1 1 BRIDGEVILLE BOROUGH COUNCIL 2 PUBLIC HEARING 3 held via Zoom due to COVID-19 4 on Monday, April 13, 2020 5 commencing at 6:32 p.m. 6 7 IN RE: Review of Conditional Use Application - 8 131 Washington Avenue. 9 A Conditional Use Application submitted by the 10 owner of the property, Thomas Bean, Junior, on behalf of the tenant, Pittsburgh Pets at Home LLC, 11 was submitted to the Planning Commission for the property located at 131 Washington Avenue. 12 The Applicant proposes to utilize the property for the establishment of a pet crematorium. The 13 plan is subject to requirements in Section 903.29 of the Zoning Ordinance, which also reference 14 requirements in Section 1001 Performance Standards. The plan was reviewed for compliance to Borough 15 standards and approved by the Planning Commission for the consideration of Council. 16 The Planning Commission's recommendation of approval of the plan by Council includes a 17 contingency of landscaping upgrades and lighting upgrades to gooseneck, in order to create a cohesive 18 facade with a current business in the area. 19 Reported by: 20 Sheila M. Rozanc, RPR 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 APPEARANCES: 2 3 ON BEHALF OF THE APPLICANT: 4 Krista M. Kochosky, Esq. 5 The Lynch Law Group 6 501 Smith Drive 7 Suite 3 8 Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania 16066 9 10 11 ON BEHALF OF BRIDGEVILLE BOROUGH COUNCIL: 12 William Henderson, Council President 13 Nino Petrocelli, Sr., Vice-President 14 Bruce Ghelarducci 15 Joseph Colosimo 16 Joseph Verduci 17 Virginia Schneider 18 Nicholas Ciesielski 19 Betty Copeland 20 Thomas P. McDermott, Solicitor 21 Lori Collins, Borough Manager 22 Cheryl Glowark, Assistant Borough Manager 23 Kevin Brett, Borough Engineer 24 25 3 1 I N D E X 2 3 E X H I B I T S 4 EXHIBITS-Pittsburgh Pets - public hearing 5 (4-23-2020).docx 6 7 NOTE: All exhibits and attachments referenced above 8 were forwarded to the court reporter via email by 9 Tom McDermott prior to or at the conclusion of the 10 hearing. The original exhibits are not and never 11 were in the court reporter's possession, due to 12 COVID-19. 13 * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 * * * 2 P R O C E E D I N G S 3 * * * 4 MR. HENDERSON: Okay. Welcome to 5 this public hearing. This is the Bridgeville 6 Borough Council. It's holding this public hearing 7 to take public comment on the following. 8 You want to do a roll call first, 9 Cheryl? 10 MS. GLOWARK: Yes. 11 Bill Henderson? 12 MR. HENDERSON: Here. 13 MS. GLOWARK: Nino Petrocelli? 14 Say it again, Nino. 15 MR. PETROCELLI: Here. 16 MS. GLOWARK: Bruce Ghelarducci? 17 MR. GHELARDUCCI: Here. 18 MS. GLOWARK: Joe Colosimo? 19 MR. COLOSIMO: Here. 20 MS. GLOWARK: Joe Verduci? 21 MR. VERDUCI: Here. 22 MS. GLOWARK: Virginia Schneider? 23 MS. SCHNEIDER: Here. 24 MS. GLOWARK: Nick Ciesielski? 25 MR. CIESIELSKI: Here. 5 1 MS. GLOWARK: Betty Copeland? 2 MS. COPELAND: Here. 3 MS. GLOWARK: Tom McDermott? 4 MR. McDERMOTT: Here. 5 MS. GLOWARK: Kevin Brett? 6 MR. BRETT: Here. 7 MS. GLOWARK: Lori Collins? Lori? 8 Now that I -- 9 MS. COLLINS: I'm sorry. 10 MS. GLOWARK: That's okay. 11 Cheryl Glowark? Here. 12 Chad King? 13 Ray Costain? 14 Dan Miller? 15 And, Sheila Rozanc? 16 COURT REPORTER: Here. 17 MR. HENDERSON: Okay. Thank you, 18 Cheryl. And thank you all for joining us. 19 This is our first opportunity to try out 20 a virtual meeting. I appreciate your patience as we 21 try to navigate through these crazy times we're in 22 right now. 23 Nonetheless, this is the review of a 24 Conditional Use Application for 131 Washington 25 Avenue. A Conditional Use Application submitted by 6 1 the owner of the property, Thomas Bean, Junior, on 2 behalf of the tenant, Pittsburgh Pets at Home LLC. 3 It was submitted to the Planning 4 Commission for the property located at 5 131 Washington Avenue. 6 The Applicant proposes to utilize the 7 property for the establishment of a pet crematorium. 8 The plan is subject to requirements in 9 Section 903.29 of the Zoning Ordinance, which also 10 reference requirements in Section 1001, Performance 11 Standards. 12 The plan was reviewed for compliance to 13 Borough standards and approved by the Planning 14 Commission for the consideration of Council. 15 The Planning Commission's recommendation 16 of approval of the plan by Council includes a 17 contingency of landscaping upgrades and lighting 18 upgrades to gooseneck, in order to create a cohesive 19 facade with the current business in the area. 20 A little notation on the COVID-19 public 21 participation notice. Due to the current need for 22 social distancing, public participation shall be by 23 telephone or videoconference only. 24 For information regarding how to attend 25 and participate in this public hearing -- I would 7 1 ask, under Citizens Comments that are being made, if 2 you could identify yourself before you speak. 