The Gettysburg Borough Planning Commission met for nearly three hours on Monday, September 16, to continue discussions of the borough’s comprehensive rezoning project.
The meeting focused on the specifics of the Revitalization district, a new zoning district that is proposed near the core of downtown, and the R-2 residential district.
The task of the Gettysburg Planning Commission is to make revisions to a draft zoning ordinance, including Gettysburg’s zoning districts and the permitted uses for the parcels within them. The draft document was created by a committee including residents, members of the planning commission, and a zoning consultant who worked from March 2023 to May 2024. The Planning Commission has since been directing borough staff to make revisions, based on their own input and comments from the public.
The Planning Commission will vote to pass a version of the document with their recommendations on to the Gettysburg Borough Council, which has the authority to approve ordinances.
A “red-line” version of the draft which shows contrast between the initial draft and the changes can be found at gettysburgpa.gov/rezoning.
Chair Charles Strauss read from prepared remarks at the start of the meeting. “Many times the conversations about his draft ordinance, and revisions to it, require a decision that weighs competing goods. And these can be challenging conversations. But we remain committed to providing a recommendation that is smart, responsive to the community, and appropriate,” he said.
The commission members were joined by Troy Truax, technical manager with engineering firm Michael Baker International. Truax was the consultant who sat on the drafting committee. At the previous meeting, audience members and planning commission members expressed that it would be helpful to ask him questions and hear insight on the committee’s decision making.
Revitalization District
Planning Director John Whitmore said this section was one of the most commented-upon sections of the zoning draft.
There has been extensive public discussion over the fact that the Revitalization district allows developers to seek approval to construct buildings up to 72 feet tall, in contrast to the borough’s standard cap of 48 feet, if they can meet certain zoning criteria.
The proposed district is made of parcels that were previously zoned as Old Town (OT) or Residential Office Redevelopment (ROR).
The draft states, “The purpose of the R District is to promote the revitalization of existing structures and development of underutilized or vacant parcels adjacent to the Downtown core. The R District is sensitive to the Downtown area’s historic and pedestrian-oriented center and recognizes the linkage that the district has with the Downtown, Gettysburg College, and surrounding residential neighborhoods.”
Whitmore and Strauss aimed in Monday’s meeting to provide historical context about past decisions.
In 2018, the Gettysburg Borough passed an ordinance to define “Mixed-Use Building, Extended Height.” This could be applied for via “special exception” in the ROR district. If the developer of a project could meet certain criteria, they could be granted permission for building heights up to 72 feet (as opposed to the standard cap of 48) plus 12 feet for mechanical structures on the roof.
The special exception approval followed extensive borough council discussion and a 4-3 split vote to approve the 2018 ordinance. Opponents feared destruction of Gettysburg’s historic character and tourism appeal, while proponents hoped to encourage development of the Gettysburg Station property, which had long sat vacant, and increase the borough’s tax base by allowing for construction of more apartments.
Whitmore said the philosophy of the new draft ordinance, which preserves the 72 foot special exception in part of the Revitalization zone, “is to codify what’s already in existence for these properties.”
Only 4 parcels, located on the west side of Carlisle Street, would be eligible for developers to pursue extended height projects. Parcels in the Revitalization district on the east side of Carlisle Street are excluded.
Extended height projects needed to include at least one “incentive” for the borough in order to be granted the special exception to move forward. The incentives proposed in the new ordinance are: integrated parking, LEED building, transit facilities, bicycle trail infrastructure, public green space, or affordable housing. Definitions of these are included in the draft.
Whitmore said some public comments suggested increasing the number of incentives a developer would need to provide.
Strauss clarified that any changes made to the ordinance would not affect the existing development of the Gettysburg Station property, which is so far the only project that has been approved to build to an extended height. The developer appeared before the Zoning Hearing Board in 2023, and the board ruled that the plan met the criteria of the 2018 ordinance. The project is planned as a mixed use apartment/commercial building coming in at 72 feet high, plus another 12 feet for rooftop mechanicals.
The project’s land development plan has not been finalized yet and the project still needs some approvals from the Historic Architectural Review Board, he said.
The planning commission discussed several options, including formally codifying that the extended height provision can only apply to the four specific parcels on the west side of Carlisle Street, and cannot be applied to any parcels that might be added to the revitalization district in the future. Another suggestion was re-writing the ordinance to limit extended height building to 60 feet.
Truax said the drafting committee “went round and round, just like you’re starting to” on the issue of whether to change or preserve the extended height provision.
The commission will need to discuss further before finalizing their recommendations for the Borough Council.
R-2 Residential District
In considering the R-2 district, the commission heard several discussions about why certain parcels should or should not be included in the district, bed and breakfasts, accessory dwelling units, as well as discussion about the new ordinance’s definition of a family.
The zoning ordinance draft’s definition of family states that no more than four people unrelated by genetics, marriage, or adoption are permitted to reside together in a dwelling unit. The commission is considering a staff recommendation to reduce that number to two.
One public commenter, Darren Glass,was strongly against that suggestion, stating that government interference in the definition of family has been historically problematic. Glass said “in this day and age, when so much of our society is trying to think flexibly about what families are” the proposal would be limiting to many, including couples who do not wish to marry or legally cannot, foster parents, people hosting international exchange students, and other “families of choice.”
Glass said he understood that the intent was likely to address groups of unrelated college students living together off campus in residential areas and complaints of causing disruption.
The commission did not reach a consensus on the definition Monday night.
Another commenter, who did not state his name, questioned the R-2 zoning for a section of West Middle Street, considering the number of businesses on the block. He felt that zoning decision would be limiting to those property owners in the future, and the Low Impact Neighborhood Commercial District (NC-1) would be a better fit. “If you want to go by your definitions, then stand by your definitions,” he said.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Strauss proposed a schedule that would tentatively have the Planning Commission voting to move a version of the draft ordinance forward to the Borough Council at their December meeting.
The next meeting will be held October 21, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the Charlie Sterner building of Gettysburg Rec Park.
Thanks to a generous donation from community residents, a video recording of the September 16 meeting may be viewed through the Community Media Center of South Central PA.
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.