Pittsburgh holds public hearing on ordinance to reduce minimum lot sizes in residential zoning

The Pittsburgh City Council Land Use & Economic Development Committee held a public hearing April 23, 2023, on Council Bill 20-25-15-79, an ordinance to amend the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title 9 (Zoning), Article 2, Chapter 903 to reduce required minimum lot sizes in residential zoning districts.

The measure, presented by Department of City Planning staff, would lower minimum lot sizes in the city’s five residential subdistricts and remove minimum lot‑area‑per‑unit requirements that currently limit multiunit development. City planners said the changes respond to recommendations in the city’s 2022 housing needs assessment and are intended to legalize many existing, smaller lots and make building new housing less expensive and more predictable.

Andrew Dash, deputy director of the Department of City Planning, told the committee that the proposal would reduce or eliminate minimum lot sizes across the residential subdistricts and remove the minimum lot‑area‑per‑unit standard. Dash said the city’s GIS analysis shows many existing lots do not meet current minimums and that lowering those standards would bring a substantial share of lots into conformity. "This minimum lot size reform bill . . . comes from a recommendation from the 2022 housing needs assessment," Dash said during the presentation.

What the bill would change

City planning presented…