3 Do we have any citizen comments to note? 4 MR. DeBLASIO: Hi. 5 MR. HENDERSON: Hi. Could you 6 state your name, please? 7 Do we have any citizen comments to be 8 made? 9 MR. DeBLASIO: Yes. Pat DeBlasio 10 here. 11 MR. McDERMOTT: And if I might -- I 12 beg your pardon. I don't mean to cut anybody off. 13 Mr. Henderson, if the public comments 14 are germane to the Application, I would suggest we 15 proceed in an order where those are reserved till 16 after I make my introductory comments and the 17 Applicant makes their presentation, the engineers 18 make their presentation. 19 And then, I do believe there's a 20 gentleman -- specifically, Mr. Rattenni -- who 21 wishes to make, perhaps, comment. 22 And then, certainly, others, as well, 23 are welcome at that point. That would be my 24 suggestion. 25 MR. HENDERSON: Tom, could you then 8 1 solicit the comments that you're looking to and the 2 order in which you would like them? 3 MR. McDERMOTT: Yeah. If I 4 might -- with your permission, might I assist and 5 act as the sub chairperson momentarily? 6 MR. HENDERSON: Yes, sir. 7 MR. McDERMOTT: Okay. Thank you. 8 And thank you, Mr. Henderson, for this summary of 9 why we're here. 10 And if you'll bear with me, just as a 11 matter of the record, we do have a stenographer who 12 is taking everything down here. And because it's a 13 public hearing, I do need to read a list of exhibits 14 into the record regarding our publication -- 15 publication and a number of the things that 16 Mr. Henderson touched base on. 17 This Application was actually filed -- 18 and it will be one of the exhibits -- in February of 19 2019, along with a companion Site Plan, a Land 20 Development Application. 21 That Site Plan, slash, Land Development 22 Application has been approved, and I will place that 23 into the record. 24 The reason -- and just by way of 25 summary -- that we are kind of redoing the 9 1 Conditional Use, this zoning hearing, is because we 2 did have a defect in posting it when we did question 3 the original hearing last year in February of 2019. 4 So, in order to cure that defect and to 5 allow any comments that the public wishes to make 6 regarding that Conditional Use zoning approval, 7 separate and apart from the land development 8 approval, we have reconvened and republished this 9 hearing. 10 I have -- before us tonight, however, is 11 not the topic of any defects in the prior 12 proceedings. Those are pending before the Zoning 13 Hearing Board. 14 Mr. Rattenni has submitted an objection, 15 dated October -- April 13th, 2020 -- I'm -- April 9, 16 2020 regarding the manner of and the circumstances 17 of conducting the hearing tonight under the COVID 18 circumstances, et cetera. 19 I have spoken with Mr. Rattenni 20 regarding that, and I assured him, and I am now 21 placing in the record his objection in that regard, 22 and reserving any objections that he or anybody else 23 has to the manner of conducting this meeting and 24 reserving their rights on that, so we don't need to 25 further review that issue and can stick to the 10 1 actual Application issue tonight. 2 Although the Site Plan was previously 3 approved, we do have our engineers, Lennon, Smith, 4 and Kevin Brett available, to touch upon, for folks 5 in general information, and because some questions 6 have been raised on the issue of compliance with 7 parking requirements, with regard to number of 8 parking and the design of the park. 9 Having said that and touching upon 10 Mr. Henderson's review of the Conditional Use 11 Application, I kind of just want to supplement that 12 for folks in this regard: 13 A Conditional Use is a -- it's kind of a 14 permitted use under the law, with the exception that 15 you have to meet certain extra specific criteria. 16 Objective criteria. And there's the actual extra 17 procedural mechanism of going through the Planning 18 Commission and having a public hearing. 19 Under the law, if one meets all of the 20 specific criteria for a use, we are legally 21 obligated to approve that with reasonable 22 conditions. 23 And we're not allowed to deny it if they 24 meet the objective criteria under the ground of 25 general health, safety, and welfare concerns, such 11 1 as traffic or other health concerns, et cetera, 2 unless those extraordinarily and substantially 3 outweigh the fact that you're allowed to do this 4 activity with those criteria met in this location, 5 which our Zoning Ordinance does provide for a 6 crematorium to be located, subject to these approval 7 criteria, in the Mixed Use District. 