Bethlehem Township Fought the Law, and the Law Won; Residents Prepare for the Future With a Huge Warehouse on the Way on Freemansburg Avenue

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

There were no happy people at Monday’s meeting of the Bethlehem Township Board of Commissioners.

The board voted to give up the fight to stop the construction of an 866,350-square-foot warehouse on Freemansburg Avenue, near where the avenue meets Main Street.

Not one board member wants that warehouse, which will cover about 20 acres. The land is partly in the township with the rest in Freemansburg. It’s a plot of land that for decades most people have driven by without noticing the sign for a mulch operation. Nobody really cared until the warehouse plan was announced.

Residents had to accept that there was no way to stop it. One resident didn’t accept it. It’s a plan that will bring lots of traffic to an already crowded road, trucks and cars that will take Freemansburg Avenue to and from Route 33. Some will head west to the City of Bethlehem.

Still, there was no alternative. Developer Trammell Crow’s plan for a huge warehouse on land that was once a quarry and later a dump (and who knows what’s really in there) is a permitted use on private property. It could not be stopped.

The board of commissioners voted against it, the developer appealed to Northampton County Court and won.

The commissioners fought the law and the law won. The board said Trammell Crow came up with some concessions as a result of the legal battle. (Click here for the Bobby Fuller hit from 1966.)

Still there was some positive news from Monday. Residents said they are ready to work together and seek the best possible outcome for Freemansburg Avenue. That means working with the township and state officials and PennDot to do whatever can be done for traffic safety.

It won’t be easy, but now is the time to start. Organize, set up a Facebook page or website, meet with your state officials in person and start now. It’s the only thing left.

A few other things came up Monday, among them the idea of changes to zoning laws. That is not as easy as it sounds, and most of the township has already been developed.

Changing zoning involves a lot more than preserving a nice view or open space. Imagine a 10-acre tract that is used now for growing corn, but zoning allows residential or commercial development.

That land may be worth $2.5 million to a developer. Change the zoning to prohibit development, and suddenly it’s worth maybe $150,000. The farmer’s plan to retire and provide for the next generation is wiped out by a vote? No, that doesn’t happen much.

That’s why zoning doesn’t change on a whim. Changing the zoning is the same as taking value from one landowner to benefit others who have not worked the land or invested in it. They may like having a farm nearby, but they don’t own it.

It works the other way too. Sometimes investors buy a cheap property that has limited uses and seek a change to put up apartments or a retail strip. It’s a gamble. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose.

So the residents appear ready to fight to make the best of what is truly a bad situation. They may also consider trying to work with Trammell Crow, which is a unit of CBRE Group, a huge real estate company with more than $30 billion in annual revenue.

Trammell Crow agreed to buy the old Dutch Springs aqua park to put in warehouses, but did over time reach an agreement to keep the quarry lake open. The developer could have just enclosed the quarry and forgotten about it.

Now, under the name Lake Hydra, the 50-acre lake is available for scuba diving, by appointment only.