New Kensington zoning change aims for increased commercial development

More commercial development is the goal of a rezoning planned for property near New Kensington’s downtown.

Council voted Monday to begin a process to rezone an area at Constitution Boulevard and Seventh Street from light industrial to general commercial.

Initially, council focused on the parcel at 700 Constitution, across Freeport Road from Mount St. Peter Church. It had been home to General Electric, Jones & Laughlin Steel and Metalworking Machinery before the buildings there were torn down in 2018.

The buildings also had been the location of the locally famous “I (heart) Biff” graffiti.

At the suggestion of Marvin Birner, a real estate agent and member of the city’s planning commission, the rezoning would cover the entire light industrial area, which is bounded by Constitution Boulevard, Seventh Street, Freeport Road, Short Street and Ridge Avenue.

Despite its zoning, the area also includes several houses and a church.

The proposal will go to the planning commission for its review and recommendation when it meets Tuesday, city engineer Tony Males said.

According to Males, the city was motivated to seek the zoning change after an application was made and withdrawn to use the land for storage, using large steel shipping containers such as those seen on cargo ships. It was not the kind of use the city wants there, he said.

While commercial zoning would allow for many other uses, it would not allow storage, Males said.

“One of the possibilities we’d like to see is something that complements all of the businesses opening downtown that would include a grocery store component to it,” Mayor Tom Guzzo said.

The planning commission’s view may already be known, as it voted a few years ago to recommend council change the zoning to commercial but nothing came of it, Birner said. Guzzo was not able to say why it was not taken up then.

Birner had been the agent on the property, off and on, for four years, he said. He stopped representing the owner around February.

He had represented the potential buyer for the storage use but asked to be released from any further obligation to them.

Birner said the asking price had been lowered from its original $645,000 to $595,000 and then $495,000. There has been interest in the property. Before the storage proposal, developers discussed with city officials a mixed commercial-residential use, but it fell apart, he said.

The property was owned by Rufus F. Duff, who founded Metalworking Machinery. He was 86 when he died in December 2019 in Naples, Fla. Jim Duff, one of his six children, is the executor of his estate.

The property is not listed for sale, Jim Duff said.

Duff said he recently spoke with Males about the property and has talked with city officials about its best use but was unaware the city was moving forward with a rezoning.

The property holds some sentimental value for Duff, who said he worked at his family’s business when he was a college student more than 40 years ago. He would like it to be an asset to the city and for “something nice” to go in.

“Ultimately, we’re looking to sell the property,” Duff said. “We’ll work with the city as best we can to complete the process.”