Shane W Potter

SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Slippery Rock Township supervisors are changing the township’s rules for cemeteries and adding rules for new short-term rentals and electronic vehicle charging stations.

At a Monday, Sept. 8 meeting, one resident spoke about the distress a neighboring Airbnb has caused her before the township supervisors approved amendments to its zoning ordinance in attempt to prevent such problems at future short-term rental properties among other changes.

“I have (post-traumatic stress disorder); I have sleepless nights,” township resident Cynthia Russell Lynch said. “I’ve invested in having to cover my windows, close and lock my doors at certain times of night. It’s really awful for me.”

She recounted an instance where one renter broke into her home and screamed at her to leave “because they had rented this place.” It was one of several occasions that required state police involvement, she said at the meeting.

Concerns like hers are addressed within the township’s new legislation by defining and laying out rules for future short-term rental properties within the township, but properties like the one that neighbors Lynch will be “grandfathered in.”

New short-term rental properties will require that neither the occupants or guests engage in disorderly conduct or “disturb the peace and quiet” of any neighbors via loud noise, offensive conduct, public indecency or other actions detailed within the ordinance.

Additionally, new short-term rental properties will require a zoning permit that must be renewed annually, and an annual inspection of the property will be conducted by a township official.

No street or yard parking will be permitted and no mobile homes, campers or similar structures will be allowed to be used as short-term rentals.

Other rules for short-term rentals require smoke alarms and set in place a process for septic system evaluations.

According to Clinton Bonetti, the township’s planning consultant and assistant zoning officer, the planning commission has worked over a period of three years on compiling the information necessary for this amendment.

“For the past three years, [the planning commission] have compiled a lot of the misgivings of the ordinance, and they have decided to make some changes,” Bonetti said.

The changes to the zoning ordinance differentiate between private and public cemeteries. Previously, all cemeteries were treated the same and were allowable on properties of at least two acres.

Now, public cemeteries will be only allowable on properties that are five acres or more in size. Private or family burial cemeteries will still be allowed on properties that are two acres or larger.

An addition to the ordinance states that new private cemeteries cannot have water supply intakes within one mile of the cemetery.

Notably, the legislation states standards for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry must be met for new electronic vehicle charging stations. All parking spots for the charging stations must be paved.

Eagle Assignment Editor Tracy Leturgey contributed to this report.