On October 15, 2026, the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment heard seven cases and made no decisions from the bench. The longest debates were over a historic sign and a new home. Central Northside neighbors asked the Board to keep neon, not LED, in the restored YMCA sign on West North Avenue. The Chair also pressed the architect for a two-unit home on top of an old studio building on Avery Street in East Allegheny, saying it reads more like a variance than a change of a nonconforming use. The Board told a Bloomfield church that wants digital message boards to come back with a narrower proposal. It heard a FAME enrichment program's plan to buy the old Pressley Ridge school in Marshall-Shadeland, a two-unit house in Allentown, an unpermitted shed in Mount Washington, and a garage rebuild in Duquesne Heights. Those cases will get written decisions. A Brookline restaurant case was postponed because the applicant didn't show. Here’s what happened, by case.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8dBU83-u5c
Hearing and Action
Zoning Case 123 of 2026 — 600 West North Avenue (Central Northside)
City materials: Case packet · Meeting agenda
In the news: Renovated Allegheny YMCA on Pittsburgh’s North Side reopens — 90.5 WESA, March 16, 2026.
Summary of Case
Review under Section 919.03.N.2 of signs identifying a nonconforming use at the Allegheny YMCA, in an RM-M district (BDA-2026-06236). Architect David Noss of RSH Architects said the sign work is the last piece of a renovation that started about four years ago. The old projecting "YMCA" sign over the sidewalk has been taken down. It would be restored and rehung in the same spot, with red LED tubing in place of the neon. A second sign built into the façade would get LED bulbs in place of its old screw-in bulbs. The area and the wording ("YMCA") wouldn't change. The team said the sign would run on a daylight sensor or timer, so it would turn on at dusk and off in the morning, and the brightness can be turned down.
Discussion
Chair Alice Mitinger asked about the sign's size and height, community outreach, the lighting schedule, and what's across the street. The team said they'd talked with the Allegheny West neighborhood group that week. Three people testified against the LED switch. A speaker for the neighborhood group said the 2024 Historic Review Commission approval called for refurbishing the neon, that the approval has since expired, and that neighbors voted to oppose LED. An Allegheny West resident said only a handful of original neon YMCA signs are left nationwide and that local neon artisans could restore this one. A North Side resident, online, raised light pollution and harm to birds. A YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh risk manager answered that neon is treated as a hazardous material under federal safety and environmental rules and needs high-voltage specialists, so the Y is moving to LED. Mitinger said the Historic Review Commission has its own jurisdiction and the Board can't substitute its judgment for the HRC's. John Richardson had no questions.
Decision
Hearing closed; decision pending. The Board accepted all exhibits, including the neighbors' materials and the 2024 HRC approval, and said it would also look at the HRC question. It will issue a written decision within the 45 days the Code allows.
Zoning Case 137 of 2026 — 5401 Centre Avenue (Bloomfield)
City materials: Case packet · Meeting agenda
Summary of Case
Variance from Section 919.03.O.3, which prohibits electronic signs in the UNC district, to turn the changeable-letter panels on two existing 4' x 4' ground signs at First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh into digital message boards (BDA-2026-07250). One sign is on the Centre Avenue side and the other is near South Aiken Avenue and Baum Boulevard. A church member presenting for the congregation said the church hosts many nonprofit partners and wants to announce their activities as well as its own. The church said changing the letters by hand isn't practical, and the yellowed plexiglass and discontinued 46-inch fluorescent tubes make the current signs hard to keep working. It offered to limit the signs to text only and turn them off at 10 p.m.
Discussion
Mitinger said she was sympathetic, but the Code explicitly prohibits electronic signs in UNC districts, and a variance needs a hardship tied to the property, not to the church's mission. Otherwise, she said, every church in the East End could ask for the same thing. She noted that East Liberty Presbyterian's signs predate the rule and that the Board has turned down similar church requests. She suggested that the church take time to come back with conditions that would make the request the minimum relief needed. Lead pastor Rev. Tracy Cox and another church representative, both online, agreed to go back and rethink the proposal. One online commenter thanked the Board for holding to the sign rules.
