ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Plans for a 55-and-older housing project along Allentown's Hamilton Street have gotten approval from the city Zoning Hearing Board, over the vocal concerns of a local music school next door.
Zoners on Monday granted the 1528 West housing project, set to go up at 1528-1552 Hamilton St., exemptions from parking and other zoning ordinances.
- A 49-unit housing project for ages 55 and older and special needs residents called 1528 West was granted exemptions from parking and other zoning ordinances by the zoning hearing board
- Members of the Community Music School Lehigh Valley & Berks voiced concern over the project's impact on parking and access to their facilities next door to the proposal.
- The project received $1.2 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit funding in 2021 and still awaits final approval from the city
The proposed four-story, 49-unit apartment building initially publicized in 2021 will provide affordable apartments for seniors 55 and older, with 12 units set aside for those with intellectual or developmental disabilities and six units for those with physical disabilities.
Representatives of the Community Music School Lehigh Valley & Berks and local residents voiced concern Monday over the size of the project — mostly focused on its potential impact on parking.
The music school is a tenant on the current building at the lot that is to include the apartment building.
"Our students and their families need safe, adjacent parking and access into the school, which will be compromised with the approval of this proposed project," Community Music School Executive Director Jeff Reid said.
"Our students and their families need safe, adjacent parking and access into the school, which will be compromised with the approval of this proposed project."Jeff Reid, Community Music School Executive Director
Reid said at the hearing that the school has experienced active growth in students and programming and currently has 294 students who attend regular lessons.
To accommodate the school's current rate of growth, he said safe and available parking is an important thing to retain, and the apartments threaten that by potentially forcing school attendees onto street parking.
"They come to the school by car with their children; they need safe parking," Reid said. "Our parents and teachers already have challenges finding adequate parking in the [Community Music School's] designated spaces."
Representatives of the project said current requirements set the number of parking spaces that must be available to the school at 40. That was retained in the plans zoners approved and is in line with what originally was granted to the school when it moved into the space.
Overall off-street parking requirements planned in the proposal is 98, including those designated for the school.
Part of the appeal process was to get approval to reduce the required rate of parking space available for those at the apartment from 1.5 spaces per dwelling unit to 0.75 spaces per dwelling unit. That would be a six-space increase over the required 92 and features three ADA-compliant parking spaces on the site.
The 1528 West LP company requesting zoning ordinance exemptions over yard setbacks (35-45 feet required vs. 20 feet proposed, and 20 feet required vs. 15 feet proposed), aisle widths (20 feet required vs. 11 and 19 feet proposed), off-street parking (116 required vs. 98 proposed) and other parking concerns.
Members of the zoning hearing board discussed how the updated proposal presented at the meeting alleviates a main concern that involved planning around shared parking, which was referred to as overly complex and more difficult to justify.
The project received $1,197,172 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits in October 2021 from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. Project representatives at the zoning hearing board explained that the number of units of the project could not be amended over size concerns, given the stipulations of the financing.
Trieste Kennedy, a speaker at the hearing, said she is a collaborator with a group of families, along with the Eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center, working with HDC to get the IDD housing built.
Kennedy said the location has all the desired requirements, such as a safe and walkable neighborhood and proximity to health care facilities, colleges and the local YMCA for potential employment, care or engagement.
"There is a critical shortage of housing for adults with disabilities," Kennedy said.
"It's a commitment to the people who reside within the building. It's about building community and a sense of ownership within the community and building collaboration with the neighboring community."
The property, owned by Mark Smith, will be developed by the nonprofit HDC MidAtlantic and Alliance for Building Communities Inc. The building will consist of 35 single-bedroom and 14 two-bedroom apartment units.
Smith said there is currently additional negotiation to use a lot on the existing building for 5,200 square feet of storage.
HDC MidAtlantic representatives said the company will present land development plans to the city Planning Commission on Feb. 14.
The company said it hopes to seek final conditional approval by late March or early April.