8 The three specific criteria are that the 9 pet crematorium is subject to compliance with our 10 General Performance Standards, set forth in 11 Section 1001 in the Ordinance. They must comply 12 with general Commonwealth laws and regulations 13 regarding that use. 14 And they also have to conform to the air 15 quality regulations of the Allegheny County Health 16 Department. And we will be looking to the Applicant 17 to submit support in regard to those criteria. 18 If I might, before I turn it over to the 19 Applicant to make their submission, followed by 20 Lennon, Smith touching upon the parking concerns 21 that were raised, and other comments which they may 22 wish to make. 23 And then, to Mr. Rattenni and any other 24 members of the public. And, certainly, at any time 25 for Council questions. 12 1 Allow me please to conclude by reading 2 into the record -- and I will forward to the 3 stenographer the list of Borough exhibits that we 4 would like to have placed in the record, in the 5 event that a stenographic record is created. And 6 those are as follows: 7 Borough Exhibit A would be the 8 Application for a Conditional Use and Site Plan 9 approval, with the attached plan that was dated 10 February 14th, 2019. 11 * * * 12 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit A 13 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 14 * * * 15 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit B would be 16 the Post-Gazette Legal Notice for the hearing held 17 today, that was published in the Post-Gazette on 18 March 19th and March 26th, with Proof of Publication 19 thereof. 20 * * * 21 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit B 22 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 23 * * * 24 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit C would be 25 the posted notice, which did actually include a 13 1 COVID notice, which the Township manager posted at 2 least a week before the hearing at the property 3 location. 4 * * * 5 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit C 6 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 7 * * * 8 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit D is a 9 COVID-19 notice that the Borough provided to the 10 Post-Gazette, and was published on Friday, April 10, 11 2020, regarding our general procedures that we're 12 invoking here to have our meetings during this time, 13 generally, and specifically with regard to this 14 public hearing. 15 * * * 16 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit D 17 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 18 * * * 19 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit E is a web 20 page notice of the COVID-19 and public hearing 21 notice that were published on our Borough website on 22 Thursday, April 9, 2020. 23 By way of note, I will note that the 24 manager and assistant manager caused those also to 25 be sent out by Facebook on Thursday, and a text 14 1 blast was also sent out on Friday, April 10th. 2 * * * 3 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit E 4 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 5 * * * 6 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit F is an 7 email notice, provided by myself to Mr. Rattenni, 8 dated April 3rd, 2020 of the occurrence of this 9 hearing tonight, with the COVID-19 procedures. 10 * * * 11 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit F 12 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 13 * * * 14 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit G are the 15 Planning Commission Minutes, dated April 29th, 2020, 16 at which time the companion Site Plan was reviewed 17 and tabled. 18 * * * 19 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit G 20 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 21 * * * 22 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit I -- H is 23 the Planning Commission Minutes, dated May 2020 24 (sic), at which time the Planning Commission 25 recommended Site Plan approval, subject to the 15 1 Borough's engineer's comment letters. 2 * * * 3 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit H 4 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 5 * * * 6 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit I are the 7 Council meeting minutes from June 2020 (sic) 8 approving the companion Site Plan, also subject to 9 conditions. 10 * * * 11 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit I 12 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 13 * * * 14 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit J are the 15 three review letters completed by Lennon, Smith, 16 with regard to the companion Site Plan, dated 17 April 25th, May 20th, and June 5th, 2019, 18 respectively. 