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Zoning board approves variance for billboard near conservancy
Summary
The Monroeville Zoning Hearing Board on May 6 granted Mastarelli Holdings a variance to site a two-sided billboard on a vacant parcel along Route 286 despite a 500-foot conservancy setback, after applicants cited floodplain and topography limits and pledged further permitting steps.
The Monroeville Zoning Hearing Board on May 6 approved a dimensional variance allowing Mastarelli Holdings LLC to erect a two-sided billboard on a vacant parcel along Route 286 (the Golden Mile Highway), despite a zoning ordinance requirement that billboards be at least 500 feet from a conservancy district.
Attorney Britney Blom, representing the applicant, told the board the parcel is vacant and that “we're seeking a variance to allow a construction of a billboard on the Southwest portion of this property,” explaining the company withdrew a second proposed sign after engineering showed it could not be built. She said the owners purchased the property in June 2021 and that constraints on usable land leave the billboard site as the only realistic option.
Engineer Lenny White of KU Resources, sworn as a witness, described the property’s physical limits. “That area is about 12,000 square feet total,” White said, telling the board that floodway, floodplain and steep slopes remove much of the parcel from developable area and make traditional building, parking and access impracticable without substantial permitting. White also explained that regulated areas are overseen by PADEP or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and that development in those zones typically requires undesirable permitting.
Applicants said they are in discussions with Pittsburgh Regional Transit about an access easement across the nearby park-and-ride, and a traffic-safety report from traffic engineer Josh Hato (Western Associates) included in the packet concluded the billboard would not materially affect traffic patterns.
Board members questioned visibility from the Golden Mile intersection, proximity to the conservancy boundary and whether any neighbors had registered objections; the board was told no written opposition had been received. Counsel for the applicant said the team would next file a conditional-use application showing how the billboard would meet operational criteria in the ordinance.
A motion to approve the variance passed without objection. The approval allows the applicant to proceed to the conditional-use stage and to pursue any required state or federal permits for work near floodplain or floodway areas.
