Planning commission secures $12M to apply for federal grant for waterfront project

The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission has funding in place for a matching grant program to help fund a multiuse transit project on the former R.J. Corman Railroad along the Lehigh River.

The Waterfront Partners, made up of the leadership of Jaindl Properties, Dunn Twiggar Co. LLC and Michael Dunn Co. Ltd., has provided $10 million, and the City of Allentown will provide $2 million, which will allow the commission to apply for a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant.

Becky Bradley, executive director for the commission, which is the designated regional authority for applying for such grants, said she is applying for a $25.5 million TIGER grant and needed at least 20 percent of that amount to apply. The private and public funding that is being invested in the project will provide 30 percent of the local money needed.

“This is a huge deal. It’s a major public private partnership coming together to secure federal funds,” Bradley said. “This is exactly how projects get done.”

The rail, which runs along the $325 million The Waterfront development under construction along the Lehigh River in Allentown, is an abandoned property owned by Mark Jaindl, one of the developers of The Waterfront.

The plan is to tear out the rail and put in a two-lane road and a walking/biking trail that will run from east Allentown through Whitehall Township and Catasauqua.

“We’re opening up opportunities to brownfield lands that can’t be accessed easily right now,” Bradley said. “This is consistent with our long-range transportation plan.”

Bradley said that while the commission is the agency applying for the grant, many community partners worked on the application, for what she describes as a hugely important transportation project for the region.

She said representatives from Allentown, Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, the Lehigh Northampton Transportation Authority, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation all worked on the application.

The commission should hear if it has received the highly competitive grant by September or October, Bradley said.

But even if the project doesn’t receive the funding, all is not lost, she said.

“We all came together and we got the work done. We can use this to apply for other funds and there are many grants out there,” Bradley said.

Source: LVB