19 * * * 20 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit J 21 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 22 * * * 23 MR. McDERMOTT: Exhibit K would be 24 a letter submitted by Mr. John Rattenni, 25 dated/received April 9, 2020, objecting to the 16 1 occurrence of the hearing tonight under the current 2 virtual meeting circumstances and raising related 3 Sunshine Act matters, which, as I indicated before, 4 we acknowledge, accept, and reserve to him all 5 rights attached thereto. 6 * * * 7 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit K 8 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 9 * * * 10 MR. McDERMOTT: And, finally, I 11 would submit a -- a -- a -- a document, called 12 Rattenni Submissions, Parking Concerns, Number One, 13 Parking Concerns, Number Two, and Parking Concerns, 14 Number Three, dated April 13, 2020. 15 * * * 16 (Whereupon, Borough Exhibit L 17 is to be marked for purposes of identification.) 18 * * * 19 MR. McDERMOTT: If -- with those 20 exhibits accepted and into the record, I will 21 conclude, and would invite, without objection, the 22 Applicant or their representative to make such 23 submission as they wish regarding this Application. 24 MS. KOCHOSKY: Good evening. Can 25 everyone hear me okay? 17 1 MS. GLOWARK: Yes. 2 MS. KOCHOSKY: All right. Thank 3 you. 4 Thank you for allowing us to speak 5 today. 6 My name is Krista Kochosky. I'm with 7 the Lynch Law Group, and I'm here today as counsel 8 for Tamara Padgelek and Pittsburgh Pets At Home LLC, 9 of which she is the sole member. 10 I've just first -- I think I mentioned 11 to Tom maybe earlier than this that we do want to 12 place somewhat of an objection on the record this 13 evening just to reserve our right to the extent that 14 this hearing is going to be interpreted as a brand 15 new hearing on whether the subject property applies 16 for a Conditional Use as a pet crematorium. 17 It's the position of my office and my 18 client that the existing decision and the 19 Conditional Use granted remains in effect, absent a 20 successful appeal by an objector to the Court of 21 Common Pleas, which would be the proper jurisdiction 22 if any appeal was intended to be made. 23 So, with that, reserving that position, 24 if I could, on the record. 25 And then, moving forward, I would just 18 1 ask that the Board, I guess, tab into evidence all 2 of the information that was provided by Mr. Bean in 3 the course of presentment of the original 4 Application for Conditional Use. 5 That would include the Application for 6 Conditional Use, submitted on January 18, 2019. 7 That would include the report of Gateway 8 Engineers, engaged by the Township, dated 9 January 25, 2019, pursuant to which the engineers 10 concluded that all of the standards required for the 11 grant of the Conditional Use were met. And those 12 are all the standards identified in 13 Section 903.29 A., including the Performance 14 Standards identified as 1000.1 through 1000.11. 15 And, also, the actual decision of the 16 Planning Commission to recommend to the Council that 17 the Application be granted with some conditions, 18 including landscape improvements and gooseneck 19 lighting. 20 And then, finally, the actual decision 21 of the Council to grant the Conditional Use. Again, 22 with contingencies outlined by the Planning 23 Commission, which were outlined by the engineer, 24 speaking to lighting and landscaping. 25 MR. McDERMOTT: Without objection, 19 1 those will be accepted into the record. 2 And the solicitor will also note our 3 acknowledgment that this is not a new Application, 4 and this is a re-hearing of the original 5 Application, as originally filed in February 2020. 6 MS. KOCHOSKY: Thank you. 7 MR. McDERMOTT: Would you like 8 to -- this -- 9 Can you hear me? 10 MR. HENDERSON: Yes. 11 MR. McDERMOTT: Krista, do you have 12 other presentation regarding the Application? 13 MS. KOCHOSKY: I mean, it's our 14 position that the Application was already granted 15 and still remains in effect. So, I think that the 16 information -- the evidence submitted at the time of 17 the original hearing, as long as that's deemed to be 18 on the record this evening, is sufficient to enable 19 that land use decision to be upheld in any 20 situation. 21 I think the only, I guess, maybe 22 additional information I would highlight -- because 23 I do think it was referenced and incorporated into 24 the Gateway Engineer report, which I did just 25 mention before, as part of our evidence tonight -- 20 1 would be the fact that -- that my client did, in 2 fact, have the Allegheny County Health Department 3 approve the operations of -- the intended operations 4 as a pet crematorium. And those were submitted and 5 acknowledged by Gateway Engineers at the time of the 6 initial hearing. 