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Also: Updates on the City of Bridges homes in Hazelwood
By Juliet Martinez, managing editor
The first housing development planned for Hazelwood Green has been in the news. At the Oct. 10 Greater Hazelwood community meeting, people got their questions answered during a development activities meeting. They also learned about other housing updates and the Department of City Planning’s online tools.
What is a DAM?
A.J. Herzog is the neighborhood planner for Hazelwood and surrounding neighborhoods. He explained what a development activities meeting, or DAM, is. Registered community organizations host a public meeting with developers before the developers go before any city board or commission. Hazelwood Initiative is a registered community organization. Nonprofits must apply for this role, meet certain criteria and re-certify. Usually only larger projects need a DAM. Mr. Herzog’s role is to witness and take notes on the meeting. He posts the notes on the city’s website. Residents can find more information on the website about submitting testimony for projects.
Lauren Coursey is the Hazelwood Initiative outreach and sustainability director. She announced that the nonprofit will now record DAMs so anyone who missed the meeting can view them.
Trek Development Group
Trek held a development activities meeting at the December 2023 community meeting. It was in preparation for their application for low-income housing tax credits. They got the tax credits, so it is now on the path toward planning commission and city approvals. But first, a new development activities meeting.
Janelle Kemerer represented Pittsburgh-based Trek Development Group. She described the housing development project on Hazelwood Green.
Trek Development Group’s design principles are inclusivity, equity and sustainability. They have been developing real estate for over 30 years. They operate as both owner and property manager. As property managers, Trek develops a supportive network around tenants.
For this development, they will partner with local nonprofit Pittsburgh Scholar House. It focuses on helping single parents finish a college degree. The partnership with Trek will allow Scholar House to add affordable housing to their program.
Ms. Kemerer described the first building of the development. It will be on Lytle Street catty corner from Hazelwood Green Plaza. The building will feature an elevator, community room, library/study room, and indoor play area for children. It will also have laundry facilities, a courtyard, bike storage, EV charging and accessible entrances. It will have ground-floor commercial space. Each of the 50 units will have an open concept design and plenty of natural light; 40 of them will be affordable.
Trek wants to set aside 37 of the 50 units for people already living in Hazelwood if the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approves. Ms. Kemerer said that five of those will be accessible for disabled tenants. Four units will be two-bedroom, 33 will be one-bedroom. Twenty-seven of them will have project-based Section 8 vouchers. Project-based vouchers are affordable units for moderate- and low-income renters. These renters do not need to have their own Section 8 housing choice voucher. Of the units reserved for Hazelwood residents, 10 will be market rate (or for renters who have their own Section 8 voucher).
The remaining 13 two-bedroom units will be for Scholar House client families. These will all be project-based Section 8 apartments, and one will be an accessible unit.
The developer expects the move-in date to be in late 2026 or early 2027.
The team is currently in the early stages of planning for Building 3 of the project. The project needs gap funding from the URA and low-income housing tax credits; both require community support.
Ms. Kemerer presented the plan for a 46-unit apartment building facing Blair Street, similar to the Lytle Street building. The building will have retail space on the corner, a lobby with onsite management, a community room, play area, study room and fitness room.
This building will offer a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. All but 12 of the units will be set aside for Hazelwood residents, pending HUD approval. Five of the six accessible units will be for Hazelwood residents. Scholar House will occupy the remaining 12 units with eight two-bedroom and four three-bedroom units.
Building 2 will be built by a different developer.
Questions
Does Trek have experience with this kind of mixed-use, mixed-income development? More than half of Trek’s developments are mixed income, according to Ms. Kemerer. They make sure prospective and new tenants know it is a mixed-income development and are supportive. They keep communication open and use conflict resolution skills when necessary.
Will Section 8 housing choice voucher holders be able to rent in either of these developments? Project-based vouchers are attached to a specific unit while tenant-based vouchers go wherever the tenant goes. Voucher holders can apply for the market-rate units. If a voucher holder moves into a project-based voucher unit, they would have to give up their tenant-based voucher.
How will the three buildings function once they are all built? Each building will function with its own critical amenities like on-site offices. Trek will manage Buildings 1 and 3. The buildings will share amenities and resources like parking and a shared trash enclosure. The owners and management will make those agreements before tenants move in.
What kind of security will the building have? Ms. Kemerer said tenants will have a key-fob that allows them into the building. The management will be on site during regular business hours, and cameras will cover the lobby and external areas.
Will this be student housing? The housing is not for students in the usual sense. The partnership with Pittsburgh Scholar House means there will be parents living there who are students involved in that program.
Where else does Scholar House have residences like this? Scholar House is about three years old. This will be their first residential program.
Will they put solar panels or green infrastructure on the roof? Trek is pursuing more funding to see if rooftop solar is possible. They may put plantings on the lower roof projections to offer people on the upper floors a more attractive view.
How will this development manage stormwater? Hazelwood Green has a dedicated stormwater management strategy for the entire site. This development will plug into that. Community land trust update
Crystal Jennings Rivera represented City of Bridges Community Land Trust. She delivered a brief update on the group’s work in Hazelwood. She said 342 Ashton Ave. is under contract. The four homes on Chatsworth Avenue are available for sale for $150,000 each.
Construction has begun on a quadruplex near Hazelwood and Chatsworth avenues. The two one-bedroom, ground-floor units in this building will be fully accessible. The upper floor will have two three-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartments. They should be ready next year.
City of Bridges is also renovating four homes in Hazelwood with Rising Tide Partners. They should be finished next year.
City Planning online tools
Mr. Herzog introduced Agency Counter, a tool for tracking applications for building permits and business licenses. He demonstrated its use and mentioned the scorecard feature, which provides an overview of active and closed cases for each council district. He also discussed the city’s system for tracking property records and permits, and how to report issues through the 311 service. Site visitors can set up notifications, view scorecards and access permit information by council district. Visit Agency Counter at pittsburghpa.agencycounter.com/home.
Next, Mr. Herzog introduced Engage PGH, a platform where the city posts projects and invites public feedback. He encouraged the use of the Engage PGH website for project updates and community involvement. Visit Engage PGH at engage.pittsburghpa.gov/.
He also showed the pages related to the Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Plan, explaining that as the goals of the plan are implemented, he updates those pages to show the progress. Visit the Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Plan at engage.pittsburghpa.gov/greater-hazelwood-neighborhood-plan.
Hazelwood Initiative
The organization will hold board elections in December.
Tree adoption event
Tree Pittsburgh and Hazelwood Initiative will hold a tree adoption event on Nov. 9. See the ad on Page 15 for more information.
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