The city Zoning Hearing Board Wednesday granted Duncansville developer Ken Weidley a variance that will allow him to build a six-space parking lot for a duplex he plans to construct in Juniata — two more spaces than the maximum allowed for a duplex by the city’s new subdivision and land development ordinance (SALDO).

The board, however, did not grant Weidley a key element of his variance request — that he be allowed to build the parking lot in front of the duplex, such that it would have required users to back out onto the property’s primary public right-of-way — West 15th Avenue — when leaving, thus creating a situation prohibited in the new ordinance.

If Weidley decides to build a parking lot, it will need to be in back of the duplex, in an unopened alley, in a spot accessible via a gravel alley between the side of his property and the back of the Altoona Mennonite Church property — an alternative that might require Weidley to pay an engineer to determine whether the space in back is in the 100-year-flood zone, with special construction requirements potentially to follow, based on the engineer’s findings.

It makes sense for the new SALDO to prohibit residential property designs that result in cars backing out onto busy thoroughfares like Sixth Avenue or Logan Boulevard, but it doesn’t make sense to prohibit that situation for properties like his on streets like one-block-long West 15th Avenue, between Broadway and Park Boulevard, where there is hardly any traffic, according to Weidley.

He spent a half hour at the site recently and saw no cars at all on his block, he said.

He would prefer to be able to provide an off-street parking space for all six of the adults he envisions will be living in the duplex, but due to his reluctance to develop the back, he might choose to create parking there for two cars only, such that four of the six residents would need to park on the avenue, Weidley told the board.

City officials didn’t seem to regard that possibility as problematic.

There’s plenty of room for avenue parking, Weidley said.

One of the complications for Weidley to provide extensive parking accommodations in the rear of the duplex would be the need for him to clear snow in winter, according to Weidley.

City staff was opposed to giving Weidley a variance for a parking lot in the front, said Community Development Director Eric Luchansky.

“We’d rather stick to what it says in the ordinance,” Luchansky said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.