North Huntingdon property owner frustrated by stalled zoning change effort

Two couples who dreamed of building their houses on a 95-acre former North Huntingdon strip mine site they bought for $230,000 will have to wait several more months before they learn if they can live on the land.

North Huntingdon commissioners recently tabled a request from Brett and Alyssa Arnold of Manor and Andrew and Jenna Smith of North Huntingdon to rezone the parcel at 1000 Leger Road from an industrial to a residential district. The R-4 zoning designation they sought is for land with limited public water and sewage and the requirement that any house on the parcel must be on at least one acre.

Commissioners Richard Gray, Zachary Haigis, Virginia Stump, Ronald Zona and Lyndsay Wengzryn voted to table the request, while Jason Atwood and Eric Gass opposed the move.

Faced with the realization that they did not have the support of the board majority, both couples agreed to suspend a timetable that would have forced the commissioners to make a decision on the rezoning request or the owners’ request would have been automatically approved.

Stump recommended the Arnolds and Smiths file a request before the township planning commission for an “overlay district” that would allow them to build their homes on the land they subdivided into two 47-acre parcels but would keep both parcels zoned for industrial purposes.

The requirement that they have to go before the planning commission for review of an overlay district and then seek the commissioners’ approval will set them back, even though they did not intend to build until next year, Brett Arnold said.

The Arnolds and Smiths purchased the site in May 2021 for $230,000, then subdivided the land between themselves. Both parcels cover a steep hillside, and the Arnolds’ portion of the subdivision borders and crosses Brush Creek at the bottom of a steep hillside.

“It’s one thing after another. This has been going on for two years,” said Brett Arnold, whose request for a variance to build their homes was denied in December by the township zoning hearing board.

Alyssa Arnold said there is only about 10.5 acres of buildable property, with 17 acres of strip-mined land and about 19 acres in a flood zone.

“It’s a sizable financial gamble for our family,” Arnold said.

Jenna Smith acknowledged they spent “a lot of money on the property.”

“If it doesn’t work out, it would be absolutely horrible,” Smith said.

Gass said he was concerned the families might be “out a quarter of a million dollars” if they can’t build homes on the site.

Atwood said he favored the rezoning, noting the industrial use of the land is finished and that “maybe the (zoning) map is not right.”

By allowing the Arnolds and Smiths to build on vacant land, Gass said, there would be more property tax revenue — maybe $8,000 — than if the land remains unused.

Gray said he felt an obligation to protect industrial property that is a limited asset within the township.

Haigis said he would not support the zoning change but would be open to Stump’s suggestion of the overlay zoning district.

Craig Alexander, township solicitor, said the overlay district is unique, and when another municipality did it, “it did not happen overnight.”

The couples’ request to rezone the land was supported by neighbors along the sparsely-populated section of the township.

Jacob Horsman, one of the neighbors, told the commissioners during a hearing on the request that the land has not been used for industrial purposes for close to 30 years. The hilltop property is wooded and slopes toward Brush Creek, where it is part of flood plain, Horsman said.

The site, less than a mile from Route 30 in the western end of the township, is not suited for heavy vehicles, Horsman said. The road is reduced to one lane in one section along the hillside. While it is a state road, it is not a high-priority for snow removal, Horsman said.

With steep cliffs off to the side, “in the winter, that is a scary road,” that leads down to a one-lane bridge over Brush Creek, Horsman said.

While seeking a zoning change from the commissioners, the two couples sued the North Huntingdon Zoning Hearing Board in January, asking the Westmoreland County Court to overturn a Dec. 1, 2022, zoning board decision denying a request for a variance to use the land to build their houses.

The lawsuit contends Thomas McGuire, the zoning officer, improperly applied a standard for granting the variance, including the site’s steep slopes, flood plain restrictions on building and that the property can only support two single-family houses. McGuire denied the request for a variance because an industrial zone does not permit single-family homes.

Judge Harry Smail has not yet scheduled a hearing in the case.