In his last action as chairman of the Bethlehem Planning
Commission, James Fiorentino chastised the city's administration for not
telling "the complete truth" about a controversial proposal to rezone
Martin Tower.
The commission met Thursday for the first time since city
council signed off on the rezoning, which allows for the demolition of the
21-story tower and the creation of more retail than previously allowed on the
53-acre site.
Fiorentino cancelled a December meeting in which the
commission was expected to review the rezoning after correspondence surfaced
showing the administration and developer discussed details of the proposal
months before it was made public.
City council, without the commission's review, last month
voted 6-1 to approve the rezoning of the property.
New guidelines for redeveloping Martin Tower gained
approval of Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday night, capping months of
acrimonious debate over the proposal.
Fiorentino, speaking from the dais at Thursday's meeting,
said he believed, in light of the correspondence, that the city's
administration knew about details of the rezoning and failed to disclose those
details to planning commission members when asked.
He cited as an example a specific proposal to build a
Panera Bread on the site. The administration knew about that but didn't tell
planning commission members when they were inquiring about the rezoning, he
said.
"I believe it's essential that if a planning
commission member has a question of any member of the administration, they
should expect to be told the complete truth," Fiorentino said.
Darlene Heller, the city's planning and zoning director,
said the administration has been upfront about what it knew. That the
administration worked with the developer on the rezoning plan is nothing out of
the ordinary and isn't nefarious, she said.
"Honestly, we work with property owners and
developers all the time," Heller said. "I don't think we tried to
hide in any way the fact we had discussions with the (Martin Tower) developer.
I don't think we were misleading. It's a difference of opinion."
The rezoning permits a mix of office, residential and
380,000 square feet of retail space on the site at Eighth and Eaton avenues.
The previous zoning required Martin Tower – the tallest
building in the Lehigh Valley – remain standing and be modernized as part of
any redevelopment. The previous zoning also put restrictions on the amount of
retail allowed at the site.
The change in permitted retail has been the source of
contention among many business owners in Bethlehem. They've argued that
allowing more retail at the site was unfair because the site is getting tax
breaks under a state-approved program.
Tuesday night's public hearing lasted almost four hours.
Blogger Bernie O'Hare first reported on the
correspondence between the administration and developers Lewis Ronca and Norton
Herrick. He obtained it through a Right-to-Know request.
Mayor Bob Donchez, who was not at Thursday's meeting, has
also defended the administration's discussions with the developers. They were
necessary to get the site developed, he previously said.
Vacant since 2007, Martin Tower opened in the early 1970s
as headquarters of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp.
After the Martin Tower discussion on Thursday, the
planning commission voted unanimously to appoint Rob Melosky as its new
chairman.
Source: Lehigh
Valley Live
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