After hearing fears about the threat to existing
businesses, Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday gave
preliminary approval to new redevelopment guidelines for the 53-acre Martin Tower in West Bethlehem.
The proposal eliminates a 2006 requirement that the
landmark 21-story building be rehabilitated and reused as part of the
property's redevelopment. Vacant since 2007, the tallest building in Lehigh and
Northampton counties opened in the early 1970s as headquarters of the former
Bethlehem Steel Corp.
I think we need to move forward with creating flexibility
in the tower."
"I think we need to move forward with creating
flexibility in the tower," Council President J. William Reynolds said.
The new zoning would permit a host of office, retail and
residential uses on the property. Council has a second and final vote on the
proposal scheduled Nov. 4, and council members indicated the proposal will be
amended before then.
Council members said they share concerns of 22 residents
and business owners who spoke about the scale of new retail that the new rules
would allow.
Reynolds put the maximum of new retail at 1.3 million
square feet, something he'd like to cap somewhere at around a couple of hundred
thousand square feet. A single big-box retailer such as Costco spans 100,000 to
150,000 square feet, said Alicia Miller Karner, the city's director of
community and economic development.
Opponents to the plan also pointed to existing incentives
on redeveloping the property under Pennsylvania's City Revitalization and Improvement Zone. The
designation allows state and local non-property taxes from new development
within the zone to help finance construction within it.
"We are not against development, just unfair
development," said Dyanne Holt, a co-owner of the Apollo Grill restaurant
on West Broad Street.
Councilman Bryan Callahan noted city investment in Main
Street — including paving, sidewalk repairs and decorative lighting — and
publicly subsidized development on South Side.
Some of the public's criticism aired Tuesday focused on
tailoring even more assistance and incentives to the property's owners. Local
developer Lewis Ronca and Boca Raton, Fla.-based investor Norton Herrick owned
the property when it was rezoned in 2006.
"If he loses money on this that's his problem,"
resident Peter Crownfield told council. "Don't make it the citizens'
problem."
Mayor Bob Donchez, who presented the proposal at a public
hearing two weeks prior that ended toward midnight, said the rezoning provides
the flexibility needed to make the site attractive for redevelopment. That's
not the case under the 2006 zoning, Karner said.
"I think that if this zoning met the market needs of
today, we'd see more development at the location," she said.
Ronca and Herrick have not publicly presented plans for
the property. Councilman Eric Evans proposed Tuesday stepping back and
sending the proposal to committee for review, with hopes the developer would
participate. That motion failed by a vote of 2-5.
The motion to send the proposal to a final vote next
month passed 6-1, with Evans in opposition.
Source: Lehigh
Valley Live
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