Plans continue to progress for a major renovation to a North Huntingdon Township shopping plaza.

At Monday's planning commission meeting, attorney Don Tarosky, a partner with Colony Norwin LLC, discussed further upgrades to Norwin Towne Square during an advisory hearing.

Colony Norwin LLC, which also includes developers Joe Spier and Gerry Cooper, has entered into a purchasing agreement with Soffer Organization to acquire the deteriorating shopping center along Route 30.

The group unveiled its plans to the board at an August meeting and used Monday's hearing to update planning commissioners and discuss new details of the project.

One of the biggest issues with the property is parking. Tarosky said the plaza never has adhered to the township's ordinance of 6.6 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space.

Under its current configuration, Norwin Towne Square's 632 spaces equate to about 2.7 per 1,000 square feet. The new plan shows a smaller retail footprint with 616 spaces, or about 4.3 per 1,000 square feet.

"We're still not at the ordinance, but we're at almost twice what it was before," Tarosky said. "We're not creating a situation where we're making it worse."

Another big change in parking will affect commuters, with the elimination of the park-and-ride area for the Westmoreland Transit Authority. Tarosky said WTA estimates 200-250 cars use the area daily, with 13 buses dropping people off at the stop throughout the evening.

"We looked at ways to accommodate them, but it just couldn't be done," Tarosky said, adding that retailers in the plaza said they don't see commuters using their businesses before or after work. "There's no economic benefit (from the riders) to the center. It frees up parking and traffic."

Township planning director and engineer Andrew Blenko said WTA is looking for alternative locations for the park-and-ride.

"Somehow, something will work out," planning commissioner Tom Kerber added. "It always does."

Tarosky also noted an agreement has been reached with Bob Massie Toyota for a dealership in the vacant area adjacent to Pizza Hut. That portion of the site will have two access points from Malts Lane, with one for dealership patrons only and another that leads through to the shopping plaza.

"There will be an elevation change between the dealership and shopping center," he said. "There'll be a wall that gets progressively taller, which we think will provide a great buffer along with some landscaping."

A plan for cleaning up the site of a former dry cleaners also is in place, with a provision for future tenants that says the site won't be built upon or excavated.

Tarosky said negotiations for an agreement for a grocery store in the plaza are ongoing and have not been completed yet.

The 200,000-square-foot plaza will be reconfigured into a "brighter, cleaner" 97,000 square feet of retail space. Part of the plans include demolishing the area that houses the former Scozio's supermarket to the Sun Capsule Tanning Salon, and removing buildings from the vacant business next to Pizza Hut to Malts Lane.

A former tire center also will be demolished, and the businesses in the planned demolition areas such as the China Garden and Grande Pizza will move to other vacant areas within the complex.

The shopping center is anchored by a fitness center, McDonald's and MedExpress, which will remain as they are.

Plans for the site ultimately must be approved by the township commissioners.

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