A group of South Bethlehem residents are fighting against a developer’s plans to build 40 bedrooms of new student housing perched on First Terrace and they’ve gotten the support of the mayor.
Lehigh Property Management LLC hopes to raze the four homes at 496-520 First Terrace, which contain a total of 20 bedrooms, and replace them with eight townhomes in two buildings. Each unit would feature five bedrooms, resulting in an increase of 20 rooms on the narrow street.
On Wednesday, the Bethlehem Zoning Hearing Board is slated to hear Lehigh Property Management’s appeal for several zoning variances needed to make the project a reality. The board meets at 6 p.m. in town hall.
Mayor Bob Donchez penned a June 19 letter urging the zoning hearing board to reject the appeal calling the requested variances substantial and out of step with the neighborhood.
“The plan as presented is not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood development which consists of single family detached homes,” Donchez writes. “The project more than doubles the density of these four parcels when combined.”
First Terrace is perched above Lehigh’s Asa Packer Campus on Southside in a cluster of homes converted into student housing, many of which Lehigh Property Management owns.
Currently, about 80 percent of the management company’s tenants are Lehigh students, the company’s managing partner Austin Siboni said in March. The company owns all but six homes on First Terrace. Efforts to reach Siboni were unsuccessful Saturday.
The project has no affiliation with Lehigh University.
A South Bethlehem landlord wants to tear down a block of houses it owns to build eight new townhomes for graduate students from Lehigh University and other local colleges.
A sketch plan for the project has twice come before the Bethlehem Planning Commission. First in March and then earlier this month.
The revised plans presented in June cut two of the proposed townhomes, resulting in 10 fewer bedrooms, axed second floor balconies and added sidewalks. Residents from the neighborhood spoke in opposition to the project at the June planning commission meeting.
The commission ultimately voted 2-1 to send the project to the zoning board with no action for or against it, city Director of Community and Economic Development Alicia Miller Karner said.
“The area is a challenging area to build units that hold that many people, on a slope I can’t imagine we’d build on today. The road is narrow,” she said. “To encourage more development in that area would be a stretch to us.”
The developer is seeking variances to allow the garage to front of the street, for the number of cars backing out on the street, for impervious coverage in steep areas and other issues.
Lehigh Property Management LLC wants to tear down four homes -- located at 496 to 520 First Terrace -- and build eight new townhomes. The narrow road and its parking challenges worried the Bethlehem Planning Commission.
In a June 6 letter, the city planning and zoning bureau notes that the streets in the area are narrow and steep. In some areas, there is very little parking. The bureau suggests making First Terrace one-way amongst other infrastructure improvements, Donchez notes in his letter.
The mayor points out that the city’s zoning is written to steer development to areas that are physically suited for it and away from naturally steeply sloped areas like First Terrace.
Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.