7 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 8 And if you could, just for Council's 9 edification, and folks' edification, that includes 10 the certification regarding the emissions; is that 11 correct? 12 MS. KOCHOSKY: Yes, it is. It is 13 correct. 14 And it's actually, also -- I think, 15 probably was raised and pertinent to the underlying 16 Application because of the requirement to conform 17 with 903.29 C., which states that the use shall 18 conform with the air quality regulations of the 19 County Health Department. So, that permit was 20 submitted as evidence of compliance with that -- 21 with that standard. 22 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. I just 23 wanted to give you an opportunity to share that 24 with -- 25 MS. KOCHOSKY: Thank you. 21 1 MR. McDERMOTT: -- Council. 2 And would that conclude your 3 presentation? 4 MS. KOCHOSKY: It -- it does. 5 I mean, I would like to respond to any 6 attempts to deem if an appeal of that decision is -- 7 if that decision is raised by one of the residents 8 or any objector. 9 But I'll -- I'll hold back those -- 10 those comments, unless -- because they may not be 11 necessary. 12 MR. McDERMOTT: Certainly. And we 13 certainly want everybody to reserve whatever rights 14 they wish they need -- feel they need to reserve on 15 the record at this time. 16 MS. KOCHOSKY: Attorney McDermott, 17 would you -- do you need -- my client is here with 18 me. Do you -- does the Council need her to state 19 that she acknowledges everything that I've said and 20 accepts it, or -- 21 MR. McDERMOTT: No, ma'am. You can 22 speak on her behalf. 23 MS. KOCHOSKY: Okay. Thank you. 24 MR. McDERMOTT: It might be germane 25 at this time, or worthwhile, I guess, at this time, 22 1 to note a couple things: 2 There -- one concern that was raised -- 3 and I'll let Lennon, Smith speak to this specific 4 parking matter in a moment -- was, even accepting 5 the manner in which the calculations for parking, 6 what-if kind of thing, if, say, for example, the 7 third floor were to be occupied by either the 8 present Applicant -- in three regards: 9 One, as kind of an accessory 10 administrative office to this business; 11 Two, as a separate, say, veterinary or 12 other business; 13 Or, three, rent it out to a third party 14 for occupation. 15 It goes without saying -- and I believe 16 the Applicant understands and appreciates, as well, 17 and it's been explained to the public -- to the 18 extent that the Applicant wishes to use the entire 19 building for this use, she may do so, and the 20 parking calculations are based on the public space. 21 For example, an administrative 22 managerial office, where she did billing or whatnot 23 in the adding space or whatever, is a subordinate 24 accessory use to this business and does not require 25 separate occupancy, nor does it need to be accounted 23 1 for otherwise, in the parking calculations. 2 However, by way of just-be-advised kind 3 of notice, we can make note in our decision of the 4 fact, and make note of it in this public hearing, 5 that everybody is aware that, to the extent that 6 there was a separate occupancy or use, that would be 7 subject to new Application, occupancy permits, and 8 separate parking requirements. And I just wanted to 9 make a note of that. 10 Lennon, Smith, for -- even though 11 parking is not directly before us, I've asked him to 12 summary review, and just speak in summary fashion to 13 compliance with the parking criteria as pertains to 14 ordinance requirements on how you calculate for this 15 use and its design. If you might? 16 MR. BRETT: Yes. Good evening, 17 everybody. This is Kevin Brett, from Lennon, Smith, 18 Souleret. 19 As Tom indicated, we did receive and 20 review Site Plans. We have the letters, as Tom 21 indicated, that were issued. Final plans. They did 22 meet the requirements for parking. They did meet 23 the requirements that were conditioned: Lighting 24 and landscaping. 25 And as Tom indicated, there is specific 24 1 criteria for what's required for the subject use pet 2 crematorium. It's one space for each 250 square 3 foot devoted customer service and retail sales. 4 The Applicant has submitted 5 documentation, and their plan has submitted -- does 6 comply with the ordinances. 7 The -- as indicated by the Applicant, 8 their Conditional Use was submitted and reviewed by 9 the previous engineer, Gateway Engineers, and that 10 letter stands, as far as the Conditional Use 11 criteria. 