Bethlehem, BTW Your neighborhood could be next.

11/12/2018

November 20, 2018 is Decision Day for RG & RT Residential Neighborhoods.

Will City Council vote to allow corporate offices to occupy every street corner in RG & RT zoned residential neighborhoods? Will Council defy the TWO unanimous 3-0 (May 22, 2018 and July 19, 2018) Commonwealth Court rulings upholding residential zoning in the City of Bethlehem’s fully rewritten 2012 Zoning Ordinance?
https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/commonwealth-court/2018/944-c-d-2017.html
Unlike the nineteen-page 5-22-2018 ruling above, the July ruling is a beautiful, single, sentence:
https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/commonwealth-court/2018/944-c-d-2017-0.html

I counted only 287 intersections city wide in RG & RT residential zoned neighborhoods where you can find at least one “…lot shall be at the corner of 2 streets” [proposed change to 1304.04(b)(1)]. Maybe you can find more- look at the Zoning Map to see if your neighborhood is being threatened:
http://bethlehem-pa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=58a07399500144a4a6baf44238893c4d

With the Courtesy of the floor moved to the BEGINNING of City Council meetings you no longer need to wait until the END of the meeting to let Council (and the Mayor) know what you think (remember the October sixth, 2015 “special public” hearing on Martin Tower when the Council and Administration colluded to delay public comment until after 9:45 PM, when the purported purpose of the meeting was for the public to have an opportunity to comment without having to wait until the end of Council meetings, which frequently dragged on past eleven PM?).
https://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2015/11/martin-tower-rtk-reveals-ronca-wanted.html

Even if the corner property closest to your home may not “yet” qualify for commercial office conversion, it is only one “use variance” granted by the Zoning Hearing Board away from qualifying [Speculators will buy the house on the corner, establish a home office with a maximum of one other employee, as currently allowed by right, then appeal to the ZHB to hire a second employee…NOW the lot is “non-conforming” and can, under this proposed zoning change, be converted to offices, eliminating any residential use in the building.].

Your neighborhood will shrink, as speculators flip residential properties into more lucrative commercial office space. Soon you and your family will be alone on your block as wealthy developers as for variances on the property "next to the corner office" , and then for a variance for the house "next to the office next to the office on the corner."

Do you trust the ZHB not to hand out variances like Halloween candy in your neighborhood? Just ask the Pennsylvania Avenue and Mount Airy neighborhood residents whether you should trust the ZHB to protect your neighborhood.

B. Fowler, et al. v. City of Bethlehem ZHB

10/01/2018

New "spot-zoning" amendment to be received by City Council on 10-2-2018.

After pulling a poorly written attempt at spot-zoning from the 9-4-18 Council agenda, a local investor is trying a second time (after losing before the Zoning Hearing Board twice, and Northampton County Court once, and Commonwealth Court three times), to further erode a residential neighborhood with a non-permitted commercial use in an RT-Residential district. See the full text of this wreck-less amendment here:
http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/citycouncil/meetings/archive/2018/Background/20181002/06f%20AmendtoZoningCode-Section%201304.04.pdf

How much time and money are City employees spending to help this non-resident investor further shrink the boundaries of another residential neighborhood? What is the justification by the mayor's administration to changing our city's relatively new Zoning Ordinance? Why is the administration not citing investors for violating city ordinances, instead of figuring out ways to make legal these many violations?

Where do residents go to get protections for their neighborhood?

Go ask City Council on October second, 2018 in the City Rotunda.

10/01/2018

Beginning with an almost two-hour discussion at the beginning of the September fourth City Council meeting, along with other first amendment efforts (see the sign in the picture, of which almost a dozen were stolen between 9/30 and 10/1), the residents continue to speak out against the threat of transient rentals to every residential neighborhood in our fair city.
Come to City Council and speak out at the BEGINNING of the meeting to let Council know you expect them to help defend our neighborhoods. Find Council meeting dates and agendas HERE:
http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/citycouncil/meetings/index.html

10/01/2018

Residents against transient rental properties.

09/10/2018

WHEN LOCAL RESIDENTS AND HOMEOWNERS EXERCISE THEIR 1st AMENDMENT RIGHTS AT COUNCIL, ONE LOCAL PAPER IS OBLIVIOUS.

On Tuesday evening, September fourth, 2018, the regular City Council meeting was consumed early on by an almost hour and fifteen minute long discussion of one subject that was not even listed on the agenda: commercial intrusions into residential neighborhoods. Specifically, the danger that transient rental units (so called "home-sharing" rentals, although they frequently do not involve the owner living at the address...) present to vibrant neighborhoods. Despite this unprecedented period of public comment on an item not even on the agenda, which also included, at President Waldron's suggestion, a presentation from the administration on the apparently woeful enforcement efforts by the city to stop this unlawful commercial activity in residential areas, there was no mention of the facts, or of any of the speakers, or of possible future action by the Mayor's administration. Nothing. Hopefully the local weekly paper will have a more factual, and informative, account of what actually took place at the City Rotunda on Tuesday.

NEXT City Council meeting is Tuesday, September 18, 2018
7:00 PM - Town Hall - City Rotunda. Agenda will be posted here:
http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/citycouncil/meetings/index.html

QUESTION: Why is it so hard to find out what happens at public meetings in Bethlehem?

City Council Meetings provides links to current and previous agendas, minutes, and backup documents for council meetings in the City of Bethlehem.

09/04/2018

NEWS FLASH about 9/4/2018 City Council Meeting!
It has been learned by the Bethlehem Monitor that Communication "G" is going to be removed from the agenda before the start of the meeting tonight.
Whether this represents a temporary reprieve for neighborhoods battling commercial intrusions, or a more long term victory in this one battle, remains to be seen.

