Lafayette continues shaping College Hill
Four vacant houses to be torn down at gateway to school
The landscape along College Avenue in Easton will change next month when Lafayette College demolishes four Victorian-era houses it owns between downtown and historic College Hill.
The homes at 156, 160, 166 and 168 College Ave. once served as rental units but have been vacant for several years, said Melissa Starace, Lafayette’s assistant to the president for board and community relations.
They are being torn down because of concerns over stability after water infiltrated the homes’ retaining wall foundations, Starace said. The homes also abut busy College Avenue, which is a steep hill with heavy traffic at times. The location means there’s limited parking, and therefore limited occupancy opportunities, she explained.
Starace expects the demolition to start in early August.
The removal of the homes is unrelated to a 165-bed mixeduse student residence hall on McCartney Street.
Lafayette officials removed nine homes owned by the college in the 200 block earlier this year to make way for the project, which will include a community bookstore and fullservice diner for students and the public.
There are no confirmed plans for what will replace the College Avenue homes, though Lafayette officials are exploring the feasibility of turning a small portion of property into a lookout over the city, Starace said.
Northampton County property records show the College Avenue homes were purchased by Lafayette between 1999-2014.
One of the homes — 166 College Ave. — is in particularly poor condition.
College officials removed the roof from that property earlier this year in preparation for demolition, said Stephen Nowroski, Easton’s director of planning and codes.
For several months the college has been removing lead and asbestos from the properties, and the roof was removed as part of that process, he said.
On Thursday afternoon, the smell of mildew emanated from the home, and slats from the roof of a covered patio at the back were falling down.
Nowroski said it will be difficult for the college to construct anything new on the properties because of the steep slope there. Bushkill Drive runs behind the properties at the bottom of the slope.
“The slope would create challenges, and our zoning ordinance has regulations regarding steep slopes and development on those slopes,” Nowroski said.
Paul Felder, a College Hill resident and founder of Save College Hill, the residents group that opposed removal of homes for the mixed-use residence hall, estimates the College Avenue homes are more than 100 years old, dating back to the 19th or 20th century.
He said the homes are within the College Hill Historic District, though there are no regulations on demolition outside the city’s downtown historic zone.
Felder is also part of a new committee exploring whether conservation districts can protect Easton’s historic neighborhoods from threats like demolition and character-changing large-scale construction.
The group has been working with city planners and recently held an information meeting on how a conservation district could protect College Hill.
Felder called Lafayette’s plans for the College Avenue homes “totally gratuitous.” Since those houses aren’t part of the student housing expansion, Felder says he can’t figure out why they would be torn down.
Critics of the college’s expansion have said that building new student housing in the neighborhood infringes on College Hill’s historic charm and does away with what could have been used as affordable housing for residents.
“They could put them on the market or give them away,” Felder said.
Starace said the college is making an effort to keep College Hill residents informed.
Lafayette will hold an open house at 7 p.m. on Aug. 21 at Hugel Science Center in Room 100. She said the college also plans to follow through with an Easton community partners committee announced last year.
The group would include Lafayette leaders and trustees along with city, business and nonprofit leaders and other civic representatives. The group will help maintain a dialogue between the city, college and residents about Lafayette’s future plans, college officials have said.
Starace expects more information on that group before the end of the summer.