12 Tom did forward over three concerns on 13 parking concerns one, two, and three. I did take an 14 opportunity to review those. Those items were -- 15 are -- are noted that the comments have been 16 received. 17 But as far as the plan goes, and our 18 review of the concerns versus what -- the plan that 19 was submitted, the plan, as submitted, still meets 20 the ordinance, and our opinion remains unchanged. 21 So, I can take any questions beyond 22 that. 23 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 24 Mr. Chairman, it would be appropriate at 25 this time, if you wish to -- if any of Council 25 1 members certainly had any questions of anybody, or 2 if members -- if Mr. Rattenni or any other member of 3 the public wishes to make comment at this time. 4 MR. HENDERSON: I would first 5 invite Mr. Rattenni, if he had any comments to add. 6 You were -- you were on mute. If you're 7 trying to speak, Mr. Rattenni, you were on mute. 8 MS. GLOWARK: He is -- 9 MR. RATTENNI: Can you hear me? 10 MS. GLOWARK: Yes. 11 MR. HENDERSON: We can hear you 12 now, yes. 13 MR. RATTENNI: In the Zoning 14 Ordinance, there's a particular provision which 15 requires that no vehicle exiting the parking space 16 should require a vehicle on the street to queue that 17 vehicle. They use that specific language. 18 Given the fact that their parking -- the 19 garage and the garage door is literally 5 feet off 20 of their own surface, and the road is a very narrow 21 road -- it's a noncomplying road. Only 19 feet, as 22 opposed to the required 24 feet -- it would be 23 impossible to exit the garage without requiring an 24 on-road vehicle, on-street vehicle, to have to 25 address that -- that vehicle that's attempting to 26 1 exit the garage. 2 So, my question is, what does the term 3 "queue" mean in the Zoning Ordinance, with regards 4 to vehicles exiting the parking spaces? 5 MR. McDERMOTT: I'm happy to 6 address that in the first instance. 7 As I said, that's a matter of the Site 8 Plan approval, not the land -- not the Conditional 9 Use approval, as a procedural matter. 10 As a substantive matter, those rules 11 speak to when one is designing a street versus the 12 existing conditions, which were presented. 13 With that existing condition in place, 14 the engineers review it on an existing condition 15 basis, subject to the specific criteria in the 16 Ordinance, and they comply with the -- those, in 17 terms of the locations of their parking spaces and 18 their parking numbers. 19 I don't know if Kevin might have 20 anything to add to that. 21 MR. BRETT: That is true. And, I 22 mean, I think this falls to, as Tom said, you're 23 talking about the design of the street versus 24 somebody coming out of a fixed structure onto the 25 street. 27 1 If the literal interpretation was taken 2 into account, then every street that somebody would 3 have a garage that comes out onto the street, in 4 order for somebody to back out from a structure onto 5 the street, obviously, a car has to -- if one's 6 coming, has to stop in order to pull out onto the 7 street. 8 So, I believe the intent of the 9 Ordinance is -- or, how it's interpreted is, is for 10 a new street, not for an existing condition. 11 MR. McDERMOTT: And that's the way 12 those are commonly interpreted and applied in the 13 contexts of these sorts of applications, in terms of 14 existing conditions that you found here and 15 elsewhere, where you deal with such matters, 16 Mr. Brett? 17 MR. BRETT: Yes. 18 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 19 Does Mr. Rattenni have any further 20 comment? 21 MR. HENDERSON: Should we open it 22 up for public comment, Tom? 23 MR. McDERMOTT: Yes, Mr. Chairman. 24 MR. HENDERSON: Are there any 25 comments from the public? Any comments from the 28 1 public? 2 MR. McDERMOTT: I did -- I did -- I 3 thought I heard Mr. DeBlasio attempt to comment 4 generally at the beginning, unless we missed that, I 5 guess, one shout out to him; if he still wished to 6 comment on this Application. 7 MS. GLOWARK: Tom, I think he is -- 8 has hung up -- 9 MR. HENDERSON: Okay. 10 MS. GLOWARK: -- from the meeting. 11 MR. McDERMOTT: Okay. 12 MR. HENDERSON: Okay. At this 13 time, then I'll take a motion for an adjournment. 14 MS. COOPER: I have a question. 15 Is -- 16 MR. HENDERSON: Oh. Go ahead. Who 17 was that? 18 MS. COOPER: My name is Kelli. 19 This is the Council meeting about the -- 20 the crematory down at the bottom of the hill; 21 correct? 22 MR. McDERMOTT: Public hearing. 23 Yes, ma'am. 24 And if you could, state your name and 25 address for the record, please. Full name. 29 1 MS. COOPER: My name is Kelli -- my 2 name is Kelli Cooper, and my address is 3 1311 Missouri Avenue, Bridgeville, 15017. 