Biker group’s request gets denied in McKeesport

The Noise Makers were seeking a conditional use permit to establish a location for their club.

McKeesport City Council rejected a request from a biker group this week for a conditional use permit to establish a private club location in McKeesport.

Council members Jill Lape, James Barry Jr., Brian Evans and Council President Richard Dellapenna voted against the conditional use request from the Noise Makers. Council members Keith Soles, Amber Webb and Vice President LuEthel Nesbit voted in favor of the request.

The location would have been at 312 Ringgold St., where Bubba’s Bar and Grill used to be before it closed.

Council’s decision came after it decided to table the request during its meeting in early September. That was done so council members could obtain additional information about the club.

At September’s meeting and again Wednesday, Mayor Michael Cherepko expressed strong opposition toward the club. Cherepko said one of his main concerns is the people the club might attract from outside the city.

“I love to be a destination point, nothing’s better than when McKeesport is a destination point,” Cherepko said during the meeting. “Whether it’s Renzie Park, whether it’s the marina, whether it’s the Palisades, whether it’s our beautiful library, the Little Theater, whatever we have in our town, to bring people from the outside is great, except these types of things. When you’re coming into my town to throw a big party and to hang out and bring your own beer and stuff, I’m just telling you, nothing good happens from it.”

Cherepko said he would have felt more comfortable supporting the request if it just involved the club members involved without outsiders coming in.

Cherepko also revealed to council that even if they approved the conditional use, the Noise Makers would be unable to get an occupancy permit because more than $30,000 in property taxes is owed on the building.

Another issue that arose was where club members planned to park, and there was confusion between the city and the Noise Makers.

Noise Makers President Ryder Simpson, who was at the meeting, said he was unaware of the taxes and that they had previously not been told anything about them. Simpson expressed frustration with council members, stating that they had not been transparent throughout the process.

“May have been the ignorance of, I didn’t do the title search or whatever, but this process has been so backwards that it’s just been so confusing, frustrating,” Simpson said, “and to be told, ‘something, something, something,’ and then come in front of you guys, and then y’all can shut it all down and be told that we spend this money, this money and this money to do all this. And then you say it’s about the occupancy.”

According to Cherepko, the Noise Makers could reapply for the conditional use in the future.

In other business:

• Trick-or-treating will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31.

• Council approved submitting an application to the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County for $200,000 that will go toward a Renziehausen Park Bandshell improvement project.