Feb 9, 2018 3 min read

Changes to the Canon-McMillan Memorial Stadium project will require the district to get a zoning variance from Canonsburg Borough for the number of parking spaces in the plan, which doesn’t meet zoning codes.

The district bid out the stadium project in November, but the cost came back too high, forcing the district to make cuts, according to Assistant Superintendent Scott Chambers.

“The available funds were $7.3 million, but the bids came back around $8.3 million,” Chambers said.

In order to move forward with the project, the district made changes such as substituting asphalt for some concrete surfaces, reducing the size of the bleachers and the fence, reducing storage and redesigning some of the building layout. They also deleted a sound system and press box from the plan.

Additionally, what was to be a paved parking lot along Youngstown Street will now be a grass lot, to save money on storm drainage, lights and paving.

“All giving us, we hope, cost reductions within budget,” Chambers said.

The district submitted a variance application with the borough’s zoning office, because its 225 total parking spaces does not meet zoning codes. The application specified 133 paved car spaces, 61 lawn spaces and 14 paved spaces for buses in phase one, with 17 paved car spaces in phase two, according to Troy Lucas, Canonsburg zoning and code enforcement officer.

He said with the new capacity of the stadium, the district would need 1,171 spaces to meet the code’s required “one space for every three seats.” Lucas offered guidance to the zoning hearing board Tuesday, during a public hearing on the variance request. He’s concerned there won’t be enough parking, and said the district will be 946 spaces short of meeting the code.

“It is a huge difference,” Lucas said. “This is a small town, and there’s not enough parking to begin with.”

Lucas said there has been an issue in the borough for years because of a lack of parking at the stadium.

“They have to park throughout the town,” he said. “All of our lots are metered, and when they take up those lots for the football games, then the businesses suffer because their patrons don’t have anywhere to park.”

Chambers said the district currently has 90 spaces, and this plan will add 135, taking the total to 225. He acknowledged the decades-long parking problem and said the project will improve it.

“It’s not going to eliminate the parking problem, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction to making it better,” he said. “I’m sure that was the message we wanted zoning to take away from our request, and I think we were heard.”

The zoning hearing board approved the variance Tuesday, but it will still need final approval from borough council, which will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

“I was surprised they approved it,” Lucas said. “I thought they would consider it a little bit more and ask for more parking spaces.”

Chambers said the district would “never” be able to meet the requirement of the zoning code where the stadium is now, and the district prefers to keep it in the borough.

“The town and community have found ways to cope with it, but it is a congested matter,” he said. “We want to stay here in town, where we’ve been as long as I can remember, and we want to improve this site. We recognize that parking is limited, but we wanted to keep the stadium in the borough.”