4 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 5 MS. COOPER: So, I just have a 6 question. 7 With all of those -- it's my 8 understanding that a couple of these different -- 9 there was a couple different locations that denied 10 Application for this. 11 Am I wrong about that? Like -- 12 MR. McDERMOTT: I -- I have no 13 issue -- are you talking about -- when you say 14 "other locations," you mean other municipalities? 15 MS. COOPER: Correct. Yes. 16 MR. McDERMOTT: That may or may not 17 be the case. That's not relevant. Every township 18 and borough has its own Zoning Ordinance and Land 19 Development Ordinance and its own criteria. So, 20 that would be apples and oranges. 21 The only thing that we're allowed to 22 judge an Application against is our own Bridgeville 23 Ordinance criteria. 24 MS. COOPER: Okay. Also, about the 25 parking that we're able to -- where is all the 30 1 parking going to come from with this building? 2 MR. McDERMOTT: Just for your 3 information, on the Site Plan, it has been testified 4 and meets our specifications. 5 The only -- the parking that they are 6 required to provide is sufficient for their place 7 where they would have a customer or patron come and 8 visit them in a public space. 9 This location has approximately 700 10 square feet of that, and that yields a minimum of 11 three parking spaces required. 12 My understanding is, the Site Plan shows 13 that they have those spaces outside. And in 14 addition to that, they have one internal space that 15 they anticipate using for their own use. 16 Is that a fair summary of the parking, 17 Kevin? 18 MR. BRETT: Yes. Yes, it is, Tom. 19 MR. McDERMOTT: Does that address 20 your question, ma'am? 21 MS. COOPER: To that, yes. 22 Also, with -- with living here and 23 having small children and living above this and 24 having the winds come this direction from there, 25 with everything that is -- has any of this been 31 1 tested by the EPA? 2 MR. McDERMOTT: All I can respond 3 to that is, if the Applicant's representative wishes 4 to add anything to that? 5 The -- it is -- and it may well be 6 through EPA laws and through state laws and 7 regulations that distill their way down to the 8 County, but the County is the primarily -- the local 9 regulatory agency that approves such matters. 10 And it has been placed into the record 11 that they have obtained all their necessary state 12 and county approvals, including their certification 13 that is based on the compliance with air emissions. 14 MS. COOPER: Okay. And how safe is 15 this then? 16 MR. McDERMOTT: It's compliant with 17 the regulations and presumptively meets that 18 criteria. 19 The Applicant may, if she wishes, speak 20 to, if she wishes, the nature of this crematorium 21 and how it operates, if -- if she wishes. 22 MS. KOCHOSKY: Attorney McDermott, 23 my client, Ms. Padgelek, is willing to offer a few 24 comments to answer that inquiry. 25 But prior to her doing that, again, I 32 1 just want to reiterate that it's our position that 2 the conditional land use was granted on February 14, 3 2019. So, therefore, the extent that any objector 4 wanted to appeal that decision, it should have been 5 done to the Court of Common Pleas by March 16th -- 6 MR. McDERMOTT: We will accept that 7 as a continuing objection. 8 MS. COOPER: Right. Because we did 9 not know about this. 10 Mr. McDERMOTT: That's why we're -- 11 MS. COOPER: We didn't know about 12 that, as homeowners, that this was going in. 13 And I also find it odd that we're having 14 this meeting held during a pandemic, where we're not 15 all able to be there in person. 16 MR. McDERMOTT: Your objection in 17 that regard is -- is noted. 18 MS. KOCHOSKY: Ms. Padgelek? 19 MS. PADGELEK: The -- 20 COURT REPORTER: I can't hear you. 21 MS. PADGELEK: The crematory 22 itself, the furnace itself, has absolutely no smoke 23 or any type of emissions. The only thing that comes 24 out of there is hot air. 25 The permit that I had to obtain from 33 1 Allegheny County took a year to get. And it's very 2 strict, as far as EPA and guidelines and pollutants, 3 and things like that. There are none, or they're 4 very minimal. Not any worse than a furnace in a 5 house because, obviously, we don't want to hurt the 6 public. 7 And I also want to say, there's a 8 crematorium, you know, a mile up the street, and 9 those -- there are apartments right next to those -- 10 to that crematory, as well, that never complained, 11 as far as I know, to the Borough about any problems 12 with that crematory either. 