Proposed apartment complex source of ire
Site on border of Allentown and Bethlehem
On a sunny, warm winter’s day, things were peaceful on Grandview Boulevard in Bethlehem’s West Side.
Terry Kloiber, Paul Fondl and Mary Jo Makoul have lived there for decades and love the tranquility of their street, which has more of a suburban feel despite being in city limits.
“It’s a quiet, nice neighborhood,” said Kloiber, who has lived there for 65 years.
However, a plan to build an apartment complex on an adjacent vacant lot previously used by the Bennett Toyota dealership has them worried.
New Jersey-based BAHX LLC has submitted plans to build Hanover Apartments, which would consist of four buildings, one at four stories and three at five stories. They would house 317 apartments along with more than 500 parking spaces (some of the parking would be under three of the buildings, which would be raised).
The space has been vacant since Bennett moved its dealership across Allentown to Lehigh Street in 2010. The 9-acre plot is still mostly paved, but the dealership’s former buildings have been demolished. There is a grassy area where neighbors walk their dogs, and a line of trees along with a chain-link fence behind an alley that acts as a boundary for Grandview residents.
About three-quarters of the land sits in Bethlehem, but the other quarter is in Allentown. It shares two addresses: 2300 Hanover Ave. in Allentown and 2235 W. Broad St. in Bethlehem.
The residents are realists; they know it’s probably too tall of an order to have the project nipped in the bud. However, it’s still in the sketch phase and is making its way through the planning commissions of each city. Allentown reviewed it last month and Bethlehem’s planners will see it at Thursday’s meeting. Groundbreaking is still several steps away.
“We can’t stop it,” Kloiber said. “Let’s put it where it should be, where it’s conducive to the neighborhood, this community. That’s not six stories. There’s nothing around here like that.”
Fondl, who has been at his house for 50 years, said apartment buildings in east Allentown or west Bethlehem are normally two or three stories.
“You have three-story apartments, and it’s well away from the residential area,” Fondl said. “And they’re beautiful.”
“When I talked to , he goes ‘you know, you’re not going to be able to stop it,’ “Kloiber said. “I said I know, but at least we can work on trying to get it manageable. It’s going to happen and it’s wasted space right now.”
Makoul, who has been a resident since the 1980s, said she likes to go into her backyard each day and watch the sunset.
“People here won’t be able to do that” if the apartments are built to their proposed height, she said.
Fondl’s property goes back to the alley and he’s worried that if the line of 50-foot trees are removed, he wouldn’t have much privacy from apartment residents living on the upper floors along with headlights from their cars shining through his windows.
“They’re up there looking right down into our yards,” Fondl said. “If the trees stayed, we can be pretty much protected, but if they go, we’re out in the open. It will be like living in a fishbowl.”
In a sketch plan review, Bethlehem planners recommended a 4-foot barrier to a screen from the parking area and measures to keep lighting from spilling out of the complex. It also includes a 15-foot buffer between the buildings and the street.
Another area of concern is stormwater and possible runoff from the new complex. The neighborhood sits on a slight hill and stormwater has been known to go down the alley during heavy storms as the drains back up. Basements at the bottom of the hill have flooded more than once over the years, according to Makoul, who added that a manhole cover was blown open during a more intense downpour.
There’s also the matter of Hanover Avenue/West Broad Street, which passes by the property on a curve to an intersection with Eaton and Club avenues that is known as a high accident area. While the main entrance to the complex would be on Wahneta Street, it would share that access with two neighboring health care facilities.
Fondl said he went around with a petition years ago to get it fixed after a friend was in a bad accident there. Residents have seen collisions and heard screeching tires over the years. He said responsibility has been kicked around between the two cities and PennDOT.
“It’s in 2016 that we went around with this petition,” Fondl said. “And they never did anything with that road; they said it’s a state road. Go to the state and get it done? Right. I’m surprised nobody got killed yet.”
Bethlehem’s planners have recommended that its traffic bureau meet with Allentown’s bureau to discuss the intersection as it’s a “high-crash location” and come up with a “traffic calming” plan.
“One of the biggest headaches is that intersection,” Kloiber said. “They’re talking about putting in a dedicated turn lane to come into Wahneta Street, because I guess they’re already anticipating the amount of traffic. But that whole intersection is going to have to be redone and reconfigured somehow.”
Before Bennett opened its lot in the 1970s, the area housed a ballfield and grassy area that children in surrounding neighborhoods used. Next door was the former Central Park, an amusement area that once rivaled Dorney Park, before it shut down in 1951.
Kloiber remembers those days, and wishes the plans for the lot were for a community center and park.
“I’d love a community center for all the people,” she said. “One with a walking path. Put it in a nice green space area.”