Decision
Continued. The hearing was left open so the church can submit a narrower proposal. Staff will put it back on an agenda, possibly before the end of the year.
Zoning Case 134 of 2026 — 119 Walter Street (Allentown)
City materials: Case packet · Meeting agenda
Summary of Case
Variance/review under Section 911.02 to use the house as two dwelling units in an R1D-H district, where two-unit residential isn't permitted (BDA-2025-01891). The agenda notes that the City issued a stop-work order in March 2025 for exterior work done without permits. The applicant wasn't online when the case was called, so it was heard at the end of the morning. The applicant said the owners bought the house set up as a duplex, with two gas meters, two electric meters, and two separate entrances, and have been paying the mortgage for more than a year while trying to get the two units approved. The units are up and down. There's an off-street parking pad in back for about four cars.
Discussion
Mitinger asked when the house started being used as two units (the owner didn't know) and about other multi-unit buildings nearby. The owner said a fourplex sits farther down the block and that the buildings toward the business district are mixed-use. The other Board members had no questions, and no one commented.
Decision
Hearing closed; decision pending. The Board will issue a written decision within the 45 days the Code allows.
Zoning Case 132 of 2026 — 43 Paul Street (Mount Washington)
City materials: Case packet · Meeting agenda
Summary of Case
Variance from Section 903.03.D.2 for a shed in an R1D-H district: a 15' exterior side setback is required, and about 0' is requested (BDA-2026-07730). The City cited the owner in August 2026 for putting up the shed without approvals. The owner said 311 and the permit office told him only that the shed had to be small enough, and no one mentioned zoning. The shed is about 8 feet tall, sits on his paved parking area along Oldham Street, and stores his Halloween and Christmas decorations. He said it can't move back because his deck is behind it.
Discussion
Mitinger called it a case of asking forgiveness instead of permission. She asked whether the shed could be pulled back from the property line, what's across Oldham Street (a neighbor's yard), and whether any other structures sit on the line there (the owner said no). Burton-Faulk and Richardson had no questions, and no one commented.
Decision
Hearing closed; decision pending. The Board will issue a written decision within the 45 days the Code allows.
Zoning Case 131 of 2026 — 148 Plymouth Street (Duquesne Heights)
City materials: Case packet · Meeting agenda
Summary of Case
Variances from Section 912.04.L.3 (front-yard parking prohibited) and Section 914.02.A (four parking spaces maximum; five proposed) for a single-family house (BDA-2026-06584). A 1991 certificate of occupancy covers the house with a one-car integral garage and a five-car detached garage in the rear. Mike Zielachowski of Desmone Architects said the owners want to tear down the five-car garage and build a four-car garage. They'd keep the front driveway, which once led to the integral garage that a previous owner turned into a guest room. He said zoning flagged the front-yard parking only when they applied for the garage, and that the request lowers the total from six spaces to five.
Discussion
Mitinger noted that the driveway is now just a front-yard parking pad, since it no longer leads to a garage. She asked why a single-family house with a four-car garage needs another space, and whether the guest room is a separate unit. The architect said guests use the pad to get to the guest room, and the owners would rather not pay to take it out. He also showed about a dozen houses within a half-mile in Mount Washington that have front-yard parking. Mitinger said illegal examples don't help unless they were approved. No questions from the other members, and no public comment.
Decision
Hearing closed; decision pending. The Board will issue a written decision within the 45 days the Code allows.