13 MR. McDERMOTT: Ma'am, the 14 crematorium you're referring to up the street, 15 you're referring to within the Business District of 16 the Borough of Bridgeville itself? 17 MS. PADGELEK: That's correct. 18 Chartier's Cremation. 19 MR. McDERMOTT: Can we have the 20 manager and zoning officer speak to whether or not 21 we've ever received any complaints regarding that 22 existing facility? 23 MS. COLLINS: I have never 24 experienced or received any complaint regarding that 25 facility since it's been in existence, which is -- 34 1 which is quite a few years now. 2 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 3 Does Kelli or anybody else have any 4 other comments at this time? 5 MR. HENDERSON: Pat DeBlasio has 6 been trying to get in. Is he unmuted at this point? 7 MR. DeBLASIO: I'm here. Hello? 8 So, yes, I am here and, yes, I did have 9 a couple of comments. 10 First, as was being said, I don't -- I 11 don't see this being an issue of pollution or of air 12 quality. 13 I certainly see the issue of parking. 14 Again, you know, I don't see the issue 15 of parking so much from the Applicant's standpoint. 16 I understand how he is trying to -- or, she is 17 trying to, you know, comply with the Borough's 18 regulations. 19 I'm speaking more broadly. And 20 Mr. Henderson and the rest of Council is aware of 21 the -- the difficulty at the north end of Washington 22 Avenue in Bridgeville Borough. 23 The lack of parking there has 24 constrained development and made a very difficult 25 situation for the residents of St. Clair Street, the 35 1 residents of Prestley, the owners of the property on 2 Washington Avenue, including the current Applicant. 3 And I -- my comment is that the Borough 4 of Bridgeville, as a Borough, should solve the 5 public problem. It needs to be solved. 6 And, by the way, I take -- hold on a 7 second. I take my share of the blame in not getting 8 the problem solved. 9 So, I'm -- I'm not trying to pass this. 10 I'm simply bringing it up, that we have a parking 11 problem and it needs to be solved. 12 Go ahead. 13 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. And I 14 didn't mean to cut you off, Pat. I apologize. 15 I just wanted to ask you and have you 16 acknowledge, do you agree or disagree with the 17 concept that that general policy, parking concern, 18 is separate and apart from this Application? Is it 19 or is it -- 20 You're not suggesting, are you, that 21 this particular Application can be denied or decided 22 upon one way or the other based on that generalized 23 parking concern in the neighborhood? 24 MR. DeBLASIO: No. I -- I -- I 25 find -- I -- I -- back -- back in 2019, when this 36 1 Application was originally brought forth, I saw how 2 the mathematics were being done, I see 3 Mr. Rattenni's issue with -- with -- with the 4 possible additional burden if the use were to 5 change, and I see your answer. 6 In quick answer, no, I do not see it as 7 one way or another for this Applicant. 8 I bring my comments to the floor because 9 it's a problem that needs solved by the Borough. 10 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 11 I just wanted to make sure we were on 12 the same page, as far as what you're explaining. 13 MR. DeBLASIO: We are. It is not. 14 MR. McDERMOTT: Thank you. 15 MR. HENDERSON: Do we have any 16 other comments from citizens? 17 With no further comments, I'll take a 18 motion to adjourn. 19 MR. COLOSIMO: So moved. Joe 20 Colosimo. 21 MR. HENDERSON: Joe Colosimo, 22 motion to adjourn. 23 Do I have a second? 24 MR. VERDUCI: I'll second. 25 MR. HENDERSON: Is that Joe 37 1 Verduci? 2 All in favor? 3 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye. 4 MR. HENDERSON: Those opposed? 5 Motion to adjourn. 6 * * * 7 (Whereupon, this hearing was adjourned at 7:11 p.m.) 8 * * * 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 38 1 THE COMMONWEALTH : OF PENNSYLVANIA : 2 : SS: C E R T I F I C A T E COUNTY OF WASHINGTON : 4 I, SHEILA M. ROZANC, a Registered Professional Reporter and Notary Public in and for 5 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct 6 transcription of the testimony within. 7 I do further certify that this testimony 8 was taken at the time in the foregoing caption specified, was taken remotely via Zoom, and was 9 completed. 10 I do further certify that I am not a 11 relative, counsel or attorney of either party, or otherwise interested in the event of this action. 12 13 IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of office at 14 Burgettstown, Pennsylvania on the 6th day of May 2020. 15 16 Sheila M. Rozanc 17 Registered Professional Reporter Notary Public within and for 18 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 19 20 My commission expires September 30, 2022. 21 22 23 24 25