BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A developer who argued the city zoning officer provided an incorrect ruling regarding his plan for townhouses in West Bethlehem will have to rethink its size.
After a handful of meetings and continuances, the city Zoning Hearing Board in a unanimous vote Wednesday denied a favorable interpretation on inadequate lot size for property owner Ishtiaq Ali Saaem and Hanover Rauch LLC.
The project as planned called for a 2 ½-story, three-unit townhouse development on a 13,440-square-foot tract at 312 Hanover St., between Hanover and Rauch streets.
The three-bedroom units would have been 2,200 square feet, with two garage parking spaces each. Four surface spaces also would be on site.
Basically, the city requires a minimum tract size of 9,000 square feet for new townhomes no matter how many planned units.
And with 6,000 square feet dedicated as a minimum for an existing two-family detached home on site, there’s not enough room left legally for the townhomes as envisioned.
The board’s decision is “a big step toward preventing environmental degradation, reducing additional pollution, and avoiding the overcrowding we are already experiencing.”Daiyana Rodriguez, a Bethlehem schoolteacher and neighbor of the project site
James Preston, attorney for Saaem, didn’t respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.
Saaem holds the right to appeal the board’s decision with Northampton County Court.
Preston wrote in a March 21 document that associated zoning relief should be granted, since city Zoning Officer David Taylor applied his ruling of inadequate lot area “in a selective manner — which seems tailored to a desired result — rather than applying said section logically and consistently.”
The project, which was in the sketch plan phase as of Wednesday, is one of a few others planned for the site in recent years. One case included a modification of the current home to offer more units.
'We need to preserve'
Daiyana Rodriguez, a neighbor of the project and local schoolteacher, has spoken against the development alongside other West Bethlehemites and friends.
She called the board’s decision “a big step toward preventing environmental degradation, reducing additional pollution, and avoiding the overcrowding we are already experiencing.”
It feels like a temporary win for homeowners in a city popular with developers, Rodriguez said.
City Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith, who was in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting, said, “I’m glad that the board heard the voices of the people.”
“We need to preserve our homes and our special neighborhoods,” she said.
