April 1, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Palmer Township is ahead of the game, with a new website tool that lets anybody see the progress of land developments, and more.
It’s a map of the township with developments marked, and background that is not always easy to find on a municipal website.
“Additionally, when you click on a specific project, it provides you with a description of the project, along with links to view the most recent plan sets for the project,” according to Palmer.
That is a great tool and will save people who go over dull things such as zoning maps and township agendas — people like me — a lot of time.
I’d like to see every town have this. Perhaps some of the other Lehigh Valley’s 62 municipalities have this. It’s a great way to check on development, and on the eternal question of, “What’s happening over there?” and “Whatever happened to the big plans for that field?”
Having such a tool in Bethlehem would shed some light on the Martin Tower site and several south Bethlehem projects.
I applaud Palmer Township, and hope to see other municipalities add this to their websites.
To see what’s happening in Palmer Township development, click on this link to the township website, and then on “Click To View Current Land Developments” almost in the middle of the page.
It’s almost too easy. Let’s see more of this around the Lehigh Valley.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
This tool is fairly common in newer, high-growth municipalities in the sunbelt. Good to see Palmer adopting it. Otherwise you can drive yourself nuts trying to glean this information from agendas/meeting minutes posted on municipal websites, especially when they don’t post supporting documentation or plans with agendas and don’t post minutes for months after the meeting.
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I hope others add it. I base this blog on the idea that “I read boring tax maps and other things so you don’t have to” but there are 62 municipalities in the Lehigh Valley amd sometimes I even venture “beyond the Pale.”
There are some tiny towns that perhaps can’t afford or need such a tool, but it beats cross-referencing multiple agendas and meeting minutes.
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