A Meadville landmark — of sorts — may soon bite the dust.

Later this month, the Zoning Hearing Board of the City of Meadville will convene to consider a request from the prospective owner of the property at 1035 Park Ave. now occupied by a small, lonely-looking VideO_matic kiosk surrounded by a sea of concrete.

Leslie Tar, who currently owns the property with his wife, Karen, said Thursday that the sale of is contingent on a favorable ruling from the zoning board. “That has to happen first,” he said. “After that, the property will transfer within about 60 days.”

According to the application filed by Kevin Howick, operating manager of Howick Auto Sales LLC of 1016 Park Ave., his company intends to use the property for the sale of used vehicles. The proposed facility would include an office building and a screened area for vehicle storage.

Howick wasn’t available for comment.

The property is located in Meadville’s B-2 general business district, which was established, in the words of the city’s municipal code, “to foster a variety of retail and service business uses in an auto-oriented setting.” Auto sales are permitted in the B-2 district, but only with special exception from the zoning board. If the exception is granted, vehicles may be parked parallel to the front lot line but must be set back at least 15 feet. In addition, any lot line abutting property being used as a residence must be screened and overnight storage of new or used parts, scrap parts, unlicensed vehicles, tires, vehicles lacking current state inspection stickers or parts of vehicles is prohibited.

In addition to the special exception for auto sales, Howick is also requesting a variance to the provisions in the municipal code requiring minimum front yards 25 feet deep and minimum side yards of 10 feet.

The zoning hearing board will meet May 29 at 1:30 p.m. in the conference room at the Meadville City Building, 984 Water St.; the hearing is open to the public and all interested persons will be given an opportunity to speak.

An idea before its time

“It was the right business in the wrong time and place,” Tar said of his brief venture into the video rental industry.

Raised in New York City, Tar was recruited by Meadville Medical Center after receiving his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, arriving in Meadville in 1987.

It wasn’t long before he bought the Park Avenue property to build a medical office, “but it was too small to accommodate what we needed for the building and parking,” he recalled. “The next phase was to do something with it, so I tried out the VideO_matic business, which was way before its time.”

Back in the day, it was a much bigger structure, with a glass, greenhouse-type bubble surrounding the existing building. “You used to be able to walk into it, get out of the rain and look at movie displays and write-ups,” he said, noting that it was pared back to its current shape after it was no longer operational.

The problem, according to Tar, was that folks in Meadville simply weren’t accustomed to using credit cards for small transactions like video rentals.