Aug 16, 2016 2 min read

The St. Louis-based owner of the Old Mill retail development wants a second opinion from a judge following South Strabane Township supervisors’ denial of its application to build a mid-rise apartment complex on the property.

HCB Foundry filed a land-use appeal Monday in Washington County Court, claiming township supervisors erred in their decision July 20 because the company’s application conformed with local zoning rules.

HCB proposed building the apartments on a 12-acre pad at the back of the Route 19 development. The site is in the C-2 commercial district, where the township’s zoning ordinance requires the first floor of a mid-rise apartment building be devoted to office or retail space.

At the hearing where supervisors voted, attorney Jonathan Kamin, who represents HCB, asked township officials to waive that stipulation. The planning commission recommended approving the application in May.

Among other reasons, he said the difference in elevation on the site would make viable retail a challenge.

There already are 150,000 square feet of retail space on the Old Mill property, whose total area is roughly 80 acres.

Kamin asserted in the appeal HCB’s application is consistent with the township’s zoning code. The plan for the apartment complex complies with the relevant section of the code “due to the commonality of the use between the proposed apartments and existing commercial development, thereby linking the residential and commercial aspects of the development in the same manner as if they occupied the same structure(s),” he wrote.