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Look Back: Midget car races, high school football held at Bone Stadium

The first revamping of Luzerne County&rsquo;s zoning ordinance in decades is now before county council.
				This ordinance applies to 22 municipalities that chose county zoning oversight: Avoca, Courtdale, Dupont, Duryea, Hughestown, Jeddo, Laflin, Luzerne, New Columbus, Pringle, Warrior Run, West Wyoming, Wyoming and Yatesville boroughs and the townships of Conyngham, Fairmount, Hunlock, Huntington, Lake, Newport, Ross and Union.
				Promised for years, the revision deleted outdated provisions and factored in transportation developments and other landscape changes, said county Planning/Zoning Analyst Jim Weber.
				Among the updates: creation of a new mixed use residential business zone for properties along roadways that were primary commercial routes when the county&rsquo;s zoning map was created in the 1960s, before the construction of major interstates and highways through the region, Weber said.
				Under the proposed update, impacted residential property owners will no longer be required to seek variance approval from the zoning board to add pools or sheds, Weber said.
				&ldquo;We had a lot of people forced to spend money and face delays going for board approval for something homeowners typically everywhere are allowed to do without having to worry about it,&rdquo; Weber said.
				The office cited an example of Union Street through Pringle and Luzerne boroughs, which was the former state Route 309 at the time of the original map. Since development of the Cross Valley Expressway, this stretch has become less traversed than it was in the 1960s and is now an equal mix of light commercial and residential properties, it said.
				&ldquo;The intent of directing future commercial use to that area that was the basis for the original map is no longer appropriate,&rdquo; an office summary said.
				U.S. Route 11 in Avoca is another example because it does not carry significant traffic since the construction of Interstates 81 and 476, it said.
				Main Street in the Glen Lyon section of Newport Township &ldquo;no longer sees the traffic that had been associated with anthracite coal mining,&rdquo; it said.
				Other changes
				The revised ordinance also incorporates more stringent federal flood regulations for properties in flood-prone areas to ensure property additions and remodeling complies with the National Flood Insurance Program, Weber said.
				Definitions for all types of structures and uses have been added and expanded, with some based on wording from vetted ordinances in other areas, he said.
				Some alphabetical zoning abbreviations were changed to make &ldquo;more intuitive sense,&rdquo; Weber said.
				Light industrial will become LI instead of M2. Another example: residential apartments will be RA instead of R3, he said.
				The permit fee schedule remains the same, although it has been removed from the zoning ordinance to reduce the approval hurdles necessary if council members opt to change fees, Weber said.
				Next steps
				The county Planning Commission voted Sept. 10 to recommend council adopt the revised ordinance. No objections were raised at a public hearing, Weber said.
				Council is set to discuss the ordinance during its virtual work session Tuesday, which follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting.
				The lengthy proposed ordinance has been posted as an attachment to the agenda in the council section at <a href="https://www.luzernecounty.org/AgendaCenter/Luzerne-County-Council-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.luzernecounty.org</a>.
				According to the agenda submission from new county Planning/Zoning Executive Director Matthew C. Jones:
				The last major amendment of the 1964 ordinance was completed in the 1980s, with minor text revisions in 2011 and 2012 to accommodate the county&rsquo;s switch to a home rule government structure.
				&ldquo;Significant changes in society combined with rapid technological change present the county with applications for uses that did not exist when the last major update was completed,&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;The purpose of this proposed ordinance is to address these shortcomings and to provide greater clarity and flexibility for users and residents.&rdquo;
				As an example of increased flexibility, it notes property owners in residential districts will now be permitted to place sheds in side yard areas instead of only rear yards.
				Weber noted setback requirements have not changed.
				The revised ordinance also creates standards for buffer zones between commercial/industrial and residential zones and provisions for uses that were nonexistent or &ldquo;just emerging&rdquo; during the last major amendment, it said, citing solar and wind energy systems, wireless internet infrastructure and medical marijuana growing/processing facilities and dispensaries.
				No changes are proposed to the county&rsquo;s zoning map, although municipalities may opt to pursue amendments cementing the new mixed use residential and business districts in the future, it said.

Luzerne County zoning ordinance overhaul pending council approval