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Zoning board allows synthetic turf at Triple P Fitness on Front Street with conditions
Summary
The zoning hearing board approved a special exception to permit engineered synthetic turf in the front yard at 2609 North Front Street for supervised private training, subject to conditions addressing setback, landscaping, pedestrian access, floodplain review and stormwater coordination with Capital Region Water.
The City of Harrisburg Zoning Hearing Board on Aug. 18 granted a special exception allowing synthetic turf in the front yard at 2609 North Front Street, the Triple P Fitness property, subject to planning bureau and planning commission conditions.
Planning Director Jeffrey Knight explained the request is a special-exception matter because the turf installation constitutes development within the 50-foot front-yard setback in the Riverfront (RF) zoning district. Knight said that existing nonconforming parking already encroaches into much of the front yard and that the proposed turf would expand an existing nonconforming condition; for that reason the filing was a special-exception application rather than a variance.
Applicant Noah Parsons, owner of Triple P Fitness, and Chris Braun, a representative for the synthetic-turf supplier, described the turf as a permeable, natural-looking product (not sports turf) used for supervised personal training. Parsons said the turf drains at “over 600 inches per hour” based on recent testing and that the project would reduce impervious surface by about 175 square feet after the proposed changes (including new walkways and a ramp). Parsons said equipment would be brought in and removed daily and that there would be no public amplified sound or permanent equipment left overnight.
The planning bureau and planning commission recommended approval with conditions: limit the turf installation so it does not extend further into the setback than the existing parking surface; reinstall landscape screening along the parking area and the sidewalk frontage; relocate the pedestrian connection to the southern frontage of the parking area (or otherwise retain a direct pedestrian route to the building); require a floodplain-development submission for the turf, ramp and any related fence work because the site lies in the AE floodplain; coordinate drainage and stormwater approvals with Capital Region Water; remove impermitted pennant signage; and prohibit parking on the front-yard turf area.
The applicant said the turf system is low-maintenance and carries a prorated lifetime warranty; company representatives described the subsurface as engineered to be permeable and removable if future owners choose to return the area to planted grass.
The board voted to approve the special exception with the planning commission’s conditions. The board will issue a written decision within 45 days and the applicant was directed to coordinate required floodplain and stormwater reviews with the planning bureau and Capital Region Water before construction begins.
