BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — Developers got permission Wednesday from Bethlehem Township Zoning Hearing Board to build a daycare center on Freemansburg Avenue with capacity for 176 students.
Representatives for childcare chain Primrose Schools LLC previously proposed a new 14,000-square-foot facility at 5007 Freemansburg Ave., currently an undeveloped lot.
Because the site lies in Bethlehem Township's residential zone, zoning rules require 1,500 square feet of land for each student the center serves. The rule would limit Primrose to roughly 55 students at the 1.92-acre site.
“It’s kind of a carryover ordinance to when in-home daycare centers were frequent throughout the area,” said Tyler Prine, an attorney representing the developer.
However, Primrose Schools proposed a 176-student childcare center on the lot — more than three times the number of students the zoning rules allow.
Bethlehem Township’s zoning hearing board granted permission in October 2024 for the project to move forward with a ratio of 576 square feet of land per child.
However, updated surveys found that between rights-of-way and property lines that differed between township maps and official deeds, the lot is about 0.4 of an acre smaller than the developer expected.
As a result, Pimrose needed a new variance granting permission to move forward with plans for 474 square feet of lot space per student.
