The Mahoning Township Zoning Board Tuesday night granted a zoning variance to William Rosado to build a new Kia dealership between Blakeslee Boulevard and Ashtown Drive in the township.

Rosado will be building a new Kia dealership on the 4.2-acre lot between Lowe's and Walmart.The zoning officer had previously denied Rosado's zoning permit application because it violated the screening requirement.The ordinance requires outdoor storage parking/loading areas of industrial and commercial uses to be screened from any residential, agricultural-rural or commercial zoning district and public right of way.The screen must consist of evergreen plants and trees arranged to form both low and high-level screens. The height requirement is 4 feet, while shrubs must be at least 2 feet in height. An alternative such as an 8-foot-tall fence or wall may be substituted for trees.William G. Schwab represented Rosado at the hearing.The civil engineer for the project, Kris James Reiss of RKR Hess, also testified at the hearing.Reiss explained the layout of the Kia dealership to attendees and showed that the screen ordinance does not apply because of the layout of the building and car lot.The Ashland Drive side of the dealership will not be touched, except to add more trees to the already existing tree line.Schwab said the ordinance did not apply because the property would not be a storage parking lot. The property in fact will be a dealership. A car dealership requires visibility in order to sell cars.Schwab used the present dealerships located on Blakeslee Boulevard, Lehighton Ford, the already existing Kia and even the small Jamestown dealership as examples.Of the three dealerships, none have been required to have screening around the dealership.Zoning Officer Carl Faust told the board that those particular dealerships had existed before the ordinance was adopted by the township.Keith Pavlack also raised concerns about the loading and unloading zone of the dealership.Pavlack's office is across the street from the lot. Pavlack looked at the building design and questioned why the loading zone could not be moved from public view.Reiss answered that in order for trucks to get around the property, the loading and unloading area could not be moved.Mahoning resident Irene Wenner owns property on the Ashland Drive side of the lot and was worried about the car lot taking over her view."I don't want to look out my window and see cars," she said.Reiss, as well as Schwab, assured Wenner that part of the lot would not be used, and nothing would be cleared from the existing barrier.Charles Pollack, zoning chairman, said the main question was whether or not the screening ordinance applied to the lot.After a short executive session the board returned with the unanimous decision to grant Rosado the variance on the ordinance, with the condition that more trees be added to the Ashland Drive barrier.