Sept. 10, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Bethlehem’s five-year non-utility capital plan includes lots of roadwork, some emergency vehicles and a Zamboni ice-grooming machine for the municipal rink.
The plan for 2027-31 contains many items. Some will get done, some may be pushed back. The capital projection is revised annually.
The plan is still flexible,” Cathy Fletcher, director of planning and zoning, said of the 2027-2031 plan. In some cases, such as converting a stretch of Center Street back to two-way traffic, the city is waiting for grants, but the conversion of Linden Street may start this year.
The capital plan projects many millions of dollars in spending, but Mayor J. William Reynolds told the city Planning Commission on Thursday that Bethlehem has gained financial flexibility by paying off debt.
The city had about $170 million in long-term debt in 2017, Reynolds said, and is down to about $80 million now. The mayor gave credit to predecessors Robert Donchez, John Callahan and Don Cunningham for fiscal discipline.
Within a year we’ll have paid off $100 million in the past 10 years,” Reynolds said. He said that’s a combination of fiscal management and private development boosting the tax base.
The city’s share of federal Covid-19 relief money helped too, he said.
“We have not done a capital borrowing since 2019,” he said. Paying cash for capital projects helps the city avoid interest costs, Reynolds said.
Here’s a link to the capital plan, which the Planning Commission forwarded to City Council with a positive recommendation.
Among the items: the city plans to buy an ambulance annually to keep that fleet up to date; the city will buy five to seven police vehicles each year; Bethlehem will expand its public-safety camera network; four new traffic signals are in the plan but no time is set for that work, and the city intends to find a way to make Stefko Boulevard more safe for drivers and pedestrians.
Good luck with that last one. Parts of Stefko are a speedway, and from my vantage point as a pedestrian, the boulevard is getting worse.
The Planning Commission also reviewed a plan for 82 apartments at 701-19 N. New Street, at the corner of New and Garrison streets.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 