A project to build eight affordable, single-family homes in the North Side is being challenged in court by two neighbors who say they want to see more space in between houses.
The nonprofits attempting to build the homes — City of Bridges Community Land Trust and neighborhood group Fineview Citizens Council — say the legal objections are reflective of problems in the local zoning code and nationally whereby small groups of residents can use the zoning process to delay or shrink needed affordable housing projects.
The two groups want to build eight new homes on Lanark Street in Fineview, across the street from Fineview Park. The homes would be affordable for people earning less than 80% of area median income: roughly $75,000 annually for a family of four. The groups propose building two sets of three attached homes (with no spaces in between them), plus two detached homes. All would be single-family houses.
The project has been in the planning stages for several years.
Last month, the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment granted two zoning variances and a special exception — essentially saying it would waive some zoning rules that don’t allow attached dwellings and some parking requirements — to allow the project to go forward.
But two neighbors have taken the case to court. They object to the proposed location for some of the project’s off-street parking, as well as the fact that some of the houses would be attached, when zoning requirements call for only detached homes there. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month against the city’s Zoning Board, argues its decision should be reversed.
“We want Fineview residents to be able to have porches and yards, parking. We want them to have elbow room … and we feel that we have not been part of the community process to allow for that,” said Ellen Mazo, one of two longtime Fineview residents who have filed the lawsuit.
Mazo and Candace Cain, who also opposes the project, said they don’t object to affordable housing being built on the Lanark Street site, but they want to see the project modified. They point to a 2021 community survey where more than 70% of those polled said they support detached housing.
Advocates in favor of the project say they’re disappointed the issue has landed in court and argue that the costs and delays of a court fight make it harder to build needed affordable housing, which is already time-consuming and expensive.
The project would be funded by a combination of tax credits, bank debt, and a patchwork of other potential funding sources like local affordable housing funds and leftover local pandemic relief aid, said Ed Nusser, executive director of City of Bridges.
“What we're trying to do is make sure that as many families as possible can live across the street from and enjoy this park in permanently affordable housing,” said project supporter Jon Hanrahan, a Fineview resident and vice president of the Fineview Citizens Council.
“We're not trying to build a big apartment building here,” he added. “We're not trying to build some, like, monstrous Ferris wheel and lagoon complex. We're just trying to build 11 single family homes across the street from a dang park,” Hanrahan said, referring to the fact the project would include the eight proposed new homes and three existing, rehabbed houses. He and other supporters of the project say the housing would not be denser than some of what already existed in the neighborhood.
Other housing advocates also say the fight illustrates a larger problem for a city that needs more affordable housing: an antiquated and overly restrictive zoning code that makes it harder to build affordable housing.
“The most expensive kind of housing you can build is going to be detached single family homes,” said David Vatz, leader of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, which advocates for building more housing.
A transition plan released last year recommended Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration “amend the zoning code to create more housing development,” increase the allowed density in certain residential zoning districts, and reduce or eliminate minimum parking requirements. A top city planning official previously has said a zoning overhaul is in the works but will take time.
“We don't have enough affordable housing anywhere in our region. And so, you know, trying to meet the public need of affordable housing while also navigating … frankly, a lot of times, antiquated zoning codes can be a real challenge,” said City of Bridges’ Nusser.
Zoning fights like this one have become commonplace nationally, particularly where housing has gotten more expensive, said Jenny Schuetz, a housing policy expert at the Brookings Institution.
“If you're trying to build houses that are smaller and lower cost and denser than what's in the existing neighborhood, in almost every context, the neighbors are going to react badly to that,” said Schuetz.
She said some cities and states have turned to large-scale zoning code overhauls that make it easier to build affordable housing and more dense housing, rather than give a handful of neighbors veto power over every potential project.
“It's very difficult to build affordable housing,” she said. “The financing packages are complicated … Getting the land and doing the construction is complicated and often isn't fully covered by the subsidy. So, it really hurts projects when you add on time and legal complexity and fees on top of the standard process.”
