Aug. 3, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Bethlehem City Council will meet earlier than usual on Tuesday because of Musikfest, rain or shine.
Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. in Town Hall, not the usual 7 p.m. start. The biggest item on the agenda is a final vote on an ordinance that will bar short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods were hotels are prohibited.
The city’s tourism industry has drawn investors in Airbnb and other short-term lodgings, creating unregulated competition for the Historic Hotel Bethlehem and other legal inns, and bringing transient guests into established neighborhoods near historic Main Street.
Note to residents: one way to find out if a nearby home is being used as an Airbnb is to check on Google Maps. That’s how I found one near me, which explained the occasional out-of-state license plates. There were few visitors and the ersatz hotel did not last.
Ersatz, meaning an inferior substitute, was a common term during World War II when some Americans were grinding acorns to make coffee. I know an old codger in South Jersey who did this. He also ate muskrats, squirrels and gophers. Acorn coffee is caffeine-free, though that’s not why he drank it. He was cheap and had done this since the Depression.
By the way, the muskrats were called “marsh rabbits” to make swamp-meat barbecue sound more enticing.
Anyway, I’m digressing. Back to the meeting:
The short-term rentals ordinance will also change the definition of boardinghouse and prohibit having more than one single-family home on a single lot.
The boardinghouse item seems quaint and outdated, something from the Horatio Alger era, but there are single-room occupancy lodgings (SROs) in the city. I don’t know if they are legal. In the course of volunteer work, I’ve come across from housing that is probably not up to building code and zoning.
The rest of the agenda is light, with several mentions of sludge (always a crowd pleaser) and an interesting but not new cross-border item.
The City of Bethlehem owns sports fields and a yard-waste facility along Illick’s Mill and Schoenersville roads that are in Hanover Township (Northampton County) but patrolled by the Bethlehem Police Department.
The agreement to be voted on tomorrow night makes clear that the city will be responsible for all emergency services to those sites: police, fire department and ambulance.
Here’s a link to the agenda.
Bethlehem City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 4, in Town Hall. Ordinances are subject to change.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 