2026-09-22 - City Council - Public Hearing

00:18Welcome to Pittsburgh City Council's

00:20Cablecast public hearing for Tuesday,

00:22September 22nd, 2026,

00:25relative to bill 2026 0732.

00:29two. My name is Deborah Gross and I am

00:31the city councilwoman for district 7.

00:34Will the clerk please read the title of

00:36the bills? Bill 732,

00:39resolution providing for the designation

00:42as an historic site under title 11 of

00:45the code of ordinances that certain site

00:48known as Alageney Arsenal officers

00:50quarters and wall segments located on

00:54multiple parcels in the lower

00:56Lawrenceville neighborhood in the sixth

00:59ward city of Pittsburgh. The owner of

01:01the property supports the nomination and

01:03there is no cost to the city.

01:08Thank you. Um, let's see. Do we have any

01:12other council people in the room? I

01:14can't see council chambers.

01:16>> There are no members here.

01:18>> Okay, great. So, I don't see any online

01:21as well. I see that we are joined by a

01:24member of the planning department. Um, I

01:27think Miss Reed.

01:28>> Yep.

01:28>> Um, would you like to um Well, that'll

01:33be the first order. So, we've introduced

01:34the legislation and um we can hear from

01:37Miss Reid. Thank you.

01:39>> Thank you, uh, council person. Um, good

01:41afternoon. My name is Katie Reid. I am

01:44department of city planning staff and

01:46I'm here to present a uh to give a brief

01:50presentation on the uh nomination that's

01:53at hand. Um, the nomination is, as was

01:57read in, the Alageney Arsenal Officer

01:59Quarters and Wall segments.

02:02Um, this nomination is located, as was

02:06pointed out, in Lawrenville. Um, you can

02:08see it there on the map. Um, with

02:11regards to neighborhood, it is in Laur

02:13lower Lawrenville, though it is right on

02:15the border of Lower Lawrenville and

02:17Central Lawrenville.

02:20Uh, the extent of the nomination is the

02:22pink area there to the left. Um, you see

02:25some other the yellow um things that are

02:27on the map are things that are already

02:29landmarked, locally landmarked. Um, so

02:31that's the Arsenal Middle School. Um,

02:34the county's Arsenal property there at

02:36the far right. Um, and then, um,

02:39Nasser's Tavern, Turning House, and the

02:41Steven Foster Community Center, and

02:44Carnegie Library.

02:46[snorts and clears throat]

02:47All right. This is a site plan of the

02:48area that is nominated. Um, there are,

02:53uh, 10 different assets on here that are

02:57up for nomination. One of them is the

02:59officer's quarters, which is here, this

03:02little blue circle here, which is a

03:04building or a little blue square. Um,

03:06and then there are nine wall segments,

03:08including the wararf wall. This is the

03:10wararf wall here. It runs right along

03:12the railway. And then there are nine

03:14other segments located on these parcels.

03:19This is a map that shows all of the

03:20included parcels in the nomination.

03:24They can all be seen there.

03:27The background information on this

03:28nomination is that it was submitted on

03:30August 20th, 2025 by Butler and 40th

03:34LLC. It was prepared to satisfy one of

03:36the stipulations of the memorandum of

03:38understanding between Butler and 40th

03:40LLC and the Pennsylvania Historical and

03:43Mu Museum Commission, which is PHMC, our

03:45shipo. Theou was developed as part of

03:48the 2015 Arsenal Development Project. So

03:52that's uh the background of uh where

03:54this nomination came from.

03:57There's a few pictures here just to uh

04:00uh give you an idea of what we're

04:01dealing with. The one on the left is a

04:03historical picture from 1908 where you

04:05can see um some of the uh wall segments

04:09which at the time were a complete wall.

04:11Um here on the left and then on the

04:13right here that is the officer's

04:15quarters building

04:18here top left uh that is the wararf wall

04:22segment along the railroad tracks. Um on

04:24the bottom left that's another view of

04:26the um warf wall and then the two

04:29pictures on the right are um existing

04:32wall segments there that have been

04:33integrated um into the new development.

04:38Okay. So um per 1101.04

04:41the criteria for designation nomination

04:44uh must meet at least one of the

04:45following criteria in order to be

04:46designated a historic structure. Uh this

04:49property is nominated as meeting the

04:51following criteria. It meets a number of

04:52them. Um, it meets number one, its

04:55location as a site of a significant

04:57historic or prehistoric event or

04:59activity. Number six, its location as a

05:01site of an important archaeological

05:03resource. Number seven, its association

05:06with important cultural or social

05:07aspects or events in the history of the

05:09city of Pittsburgh, the state of

05:10Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic region,

05:12or the United States. Number nine, it's

05:14representation of a cultural, historic,

05:16architectural, archaeological, or

05:18related theme expressed through

05:20distinctive areas, properties, sites,

05:21structures, or objects that may or may

05:23not be contiguous and its unique

05:26location or distinctive physical

05:27appearance or presence representing an

05:29established and um neighborhood

05:32community or the city of Pittsburgh.

05:36Then the other part um of designation

05:40is that um a resource has to show that

05:43it has integrity. Um they consider the

05:48uh uh the integrity has to be met um at

05:51least at least one of the criteria

05:53listed above has to have sufficient

05:55integrity of location, design, materials

05:57and workmanship. And it was found by the

05:59nominators and we concur that the

06:01Alageney Arsenal officers quarters, wall

06:03segments and magazine structures have

06:05significant integrity in all these areas

06:07location design materials and

06:09workmanship um to be listed as a

06:11historic property under the five

06:13criteria that were identified previous

06:15in the previous slide.

06:17So, just to go through where we are in

06:19the process, um the first step of this

06:21process, um was that the nomination went

06:24to the historic review commission where

06:26it received a positive recommendation to

06:28city council and that happened um on the

06:313rd of June, 2026. And then it went to

06:34the planning commission where it also

06:35received a recom positive recommendation

06:37to city council and that happened on

06:39June 16th, 2026.

06:41Um, and we're here for the public

06:44hearing and then the next step is that

06:46it will go for a city council vote.

06:50And that's all I have. Thank you.

06:57Thank you, Miss Reed. Um, I always

07:00appreciate the historic review packets.

07:04Um, I just want to check with the clerk

07:06and make sure that the packet will

07:07actually be attached to the legislation

07:09so that the public can download it if

07:11they're interested. Is that right?

07:14>> Yes, it will.

07:15>> Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, so the

07:18next order of business will be testimony

07:20from our registered speakers. Uh, please

07:23give your name for the neighborhood and

07:25for the public record. Each registered

07:28speaker will have three minutes to

07:29address council. And if you are not

07:32registered, you will have one minute. So

07:35let's we'll go first with registered

07:37speakers. But um um clerk, do we have

07:40registered speakers?

07:41>> There are no registered speakers.

07:44>> All right, seeing no registered

07:46speakers, we will take comments from any

07:49unregistered speakers in the audience.

07:51And again, as a reminder, you will have

07:53one minute to speak. Are there any

07:56speakers um wanting to join us in

07:58chambers?

08:01Nope. There are no speakers in chambers

08:03either

08:04>> online.

08:06>> No.

08:08>> Well, I take it that's a good sign of

08:10public support for the project.

08:12Um, having exhausted then our business

08:16for the public hearings, um, this

08:19meeting is adjourned.

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