BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — A neighborhood with more than 60 homes and just one road in or out.
There are a few current examples of such a layout in Bethlehem Township, Andrew Bohl of Hanover Engineering Associates told township commissioners Monday.
Bohl presented a preliminary sketch plan for a 67-home, single-family cluster development along more than 57 acres of both township and nearby city land at 3836 Township Line Road.
Forty-eight of those homes and about 35 acres would be in the township.
“This is an unusual circumstance — having one means of egress or ingress."Andrew Bohl of Hanover Engineering Associates
“This is an unusual circumstance — having one means of egress or ingress,” Bohl said.
“But if we can make that work and still be in compliance with your regulations for fire, I think this would be a great opportunity to have this property developed.”
The township had an unofficial look at the plan Monday and took no official action on the proposal from Bethlehem Gold LLC out of Oakhurst, New Jersey.
The proposal would be a conditional use within the township’s Rural Residential Zoning District, meaning the applicant has to take part in a public hearing process before township supervisors.
The current plan includes 49 lots in the township, 20 within city limits and a sidewalk expansion. One city lot would be set aside for a future pump station to be built to serve industrial properties to the north.
Bohl said the lots as a part of the cluster proposal could be reduced to dedicate more than a dozen acres of both township and city land as open space.
Bohl said his employer almost 20 years ago designed another single-family subdivision for the same land but a different developer.
It never came to fruition.
'A treasure'
Commissioner John Gallagher said the "Gold Tract" in question was “an exceptionally deep lot” and “very unusual” regarding potential emergency access.
Township resident Barry Roth said at least two of the current neighborhoods referenced by Bohl as similar to the one proposed, including Pheasant Run Court off of Farmersville Road, were built many decades prior, when township standards may have been different.
Scott Culpepper, another local resident, said that almost two decades ago, he spoke against the project that was never approved.
“In terms of my objections, the only difference being that the traffic, which we thought was pretty bad 18 years ago, looks like a walk in the park today."Local resident Scott Culpepper
“In terms of my objections, the only difference being that the traffic, which we thought was pretty bad 18 years ago, looks like a walk in the park today,” Culpepper said.
He said nearby Monocacy Creek and local wildlife may suffer from such a project.
The plan also has been before Bethlehem City Planning Commission, where concerns generally revolved around traffic on Altonah, Santee Mill and Township Line roads and the nearby train crossing.
Route 22 runs just to the north of the land in question, with UPS and USPS facilities, Lehigh Valley Health Network offices and some light industrial uses close by.
As for the proposed development and the nearby Housenick Park and Archibald Johnston Johnston Conservation Area located to the south, Culpepper called it all “a green oasis” and “a treasure.”
The Cottages at Monocacy Creek, a 55-plus community with more than 40 homes, sits to the west.
