By Ryan Gaylor, Lehigh Valley News
UPPER NAZARETH TWP., Pa. — A proposed industrial park will not go forward after the Upper Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday against zoning changes for the project.
About 50 people came to the meeting, where township resident Becky Bartlett gave the board a petition opposing rezoning she said included signatures from “over 130” township residents.
Of the township residents who spoke, the overwhelming majority opposed the zoning change.
Speakers cited an already traffic-choked Tatamy Rd., the proposed development’s proximity to Nazareth Area Intermediate School, and risks of the sinkhole-prone geology beneath and around the site.
Representatives for the developer suggested they may still pursue the project in the future, after negotiations allowing the township to set binding conditions for the project through zoning rules.
For now, most of the 52-acre property next to Nazareth Area Intermediate School along Tatamy Rd. will remain mostly zoned for medium-density residential development, allowing single-family homes, small apartment buildings, townhomes, and other uses.
The Northeast of the approximately T-shaped lot is zoned for extractive industries like the adjacent quarry.
It would have been the eighth project by Lehigh Valley Industrial Park, a nonprofit whose developments of the same name include a vast section of the former Bethlehem Steel plant.
If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
