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Westmoreland County holds hearing on overhaul of subdivision and land development rules
Summary
Westmoreland County officials held a July 10 public hearing on proposed updates to the county's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (Ordinance #-3-2025), which would remove a uniform two-stall residential parking mandate, reduce setbacks to allow greater density, and revise review procedures; adoption is scheduled for the July 31 public meeting.
The Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners on July 10 held a public hearing on a proposed comprehensive update to the county's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (Ordinance #-3-2025), county planning staff said.
Deputy Director of Planning Joshua Spano told attendees the current SALDO is more than 11 years old and the proposed revisions are intended to "protect public health, safety, and welfare," establish updated design standards, and modernize review and approval procedures. Spano said the draft incorporated input from county offices including Public Works, the Solicitor's Office, GIS, the Recorder of Deeds, Public Safety and the Conservation District, and that a round-table discussion was held with local realtors and developers.
The draft ordinance makes a number of substantive changes, Spano said. Among the changes highlighted at the hearing, the draft would remove a blanket requirement that all residential lots or units provide two off-street parking stalls, reduce setback requirements to increase buildability and density, update design criteria and definitions, revise the review and approval process to improve consistency with the county's Comprehensive Plan and Integrated Water Resources Plan, and adjust review fees. The draft is identified in public notices as Ordinance #-3-2025.
"Our current SALDO is over 11 years old and therefore update was needed," Spano said, explaining the goals behind the rewrite.
During the public-comment period, Tony Taneja of Greensburg asked county staff for clarity on the county's direction for economic development, asking specifically about industrial parks and technology infrastructure: "where do we stand with optic fiber, technology options for people, applications for technology and data centers? We are so much closer and we lose that revenue." Taneja said he wanted to know how the planning updates would position the county for industrial and data center investment.
Solicitor Melissa A. Guiddy opened the hearing by reviewing the public hearing process and confirming that notice had been published in the Tribune-Review and that the full draft ordinance was available for inspection in the County Commissioners' Office, the Planning Department, the County Law Library and on the county website.
Spano thanked county staff and the commissioners for their work on the update and noted the Board will consider adoption of the proposed ordinance at its July 31, 2025 public meeting. Vice-Chairman Douglas W. Chew made a motion to adjourn; Secretary Ted Kopas seconded and the hearing was adjourned at 11:16 a.m. The transcript records the motion and adjournment but does not contain a roll-call tally of votes for that motion.
Copies of the full draft ordinance and the legal advertising affidavits were listed as attachments in the hearing record and remain available for public inspection at the locations referenced in the public notice and on the county website.
