JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The process of creating an updated and centralized fee schedule for Johnstown continued Wednesday during City Council’s meeting.
A proposed ordinance to rework existing laws pertaining to fees passed a first read at a previous meeting. It remained tabled on Wednesday when council also approved a new fee schedule on first read.
Both need to now pass a final second vote to become official.
“That schedule itself needs to be adopted at the same time via ordinance, so that when we’re amending everything in here there’s then something new in place,” City Solicitor Elizabeth Benjamin said. “We want to adopt them simultaneously.”
The current fees are spread out among more than 60 ordinances that date between 1914 and 2022. The proposed new ordinance would include fees for more than 100 services, including parade permits, false alarms made to the police or fire departments, Sargent’s Stadium at the Point rentals, occupancy certificates, use of parking meter bags and street vendor permits.
“It’s really just about establishing a best practice,” City Manager Ethan Imhoff said.
“Most municipalities have their fees listed in a centralized location. I don’t know why that never happened here, but a lot of our fees are scattered in various sections of the code or ordinances.”
In a separate final-read vote, council approved the fee schedule for mechanical amusement devices, which will now be $100 per jukebox; $75 per pool table; $100 for non-paying video or skill game; and $350 for gambling and skill machines.
Zoning change OK’d
Council also made a zoning change for Mom’s House Inc.’s proposed Roxbury Civic Center on Franklin Street. The property will switch from C1, for neighborhood shopping, to R1, a designation for one-family residences.
The Johnstown Planning Commission previously voted against recommending the R1.
Council went against that recommendation.
Laura Huchel, a member of council and the planning commission, thinks the property should be designated C2, a community business district that permits gymnasiums, auditoriums and day nurseries.
Huchel said she was “puzzled by how we’ve gotten this far down the road on the wrong path” in terms of what the zoning classification should be.
Huchel said she wants Mom’s House to proceed with the project, but she voted against making the R1 designation.
Council members Mayor Frank Janakovic, Ricky Britt, the Rev. Sylvia King, Marie Mock and Charles Arnone voted in favor of the change to R1.
Deputy Mayor Michael Capriotti, a member of council and the commission, was absent from the meeting, but he previously opposed R1 and supported C2.
Dave Sutor is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5056. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Sutor.
