A long-debated revised zoning ordinance will be the subject of a public hearing Thursday night when the Crafton Borough Council meets at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, 140 Bradford Ave.
The 130-page revised ordinance has been in the works since 2022, a process triggered by the borough’s adoption of a long-term plan vision for growth and development with neighboring Ingram called Crafton-Ingram Thrive.
That plan focused on several areas, including preventing and addressing blight, strengthening the business environment and enhancing walkability.
According to a Crafton “zoning education video,” zoning best practices for community building calls on communities to:
- Move toward more flexible, context-sensitive frameworks that lead to desired form and performance;
- Support “fine-grained” mixed-use development to align with historic patterns and neighborhood fabric, and build the tax base by enhancing value proposition;
- Lean into walkability and transit as well as interconnected streets and reduced parking requirements; and
- Place emphasis on sustainable development.
The revised ordinance has been the subject of numerous public meetings and information sessions, but not everyone supports the change.
The revision would establish definitions and set the purpose and intent behind the zoning regulations as well as establish:
- Zoning districts within the borough and adopt comprehensive revisions to the official borough zoning map;
- Principal uses and accessory uses permitted within the borough and locations where they are permitted;
- Dimensional requirements;
- Performance standards, including landscape and buffering, fences, walls, screens, parking lots, steep slopes, subsurface conditions, off street parking, off street parking design, off street loading and unloading; yard regulations, and design regulations;
- Sign regulations and set forth regulations regarding nonconformities (use and dimensional);
- The powers and duties of the borough zoning officer and sets forth zoning permitting, application requirements and any related approval process;
- The jurisdiction, function and regulations for the borough zoning hearing board and the borough planning commission;
- The procedure for landowner curative and borough-initiated text and map amendments.
The revision also would set forth conditional use requirements and the related application and review process and set forth special exception requirements and the related application and review process.
Borough officials believe the updated ordinance will enable the borough to better utilize Crafton’s positive aspects, but not everyone in the community is on board. Several people have expressed concerns about certain aspects of the new zoning code, including the lack of space requirements that could yield units smaller than they believe are reasonable.
But borough officials say that providing flexibility in terms of size requirements is a nod to current zoning best practices, and that the updated zoning ordinance would allow the community to create housing opportunities where no such opportunities exist – for example, on the upper floors of what is now strictly commercial property.
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