Monongahela may add new mixed-use district
By Kristie Linden
klinden@yourmvi.com
The City of Monongahela will consider changing a residentially zoned area along Dry Run Road into a mixed-use zone.
During a Wednesday meeting, city council held its first reading of the ordinance that would that would make the change. Solicitor Todd Pappasergi said public hearings on the issue will be scheduled.
The new mixed-use zone would start at the intersection of Route 136 (Dry Run Road) and Chess Street behind Eat’n Park and would follow Dry Run Road southwest to the city boundary.
It would extend east from Dry Run Road to 12th Street and south to Lincoln Street, where the zone would narrow and move back toward Dry Run Road.
It would include the former Monongahela Elementary Center property.
Dana Moreno, a resident of Lincoln Street who lives near the former MEC, said the potential rezoning greatly concerns her. She moved to Monongahela four years ago and said she rehabbed a beautiful home that was falling apart.
“We’ve done right by the community,” Moreno said, adding that renovations have cost about $100,000 so far.
She is concerned that any change could increase traffic and bring with it sound and light pollution.
As a foster mom to special needs children, Moreno is concerned that such a change in zoning might mean she has to move from the neighborhood.
“It’s a young neighborhood with a lot of young kids,” Moreno said. “It’s not an appropriate spot for this.”
Pappasergi encourages residents to look at the city’s zoning ordinance, section 308, which is available online.
Section 308 concerns mixed-use zoning and what is permitted in such a zone.
“It will comport largely with residential districts,” Pappasergi said.
According to the ordinance, the intent of a mixed-use zone is to provide “an appropriate mix of compatible residential, commercial and professional offices and serve as a transitional area between commercial and residential neighborhoods.”
In a mixed-use zone, permitted uses include animal hospitals, banks, bed and breakfast inns, car washes, educational institutions, farmers markets, food service establishments like bakeries or coffee houses, a health club, a laundromat, a winery, a dance studio, recreation and retail stores that are less than 7,000 square feet like convenience stores and barber shops.
There will be special exception uses that potential property owners could seek approval for including a gas station, a kennel, a personal care facility or a flea market.
Anyone wanting to bring in an oil and gas industrial use, a large retail store or a shopping center would have to seek a conditional use application before the zoning hearing board.
