Bethlehem Township to Consider Motion `Not to Appeal’ Court Ruling on Freemansburg Avenue Warehouse; the Township Never Had a Chance to Block Huge Building

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

It looks like the big warehouse on Freemansburg Avenue is on the way (link to court ruling below).

Don’t blame Bethlehem Township’s government. This is how the law works. The company that owns a property or the rights to buy a a property can develop that land based on the zoning law. There was never a realistic chance at stopping this.

It may well turn out to be a disaster for residents and people who drive on Freemansburg Avenue, but that is how the law works and local government can’t stop it. Nor can the courts disregard the law, no matter what residents say.

Bethlehem Township cited 18 reasons earlier this year to block the construction of a warehouse on Freemansburg Avenue and went to Northampton County Court over the issue. That didn’t work.

That dispute may wind down Monday. The agenda of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners includes this:

“A motion agreeing not to appeal the decision of the Court of Common Pleas of
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, CV-2024-01311, 1600 Freemansburg Associates
LLC vs. Board of Commissioners of Bethlehem Township, and accepting the
developer’s (1600 Freemansburg Associates LLC) approval of conditions attached
hereto and marked Exhibit A.”

The exhibit goes over some of the rules for the 866,350-square-foot warehouse proposed by Trammell Crow, the Dallas-based company.

Trammell Crow earlier turned the Dutch Springs Aqua Park into warehouse space (the quarry lake survives for scuba diving now known as Lake Hydra).

Here is the court ruling from Aug. 20: OPINION OF THE COURT AND ORDER OF COURT DATED AUGUST 20, 2024 FILED WHEREIN IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT APPELLANT’S APPEAL FROM THE DECISION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISIONERS OF BETHLEHEM IS GRANTED, AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT APPELLANT’S LAND USE PROPOSAL IS APPROVED.

Various residents and officials cited the traffic impact of a huge warehouse where Freemansburg’s Main Street and Freemansburg Avenue intersect.

The use was allowed by zoning, however, and any attempt to block it was doomed.

The site used to be a dump. Now, it’s going to be a big warehouse covering about 20 acres. One traffic estimate projected 1,481 additional vehicle trips per day, 520 of them by trucks.

The Board of Commissioners will meet Monday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. in the township municipal building. Perhaps the township got some additional concessions out of the developer.

The warehouse land is split between Bethlehem Township and the Borough of Freemansburg. Most of the traffic will head east on Freemansburg Avenue, according to earlier hearings.

Developer Trammell Crow is owned by CBRE Group, the world’s biggest commercial real estate company.

CBRE’s 2023 revenue was about $32 billion.