— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Bethlehem Township’s Board of Commissioners may be about to give up the fight against the huge warehouse proposed for Freemansburg Avenue.
Their Monday meeting includes a resolution not to appeal a Northampton County Court ruling in favor of the developer.
Don’t blame the commissioners. This was a battle they were never going to win.
There were only two issues:
— Zoning, which allows a warehouse at 1600 Freemansburg Ave.
— Property rights. The land is private and has been a quarry and a dump.
The plan meets zoning requirements and is on private property. The only real complaint against the commissioners is that they spent money pursuing a fight they couldn’t win.
Perhaps developer Trammell Crow made some extra concessions to the township, but it didn’t have to. This battle was over the day the plans were filed.
Consider that Trammell Crow is owned by CBRE Group, the world’s biggest commercial real estate company. CBRE’s revenue tops $30 billion annually.
Unfortunately, when things happen that people don’t want, they lash out, claiming corruption and other unseemly things.
In the township case, the issue is simple: property rights and zoning. That is it. Everything else — complaints about traffic, noise, etc. — meant nothing.
That’s not nice, but it is reality. Deal with reality. That’s better than pretending.
Here’s the item on Monday’s agenda:
“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.”
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.
That’s that. The township and court had no choice but to follow the law. That means a big company can build an 866,350-square-foot warehouse on the western edge of the township, on land that is partly in the Borough of Freemansburg.
Much of the traffic — perhaps 1,481 additional vehicle trips per day — will be to and from the east, the crowded stretch of Freemansburg Avenue that leads to Route 33.
CBRE’s Trammell Crow is the same company that bought the former Dutch Springs water park and turned it into two warehouses, though a deal was worked out to save the quarry lake for scuba diving. That site is now known as Lake Hydra.
It makes sense that residents will be angry about this. Just don’t take that anger out on the Board of Commissioners. There was nothing they could do.
***Corrected to note the property is on the western side of the township***
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 