Venango to set aside village for retail and home businesses | GoErie ...

It takes a village to provide work and jobs.

That's according to Venango Township officials planning to set aside part of the township as a village. Under the plan, an area along an approximately two-mile stretch of Route 8 will be designated as a village and zoned for mixed retail and commercial use.

Planners expect to submit the proposal to county planners by March 1. Once it's approved by the county, the plan will go to the public for comment and to township supervisors for the final OK.

"In a way, we're kind of defying standard zoning ideas and going back to our roots when people sold pizza from their home, or did hair dressing or auto repair," township Supervisor Jack Pfadt said. "Right now, people can't do that. They have to get a conditional use permit, and that's hard to get."

Relaxing that requirement is gaining traction across the state, Pfadt said.

"State planning people are deciding that maybe it wasn't right to limit (zoning) so strictly. Also, they're trying to encourage us to cut down our use of automobiles.

"So why not, in certain cases, make it easier for people to work at home instead of jumping into their cars to go to work?" Pfadt said.

Businesses permitted in the new village would include hair salons, auto repair, computer services and tax preparation. Small retail stores would also be welcome, township planning commission Chairman Tom Rogers said.

"We want somebody that sells things that township people have to go to Corry or Union City or North East for," he said.

Dollar General recently expressed interest in opening a store in Venango Township but hasn't pursued the plan, Pfadt said.

The village commercial district would roughly extend from Hanna Hall Road south to the Borough of Wattsburg, along both sides of Route 8. It includes Lowville, where businesses once thrived, according to an old map displayed in the Venango Township Municipal Building. The map, from the late 1800s, shows a portion of the West Branch of French Creek dammed and a mill race running behind village buildings.

"There were about 10 businesses, including a basket factory, grist mill, a little grocery business and maybe a blacksmith," Pfadt said. "Why not have the same kind of thing today, but with businesses that we have today."

Area property owners generally support the plan, Pfadt said. "We haven't contacted each individual one yet, but from what we're hearing, people in the affected area are unanimously in favor of it."

Township officials will inform affected property owners of the proposal as well as opportunities to comment on it once it's approved by the Erie County Department of Planning. That could be as soon as spring, Rogers said. County planners have been working with the township as it spells out what kinds of businesses would be permitted in the new village, and what kinds won't.

"Over the years, we've had constant requests for permits for some of these businesses, and people had to go through hoops to get them. We want to eliminate the politics and some of the hassle of getting these businesses approved," Pfadt said.

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VALERIE MYERS can be reached at 878-1913 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmyers.

Source: http://www.goerie.com/article/20130113/NEWS02/301129928/Venango-to-set-aside-village-for-retail-and-home-businesses

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