09/03/2018

A Rare Victory for Residential Zoning Law

On May 22, 2018, a unanimous Commonwealth Court 3-0 ruling was handed down in defense of residents fighting a commercial use variance in their residential zoned RT District.
You can read the entire ruling here:
https://cases.justia.com/pennsylvania/commonwealth-court/2018-944-c-d-2017.pdf
This unanimous ruling represented the third judicial victory for residents fighting the removal of another home to be replaced by a type of business not permitted in a RT zoned residential district.
Will the elected leaders in Bethlehem comply with the decision of the Commonwealth Court, or will they move to undercut residents and homeowners who prefer to have neighbors all the time, instead of empty buildings outside of business hours which will soon surround their home?

Come to City Council on September fourth, 2018 to see if our elected officials will defend the integrity of every residential area of our fair city.

09/03/2018

When all facts are considered, Commonwealth Court chooses residential zoning over commercial variances. A rare victory for homeowners and other residents preserving another neighborhood, until the next battle. Full ruling here:
https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/commonwealth-court/2018/944-c-d-2017.html
Will our elected leaders comply with the Commonwealth Court's unanimous decision, or try to undercut the residents who have fought since 2013 to win this particular zoning battle?

06/27/2016

When is a Zoning code NOT a Zoning code? When you live in Bethlehem.

Awaiting the written decision of the Zoning Hearing Board regarding their reversal of two previous decisions to NOT allow a "use variance" for 2 West Market Street.

Five weeks after hearing testimony from residents, an investor in a residential property proposed for conversion to a commercial use, and from many employees and tenants of that investor, the Zoning Hearing Board voted 3-1 to reverse two previous decisions by the Board to not allow a commercial office in the single family home. Whether the Zoning board had available a transcript of the three hours of testimony, or relied on its infallible memory, is still not known. For $845 (yes, last time a resident inquired about a transcript, it was nearly nine hundred dollars to get one single copy), you could purchase a copy of the transcript and see what the testimony covered (absent from almost all discussion were references to the actual zoning code of the city).

Despite twice refusing to grant a "use variance" and two court cases upholding that refusal, the Zoning Hearing Board decided that there was enough "new" evidence to reverse their prior rulings (what "new" evidence caused this reversal remains a mystery). The future of this residential district (as defined by the new zoning code in Bethlehem) and other supposedly residential districts in our city, hang in the balance, as homeowners who thought they were purchasing residences for their families in areas of the community zoned "residential" wait to see the technical ruling that now allows another neighborhood to be victimized by commercial creep. Which mysterious provision of the zoning code will be used to justify this reversal of four previous decisions upholding the zoning code as written (a zoning code written after much input by residents, professionals in city hall, and elected leaders in the city)? The decision is due to be delivered to city hall within forty-five days of the June second special meeting (possibly by July 18th). At that time the mystery of the disappearing zoning code may be solved.

If you think you live in a residential neighborhood, you better think again....

First it was a thirteen story building on fourth street to replace a two story home among other two story buildings.

Second came the 313% of allowable use variance for the retirement facility on Pennsylvania Avenue. Isn't a variance of 212% above the allowed use a bit excessive?

Now comes "four strikes" and you win. Two losses before the Zoning Board backed up by wins in two courts in the Commonwealth, but yet, the commercial interest gets "another" swing, and, amazingly, they win this time, and a third residential neighborhood shrinks a little bit more.

If the truth is that the zoning code means nothing if you have access to the powerful in city hall, the public should be made aware of that before election day. Maybe voters can ask candidates if they support the zoning code as written, or if they believe the code is merely a set of suggestions depending on the power and influence of the party looking for an appeal (an appeal to ignore the zoning code in Districts Zoned Residential).

Hopefully homeowners in the city will start attending more zoning and city council meetings and asking hard questions before it is too late. When every residential district has been compromised, there will be no residential districts remaining.

04/27/2016

Zoning Hearing @ Six PM Wed., April 27 to decide if the RT Residential District in Historic Bethlehem shall, piece by piece, be converted to a commercial office district.
Please see agenda item #2 here:
http://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/planning/meetings/2016/ZoningHearingBoard/2016-04-27.html
Will this be the "last" "exception" to the actual text of the city's newest rewritten zoning code? Or will the "it is just a little change in your neighborhood" train roll through another residential district in the city. Exactly where in this city can a family purchase a home in a residential zoned district, and be assured that the zoning code will be consistently defended by this Mayor and City Council?
First it was the approval of the giant, incongruous building on fourth street.
Then it was the "little" matter of allowing a mere 213% variance in the number of units in a proposed care home on Pennsylvania Ave.
Recently we have been informed by a local judge ruling in favor of the City government against private citizens, that the City Planning Commission is actually a single person, and in fact does not matter much anyway since the commission does not have to actually meet for any matter to be considered by City Council, all because the judge thought the law was too vague.
I do not have space or time to outline the South New Street immaculate parking structure, of recent fame.
If you do not want to be caught off guard when a yellow zoning notice sign appears in your residential neighborhood, you may want to come to the zoning meeting tonight at six to see how the process operates. Remember, your neighborhood could be next.

Notice is hereby given that the ZONING HEARING BOARD will have a meeting City Hall (Rotunda) 10 E. Church Street, Bethlehem, PA, on Wednesday, April 27, 2016 @ 6 PM for the purpose of hearing the following appeals.APPLICANT MUST APPEAR AT THE MEETING