Wednesday, October 08, 2003

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

An attorney for developer Charles J. Betters told the city Planning Commission that the project Betters wants to build in Hays -- a thoroughbred horse racing track and gambling casino, along with retail and residential development -- will bring the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenue.

The attorney, Donald P. Graham, also cited reports commissioned by Betters' company, Pittsburgh Development Group, that show the city will benefit from more housing and entertainment options and that the development would have "good synergy" with the new convention center.

Opponents questioned the need for more such sites and whether it would just drain business from other areas, like the South Side or The Waterfront.

Opponents also wanted to know how much the city will need to spend to build infrastructure for the site, which has no electric, gas and sewer lines or roads.

Graham pointed out where the horse track stables would be located and said the site was chosen after careful consideration of the prevailing winds to prevent nearby residents from getting an occasional whiff of manure.

Hazelwood residents demanded to know whether the stink would simply blow across the river to their neighborhood.

And so it went for nearly two hours yesterday afternoon during a public hearing on Pittsburgh Development Group's proposal to rezone 380 acres of the 635-acre site as a "specially planned district," a designation for large tracts that provides a developer with some flexibility for the overall development.

There are five other specially planned districts in the city, among them Herr's Island, Station Square and South Side Works.

Opponents of the development, still angry because they believe both the Planning Commission and City Council rushed to approve a permit for Betters to operate a strip mine on the site, pleaded with the commission to take its time and review the plan in all its complexity.

"Any rezoning of the Hays hilltop site should await the granting of all federal, state and county permits," Peter J. Wray, representing the Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club, told the commission in his statement.

The state Department of Environmental Protection, along with other county and federal agencies, are reviewing various permit applications for the site. Wray noted that DEP had sent a nine-page letter to the developer citing problems with the original permit application.

Said Graham, "We believe we will be able to address all of [the DEP's] concerns. And we cannot do anything on the site until we obtain the permits."

The Planning Commission has two jobs. It is must decide whether to recommend changes in the text of the zoning code and the zoning map proposed by the developer and then send those recommendations to City Council, which can approve or reject the plans.

It is also considering whether to approve the developer's preliminary land development plan for the site, to be known as Pittsburgh Palisades Park.

Graham said the preliminary plan calls for three subdistricts in the rezoned area, to be developed over a span of 10 years or more:

The Race Track District, covering 178 acres, would include the track, a grandstand, casino, hotel, restaurants and support areas for racetrack employees.

The Town Center District, with 104 acres, would include about 1.5 million square feet of retail, commercial, office and residential space, along with two regulation-sized soccer fields.

A 97-acre Residential District, which would include about 1,000 housing units divided among townhouses, mansion homes (multi-family dwellings built to look like large, single-family homes), mid-rise apartments and high-rise apartments.

Graham said that if the state Legislature does not approve horse racing on the site, the race track section of the land would be used mostly for residential development.

Planning Commission member Clifford Levine asked Graham to respond to the opponents' concerns, which he did briefly at the meeting's end.

He then requested that for the Planning Commission's next meeting on Oct. 21 that Graham provide more specifics about traffic issues, environmental concerns and market studies on the town center.

He told opponents to provide copies of documents that they say show inconsistencies in the developer's plans.

"I'm not totally comfortable with this at this stage," Levine said.

The commission could vote on the proposal as soon as its next meeting.

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