Crate & Barrel will open a store at Ross Park Mall.

The housewares store, set to open in November 2010, will employ about 75 people, 15 to 20 of them full time.

Ross commissioners this week approved site plans for a 26,000-square-foot building that will be constructed next to the L.L. Bean clothing store.

The township planning commission had recommended approval of the project.

Based outside Chicago, Crate & Barrel has more than 170 stores across the country. The closest to Pittsburgh is east of Cleveland.

Each store is individually designed and landscaped, said Nick Effler, of Crate & Barrel. The Ross Park store will have a "prairie aesthetic," he said, making use of grasses and river birch trees.

The commissioners rejected a request from Robert Colosimo for a zoning-rules change that would allow him to store more materials outdoors at his garden supply business, The Barn, which operates on three separate plots along Babcock Boulevard.

His lawyer, Jonathan Kamin, said the current zoning regulation limits outdoor storage for garden centers to no more than 50 percent of the size of their buildings. He proposed allowing outdoor storage of up to 75 percent of the total size of the property.

Other similar businesses in the township are violating the 50 percent limit, Mr. Kamin said.

Commissioner Chris Eyster questioned whether Mr. Colosimo's business served commercial landscapers rather than retail customers buying small amounts of garden supplies. The Barn is not a wholesaler and, as defined by zoning rules, is similar to that of other garden supply stores, Mr. Kamin said.

The request failed 2-6. Peter Ferraro and Gerald O'Brien voted to make the change. Opposed were Mr. Eyster, Daniel Kinross, Lana Mazur, Grace Stanko, David Mikec, and Daniel DeMarco. Grant Montgomery was absent.

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