Nov. 2025 community meeting report: Pittsburgh Planning Commission OKs Hazelwood riverfront zoning change | The Homepage

Also: Green job fair Dec. 3; Oak Moss Consulting gets input on proposed duplex; no board election this year

By Juliet Martinez, managing editor

The Nov. 18 Greater Hazelwood community meeting created space for discussion about a proposed duplex to be built near the corner of Tullymet and Monongahela streets, an upcoming green industry job fair, and news of a zoning change for the riverfront.

Close-up of a map that District 5 City Councilor Barb Warwick showed during her presentation on a proposed change to the zoning code. The blue areas are residential and commercial, where no waste transfer station could be located. One could be built in the pink areas, but the 500-foot buffer would be particularly important where pink and blue overlap, Ms. Warwick said at the Nov. 18 hearing. Screengrab from YouTube broadcast of Planning Commission Meeting: November 18, 2025

Zoning news

Hazelwood Initiative Inc. Executive Director Sonya Tilghman announced at the meeting that the Pittsburgh Planning Commission recommended that day that City Council approve a zoning change that would keep a waste transfer station out of Hazelwood’s waterfront.

The proposed change to the zoning code would require a 500-foot buffer zone around any waste transfer station within city limits.

A waste transfer station is a facility that holds garbage until it is picked up to be taken to a landfill. At the public hearing the afternoon before the community meeting, Ms. Warwick said having a municipal waste transfer station would benefit the city. Right now, city garbage trucks must drive to a landfill 16 miles away. But a facility in the city limits could harm neighbors.

Waste transfer stations come with an array of potential harms to neighbors, including light, noise and air pollution; odors and pests, Ms. Warwick said.

Hazelwood residents testified at the hearing about all of these harms affecting them already as a result of the recycling facility at 50 Vespucius St., which has applied for a waste transfer permit.

The commissioners voted 4-2 to recommend that Pittsburgh City Council approve the change. Read more on Page 5.

Green job fair Dec. 3

A green job fair offers job seekers the chance to connect to future-oriented careers, paid training and new opportunities.

Hazelwood resident Tiffany Taulton is the green workforce development strategist for Dream.org, a national organization promoting environmental justice, prison reform, substance use harm reduction and equitable access to tech and jobs. The target audience for the job fair are people who have low income, live in environmental justice areas like Hazelwood and/or have interacted with the justice system.

Ms. Taulton is working to help people in these groups get jobs that do not require a college degree, will not make them sick or pollute their communities, and pay at least $50,000 per year.

“If you have a driver’s license, you can pass a drug test and you have a GED, they will take you,” she said, adding that people who fail the drug test can go back and try again a few months later.

Dream.org offers a career readiness assessment to help point job seekers toward careers they might find meaningful. Visit kai.frontlinegig.com/forms/intake-dream to take the assessment.

The Dec. 3 job fair is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Energy Innovation Center, 1435 Bedford Ave., in Pittsburgh.

Ms. Taulton said a variety of employers will be there, along with Dress For Success and the Green Building Alliance, plus food, raffles, presentations, and a photographer to take professional head shots. Scan the QR code to learn more and register.

Development activities meeting: Oak Moss Consulting

Oak Moss Consulting presented a development activities meeting in advance of requesting a zoning exception for a duplex they plan to build on Monongahela Street in an unused lot behind 203 Tullymet St. Oak Moss Consulting owns the lot.

The duplex requires two zoning variances. One is for higher density. The rest of the residences in that area are single-family homes. The other variance is to allow them to set the building closer to the street than the other homes in the area. Putting the building closer to the street means less digging into the hillside, which makes it more affordable to build.

Each unit will have a one-car garage underneath a main floor with a kitchen, dining room, living room, half bathroom and patio. The upper floors will have two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, according to architect Matthew Brind’Amour.

The developer will present the project to the Zoning Variance Board in the first week of January. The board will have 45 days to approve or decline the variance. If approved, the next step is applying for building permits, which can take 30 to 60 days.

Hazelwood Initiative Inc.

Ms. Tilghman announced that the nonprofit will not hold board elections this month. The organization’s bylaws do not require annual elections, and the board has the required number of members right now.

No one has stepped forward to run for the board, though Ms. Tilghman encouraged anyone interested to talk to her or a board member to learn more about board membership. Email stilghman@hazelwoodinitiative.org for more information.

City of Bridges

Crystal Jennings-Rivera of City of Bridges Community Land Trust spoke about the organization’s affordable, energy efficient homes for sale in Hazelwood. Visit cityofbridgesclt.org/for-sale to learn more.

Senior centers

Tom Weber from the 31st Ward urged seniors to visit the Hazelwood and Glen Hazel Healthy Active Living centers.