Trees and Pazzo

More catching up:

Back in May, there was a momentary to-do over the removal of trees from the parking strip on Washington Road in front of the Blue Horse Coffee/Pazzo restaurant space.

In July, new trees were planted in more or less the same location. Several readers have emailed me to point these out, and I've seen them myself. Unfortunately, I don't know any more about what happened here. Were the old trees diseased or dying and needed to be replaced?

More Trees Die in Mt. Lebanon: The Blue Horse Coffee Case

From the most recent newsletter of Blue Horse Coffee, on Washington Road, here is a tale of newly demised trees. For what it's worth, I've learned that when it comes to trees being cut down, there is almost always more to the story. Perhaps those in the know can help fill in details.

Updated 5/28 (same day as the original post): I've received two notes that offer "more to the story." One is that the lessee here (Pazzo, apparently) may have a "ground lease" rather than (or in addition to) a lease of the building. If that's right, the "ground lease" may give them broader powers to make changes to the property than merely renovate the space. Two is that the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon was not involved in "permitting" or "approving" the removal of the trees. According to Steve Feller, the manager of the Municipality, Mt. Lebanon was not consulted in advance regarding removal of these trees, and ordinarily Mt. Lebanon doesn't regulate the removal of any trees on private property - unless the trees are hazardous. So the tenant may have done something foolish here, but the tenant may have been within its legal rights, and the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon appears to be off the hook. That isn't the end of the question, even legally. The incoming tenant does have active permits on the property, as to renovation, signage, and occupancy. I don't know what's within the scope of those permits, or what the tenant would claim is within the scope of those permits. Also, the original approved site plan, dating from the original development of the property, may include landscaping requirements, and those landscaping requirements may point to trees (the Blue Horse newsletter suggests that it does). And the terms of the lease(s) should be consulted. As before, there is probably more to the story.

As we mentioned in a recent newsletter, a new restaurant, Pazzo Ristorante, will open soon next door to Blue Horse. The restaurant owners are busy making some changes, like remodeling and painting, as you might expect. One of the changes they made, though, was quite unexpected. This past Friday, the four, perfectly healthy, 40-year old oak trees that stood in the grassy area out front along Route 19, were cut down. These were lovely, tall trees that provided good shade for our shop, and provided a nice, green buffer between our shop and the busy road. Many of you have already asked us why the trees were cut down, and you’ve expressed anger and disappointment over this. We’re going to tell you what we’ve been told.

The owners of Pazzo (who are leasing the space, by the way; they did not buy the property), somehow obtained authorization from Mt. Lebanon to cut the trees down. This authorization was given despite the fact that the family that owns the property was not notified, and did not grant permission for this. We can tell you that the property owners, an extremely sweet, gentle, older couple that live nearby, are extremely upset about this. Annette and I truly love these people, and we are upset that they are upset. After the trees came down, we found out that Pazzo plans to put a sprinkler system and some type of decorative garden planting out front. That’s why the trees were cut down, so this tenant could put in some plants and sprinklers.

To us, this is so wrong on so many levels. The property owner told us that, ironically, Mt. Lebanon required those trees to be planted all those years ago, because the township wanted a green area in this part of Rt. 19. The trees had to be 3-inches in diameter at the time of planting, and now, decades later, the township okayed the destruction of these healthy trees, by a tenant of the property. The tenant has shown great disrespect, to say the least, by doing this without the permission of the property owners. The tenant has also shown a grave lack of foresight. After all, there are no guarantees in this world, and if the new restaurant does not succeed, then there will be a sprinkler system and garden that nobody will maintain, and no trees. And, of course, with no shade on the southwestern front of the building, air conditioning usage will increase, the electric bills will increase, and Blue Horse and Pazzo will unnecessarily be using more energy. Presumably, the sprinkler system will unnecessarily use more water as well.

We don’t know the workings of the Mt. Lebanon government, or under what authority or rationale the permission was given. We do know that our shop is located in Ward 3 of Mt. Lebanon, and that Joe DeIuliis is the Ward 3 Commissioner. His e-mail is jdeiuliis@mtlebanon.org, and his phone number is (412) 670-2584, and he deserves your input. As another little ironic twist, Mt. Lebanon has a new Environmental Sustainability Board, that’s looking for Board members. This is “a newly created advisory board that will promote environmental awareness and will recommend ways for the municipality and the district to save energy.” We also know that Pazzo Ristorante is owned by a local company called Culinary Concepts (Amigo’s, Lemont, Café Euro) and their website is http://www.culinaryconceptspittsburgh.com/.

We are happy to hear what you think about this. If you are displeased by the trees being cut down, please e-mail us and let us know. We will prepare a letter to the editor of the Mt. Lebanon Magazine to express the collective opinion, and your input will help tremendously in that regard.

That’s all for now, everyone. Thank you for your time and your business.

Annette and Melissa