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Mount Lebanon planning board tables site-plan request for 1105 Bower Hill Road over parking, code and authorization issues
Summary
The planning board on July 21 tabled preliminary approval for a site plan at 1105 Bower Hill Road (Treats and Beans/King Crest) after staff reported unpermitted work, inaccurate plans, 2nd-floor dining use and insufficient parking; the board asked the applicant to submit revised plans and documentation of owner authorization.
The Mount Lebanon Planning Board on July 21 tabled a site-plan request for 1105 Bower Hill Road after staff raised multiple concerns about parking, building-code compliance and whether the applicant had authorization from the property owner.
Planning staff told the board the property’s 2017 site-plan approval limited uses because the site only has four on-site parking spaces plus one ADA space. "The plans do not accurately reflect the correct usage of the upper story," the staff member said, adding that submitted parking calculations were carried over from a prior cookie business and do not represent the current or proposed uses. The board was told there is no adjacent public on-street parking available that could be counted toward the required parking totals.
Staff also reported that work had been done on the first floor without permits and that the second floor currently contains dining-area seating despite being approved in 2017 as storage and company offices. That change, staff said, and the presence of a leased third-party tenant on the upper story increase parking demand and require updated calculations and plan revisions.
Board member Dave Hornacek moved to table preliminary approval "to allow the applicant the opportunity to submit a revised site plan reflecting the actual uses of all stories of the building and to address the outstanding building code violations as well as the items identified" in staff’s summary. The motion was seconded and the board voted in favor; the motion was tabled.
Staff said it would send the applicant a follow-up letter listing the specific items to address before the board will reconsider the proposal. The board directed that revised plans must clarify uses on each floor, provide accurate parking calculations tied to those uses, resolve outstanding building-code violations and include documentation that the applicant is authorized by the property owner to file for alterations.
Background: the site plan approval referenced in the discussion dates to 2017. Staff noted Treats and Beans had ceased operations temporarily and that the property appears to host multiple tenants; the application as filed listed uses that staff said do not match current conditions. The board did not take final action to approve any change of use at this meeting.
