The Gettysburg Planning Commission dug into details of the borough’s zoning districts and land use regulations in their August 19, 2024, meeting where they continued the project of drafting a new zoning ordinance.
The commission worked through specifics of three of the 13 zoning districts included in a draft created by a committee over a series of several months beginning in May 2023. They focused on the boundaries and regulations for the R-1 (low density residential), general commercial, and industrial districts.
The planning commission will meet next on September 16, 2024. The commission plans to tackle more zoning districts, starting with R-2, the moderate density residential district.
The meeting began with a public comment period where several residents offered suggestions. John Whitmore, planning director, gave a report from the community open house held on July 29. Thirty attendees signed in, though more may have attended.
Borough staff have been compiling community comments into a written document for the commission to review, and also grouping them into categories, such as favorable or unfavorable towards portions of the draft ordinance.
On August 21, 2024 an updated version of the draft ordinance was uploaded to the Gettysburg Borough website, reflecting the discussion so far from the commission and the community. A “red-line” version is available which shows the differences between the draft as it came to the commission and the changes that have been suggested since.
The bulk of Monday’s discussion concerned the R-1 low-density residential zoning district and its regulations. The planning commission did not complete their discussions of the district’s land use regulations, and will need to finalize their recommendations at a future meeting. Borough staff will prepare some options for revisions of the language of contested sections of the draft ordinance for the commission to review.
“When we pull one thread, more threads come,” Chair Charles Strauss said, acknowledging the complexity of the task.
The commission weighed the goals of the borough’s comprehensive plan — which calls for increasing housing density and addressing the housing shortage — against public comments that expressed opposition to increasing density in the R-1 district.
The purpose of R-1 as stated in the draft ordinance is “to provide for certain areas of the Borough to be maintained as residential areas primarily for single-family detached housing.”
One point of discussion was whether to allow conversions of single-family detached homes into multiple units. The argument for inclusion would be the ability to increase the number of housing units without affecting the “rhythm and harmony of the block.”
The committee’s draft also proposed allowing “attached accessory dwelling units,” for example, converting a finished basement or garage space into an apartment. Each unit would be required to have its own independent entrance from the outside. The commission similarly weighed the community’s desire to maintain low density in the R-1 district alongside the potential to allow property owners to create spaces like an “in-law suite” or a living space for a caretaker of a person “aging in place” in their home.
Strauss said one of the most heavily commented-upon topics was chickens and bees. The draft suggested changing the land use regulations to allow keeping of chickens and bees in the R-1 zoning district. The planning commission moved toward removing this change due to community concerns including noise, chicken waste, and bee allergies.
Whitmore said there is a trend in the planning industry toward allowing chickens and bees, which is why it was likely suggested in the committee’s draft, but it can be a contentious issue, with strong feelings both for and against, when it comes before local government.
“We didn’t mean to upset the community with this. It’s just a recommendation based on what other communities are doing,” he said.
The Borough of Gettysburg Municipal Code prohibits the keeping of bees and poultry so the Borough Council would have needed to reconcile the code one way or another once the zoning ordinance came before them.
Other points of discussion included the regulations for manufactured homes on permanent foundations, group homes for addiction recovery, and equipment for wireless service in the R-1 district.
The meeting lasted for approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, and can be viewed as a video through the Community Media of South Central PA website.
Catalina Righter, freelance reporter, lives in New Oxford. She previously wrote for the Carroll County Times and the Kent County News, covering crime, education, local government and arts. She works as a legal assistant.