a proposal to construct an addition on the Altoona Dermatology building on Logan Boulevard at Mosser Street.
The commission is not generally obligated to consider the cost of the requirements for developers, and it's on the developers to justify their waiver requests and to demonstrate that they're trying to meet the code as much as possible, Albright said.
If the commission had denied all 10 of the requested waivers for the Dermatology Associates project, it would probably double or triple the cost, said consulting engineer Adam Long of Keller Engineers, who said five of those requests were to allow existing conditions to remain that were constructed when the current prohibitions didn't apply.
Developers are within their rights to ask that the cost of compliance with the regulations be considered, "within reason," said commissioner Jesse Ickes, who is also a city councilman.
There is a perception in the community that the commission's rulings can inhibit development and that some of its requirements are "petty," Ickes said.
While some people might regard some of the commission's enforcement as petty, and while the commission itself doesn't want to be unreasonable, the overall regulatory effort is "vitally important" in protecting the community from poor development, according to commissioner Devin Saylor.
The commission is cognizant of the need not to show favoritism, Saylor said.
It hardly seems fair after the commission has forced 10 developers to comply with a requirement to let the 11th off the hook, according to Albright.
Still, there are reasons for exceptions.
The commission waived a requirement for a sidewalk in front of a business on the northern end of Pleasant Valley Boulevard because the project that triggered the requirement was focused exclusively on the back of the property, Albright said.
The commission has also waived requirements for curbing of parking lot islands, if the developer can demonstrate that the islands can serve as a means of allowing stormwater to percolate into the ground, without flushing mulch into the stormwater sewers, he said.
The current system is not perfect and will be subject to revision by consultant czb when that firm is finished with the comprehensive plan, officials said.
Community Development Director Diana White said czb will be looking for "pinch points," "gray areas" and regulations that are so frequently waived that they probably shouldn't be on the books.
There are also inconsistencies between ordinances that need resolved, according to Rob Crossman of the engineering office.
The loss to budget cutting of all the certified planners in the Community Development Department a few years ago has made the commission's job thornier, because those planners with their deep knowledge of the code would often smooth out the land development proposals in preliminary discussions with the developers, Albright said.
Some officials are hoping for a restoration of that planning expertise in the department.
Altoona's Planning Code and its enforcement by the commission is, however, not an outlier when compared to other communities in Pennsylvania, officials said.
"It's everywhere," said commissioner Michael Haire, citing a discussion he had with an official of a local company that has dealings far and wide.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.