Bethlehem Landfill hearing on indefinite hold

Friday’s planned resumption of hearings on expanding the Bethlehem Landfill has been postponed indefinitely.

Attorney Scott MacNair, a hearing officer appointed by Lower Saucon Township to take testimony on the landfill’s plan that would nearly double the property at the waste disposal facility, on Wednesday notified attorneys representing and opposing the landfill that conditional use hearings on the proposed enlargement have been suspended.

The landfill’s attorney, Maryanne Garber, last week filed notice to appeal Northampton County Court Judge Abraham P. Kassis’ ruling that nullified a rezoning of about 275 acres the landfill has acquired and earmarked for the expansion. Commonwealth Court has been assigned the appeal.

Township council voted 3-2 in December to make the rezoning change, requested two months earlier by the landfill, to roughly double its size and extend its lifespan by more than two decades. Council’s rezoning decision led to public hearings that began in late February, with nine sessions before MacNair involving evidentiary testimony or comments from citizens, legal representatives from municipal and other opponents, and experts on behalf of the landfill.

Currently about 275 acres, Bethlehem Landfill is looking to grow by 189 acres, 117 of which would be a new disposal area.

No timeline has been set on Commonwealth Court’s ruling, which typically can take months. The landfill wants to resume the hearing within 45 days of the appeals court’s decision, MacNair said in a letter Wednesday to officials.

The last hearing occurred May 12, when MacNair put a temporary halt to testimony days after Kassis’ order.