Zoning Case 118 of 2026 — 500 Avery Street (East Allegheny)
City materials: Case packet · HRC presentation (October 7) · Meeting agenda
Summary of Case
Special exception under Section 921.02.A to change a nonconforming use from an art or music studio to two-unit residential in an R1A-VH district (BDA-2026-06232). The case was postponed from September 10 to October 8 and then moved to this hearing. The architect arrived late after putting the wrong time on his calendar, so the case was heard at the end of the morning. A 1993 certificate of occupancy covers a lithographic and photography studio. The Board approved a studio-to-two-units change here in 2013 (Zoning Case 58 of 2013), but no certificate of occupancy was ever issued and that approval lapsed. Architect Robert Baumbach and owner Duane Palmieri said the one lot, addressed 500 to 504 Avery, holds a one-story building and a three-story masonry building. They plan to subdivide at the wall between them. The one-story part would become a home, with a second two-story home built on its roof, set back about 30 feet from the Avery Street façade. The larger building would stay a photo and video studio with the four-car garage. The Historic Review Commission approved the rooftop addition on October 7.
Discussion
Mitinger said that, since the studio isn't being given up, the plan creates a new lot with two units in a single-unit district. To her it looks more like a variance than a change of a nonconforming use, which would also mean the case was described wrong on the agenda. Baumbach said they didn't write the agenda language, and later agreed "it's truly a variance" request. He argued that the 80-foot frontage could hold four 16- to 20-foot rowhouses like the ones on the rest of the block, so two homes plus a light studio is less dense. He also walked through sightlines showing the addition is barely visible from the street. Baumbach said the Palmieris want to move to the neighborhood, where their children live. Palmieri pointed to the former church across the street that became 18 apartments. Mitinger said that's an existing building, which is a different situation. She asked about parking, and Baumbach said a long-term lease on the garage spaces is possible. He said the East Allegheny Community Council sent a neutral letter after a well-attended development activities meeting. Richardson had no questions, and no one commented.
Decision
Hearing closed; decision pending. The Board accepted the exhibits and the community council's letter and will issue a written decision within the 45 days the Code allows.
Zoning Case 128 of 2026 — 1400 Ingham Street (Marshall-Shadeland)
City materials: Case packet · Meeting agenda
Summary of Case
Special exception under Section 921.02.A to change a nonconforming use from a limited school (under 75 students) to a general elementary or secondary school in the Hillside (H) district (BDA-2026-06746). The packet also lists a use variance under Section 911.02. The 6.5-acre site is a former church that a 2002 certificate of occupancy allows as a school with 102 parking spaces. Pressley Ridge is now moving out. The prospective buyer is FAME (the Fund for Advancement of Minorities through Education), represented by attorney Jacqueline Brangard. CEO Darryl Wiley said FAME serves 69 students and expects to add about 10 a year. Its main programs run Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with two buses. Weekday tutoring, workshops, and parent meetings are after school and mostly end by 7 p.m. A summer program for grades 6 to 8 runs 8:30 to 3:30. FAME has a staff of six. The buildings, access drive, and fencing and landscaping buffers wouldn't change.
Discussion
LaShawn Burton-Faulk recused, leaving Mitinger and Richardson. Mitinger focused on how intense the new use would be compared with Pressley Ridge's, and on access to the site. The team said the Marshall-Shadeland community group sent a letter of support after a development activities meeting. A next-door neighbor said she hadn't heard about that meeting and asked about traffic on the two residential access streets and about evening security. Wiley said FAME has run for 33 years without incidents, coordinates pickup closely with families, and will keep the existing outdoor lighting without pointing it at neighbors. The neighbor said the plan sounded better than past use of the site. Staff offered to connect her with the applicant through the zoning board's email.
Decision
Hearing closed; decision pending. The Board accepted the exhibits and will issue a written decision within the 45 days the Code allows.
Also on the Agenda
Zoning Case 126 of 2026 — 808 Brookline Boulevard (Brookline)
City materials: Case packet
Special exception under Section 911.02 for a general restaurant in the LNC district, in a building whose 1975 certificate of occupancy is for a club, the Cedars of Mt. Lebanon Society (BDA-2026-06054). The applicant told staff the day before that it would ask for a continuance but didn't attend to request it. A resident had come to take part in the hearing. Mitinger said the Board generally grants only one continuance and wants the case heard quickly. The case is tentatively rescheduled to November 19, 2026, with new posted notice.
Summary prepared with the assistance of AI from the public YouTube recording. This is not an official City of Pittsburgh record.
