Zoners Approve West Ward Gun Refinishing Shop

A proposed firearms refinishing business for the north end of the city's West Ward was given the go-ahead by the Easton Zoning Hearing Board Tuesday evening, with the condition that the shop will not stock guns for retail sale.

Brian Ahearn, a Spring Garden Street resident, applied to the board for a variance to allow the shop in his existing auto repair business at 915 Sassafras Street, which is behind his residence.

Ahearn testified to the board that the business will not impact the neighborhood and he doesn't expect the service to attract retail traffic.

“What I propose to do is a firearms refinishing service,” he said. “I have no plans of stocking firearms or ammunition. I'm not looking to do a walk-in trade.”

Ahearn said the majority of his business, mostly gun collectors, will come from the Internet and customers will have weapons to be serviced shipped to the shop. He also promised the guns will be stored unassembled, with some parts locked away separately while they are being worked on. That way, in case of theft or a break-in, the guns will be unusable.

The promise to store weapons unassembled was also a condition of the approval.

“I have no problem with that. I live in the neighborhood,” Ahearn said.

The shop was given approval in November 2010, but Ahearn was forced to reappear before board seeking approval to “buy, sell and transfer” firearms as part of his federal licensing for the shop. There is no differentiation between a refinishing or repair shop license and that of a retail dealer, he explained.

“They don't break the license down. I have to be approved to buy, sell and transfer, too,” Ahearn told the board, adding again that he has no intention of running a retail trade now or in the future. “(The shop) is not suited to open up a firearms store there. That's not my intent.”

His auto repair business will remain on the premises, and he will not be seeking a sign permit for the new business, as he doesn't plan for it to have a sign.

“I'm not going to be doing any local advertising. I'm not looking to disturb my existing business,” he said.

Having received the nod from Easton, Ahearn now faces a 60-day wait for federal licensing, he said.

No one appeared to oppose the application.

Ahearn agreed to go ahead with the hearing, despite a lack of quorum. He was apprised of the situation before the hearing's beginning by the zoning board's solicitor Robert Nitchkey, and chose to have his case heard by board chair James Edinger and board member Pamela Panto. In the event of a tie vote, the application would have been automatically be rejected.

In other business, two more applicants chose to go ahead with their hearings under the same terms and were granted approval for their proposals.

The Easton Intermodal Transportation Center planned for South Third Street at the took yet another step on the fast-track towards becoming a reality when proposals for variances to allow the multi-use structure to be built in the 100-year flood plain and to allow the structure's planned size, which exceeds the 8,000 square foot maximum footprint imposed by city code for the Downtown district were approved.

City Planning Director Becky Bradley and engineers for the project testified that a parking deck and bus terminal could not be viably built within the 8,000 square foot limit.

While the entrance to the facility on Third Street will be within the 100-year flood plain and therefore would likely be underwater in the event of a major river flood, the exits are planned for higher ground on the opposite side of the structure, so vehicles would be able to evacuate, Bradley said.

The building's planners again verified that the project will likely entail the reversal of traffic Bank Street, which is a one-way street, between Ferry and Fourth street.

And in a separate proposal that company engineer Mario Calabretta said is part of T-Mobile's effort to bring 3G service to the Lehigh Valley, conditional approval was granted for the cellular provider to place three more cell phone antennas and an additional equipment cabinet on the roof of the , where six other of the company's antenna's and another equipment cabinet already reside along with the equipment of several other cell phone providers. All rent the rooftop space from the city.

The proposal is awaiting the final engineering report confirming roof is structurally able to handle the extra weight and is “99 percent done,” according to city and company officials.