Hartley Avenue boom going strong
Center, housing, recycling center going up
Travel along a short, half-mile stretch of Hartley Avenue in Palmer Township, and the green fields on both sides of the road are making way for development.
A foundation has been laid for a church social and athletic center.
The first few buildings of a major apartment complex have opened.
Also planned: a new township recycling center and — perhaps the most ambitious project — a remade intersection at Hartley and Greenwood avenues. When a new intersection will be built is unclear, officials said.
Over the past decade or more, the township has experienced unprecedented industrial growth in its northern end, off Route 33. Some have raised concerns about that growth, which spawned more than a dozen warehouses. The township responded by issuing a 20-page report this year, noting the tax benefits of the projects.
Palmer has also has seen its share of home development, including the 300 apartments planned on Hartley Avenue. Here is a roundup of what’s been happening on that short strip of road, and what is expected to take place.
St. Jane’s parish center
St. Jane Frances de Chantal Roman Catholic Church has been a fixture on Hartley Avenue for more than 20 years. The parish, founded more than 100 years ago and established for most of its history in neighboring Wilson, constructed a $3.3 million church and rectory that opened in February 2002.
Ever since, parishioners and their pastor, Monsignor Stephen J. Radocha, had been looking to build a parish hall and gymnasium as part of the 27-acre campus that includes a rectory and several athletic fields.
Come Oct. 30, Radocha said during a recent interview, the $7.4 million parish center is expected to be open. Besides a gym and kitchen, the parish center will offer meeting space.
“It’s been something that’s been needed for a long time,” said Radocha, who became pastor when the church moved 20 years ago. During that time, St. Jane’s, with 4,000 families, has grown to become the largest parish in the five-county Allentown Diocese, he said.
“In terms of parish activities, we’re really limited as far as space,” the pastor said.
St. Jane’s current hall, dedicated to late pastor the Rev. James A. Farrell, included a lower-level gym with a low ceiling and narrow basketball court.
“If you were out of bounds, you were hitting a wall,” said Michael Civitella, the parish’s business manager.
The new gym will have a full-size basketball court with seating for approximately 300 people. The social hall will accommodate about 200 people.
Palmer Pointe apartments
Work has begun on a long-delayed plan to build more than 300 apartments.
The Reserve at Palmer Pointe opened the first of 13 apartment buildings in July, and the second and third buildings during the fall, said John Rathfon, vice president of land development with Metropolitan Cos. of Wyomissing, Berks County.
Rathfon said the apartment complex is expected to be completed by the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025. Rent is $1,700-$2,400 per month. A clubhouse has been built near Charlotte Avenue, almost abutting Route 22, and a swimming pool is planned, Rathfon said.
The project, on a former industrial site, was proposed by Bethlehem developer Lou Pektor and Ashley Development Corp. in early 2015. It stalled over neighbors’ opposition to the township’s rezoning and conditional use that ultimately failed in Northampton County Court.
Hartley-Greenwood avenue intersection
Ashley Development agreed to install a traffic light at Greenwood and Hartley avenues in exchange for Palmer Township supervisors allowing the apartments.
Since then, the developers, township and other parties have struggled to come to an agreement on the implementation of a four-way intersection. But signs appear to be heading toward movement. Right now, motorists exiting Hartley eastbound can only turn right or left onto Greenwood, heading north or south. The township would like to add a traffic signal and connect the road to an extension of Hartley that abuts Easton Area High School property.
The Chrin Cos., which owns property on both sides of Greenwood removed several trees from the east side of Greenwood. The company’s headquarters is on the west side of the road.
Chrin cut down the trees, company spokesperson Thomas W. Beaudy said, to move utility poles and lines to that side in planning for the intersection.
“We suggested the road improvements be to the east side,” Beaudy said. “We are ... hoping that it can be accomplished, and we will cooperate with everyone to get these improvements done.”
The developer and Palmer Township must seek a highway occupancy permit from PennDOT, since Greenwood Avenue is a state road, PennDOT spokesperson Ron Young said. He said the township needs to obtain utility clearances and rightof-way easements/acquisitions from property owners, and it must deal with sight issues at the intersection and stormwater management.
Easton Area School District Superintendent David Piperato said the district has not received an update on the project “in quite some time.”
“I don’t know the current status of the project but do expect the developer to seek an easement from the district at some point,” he said.
Stormwater concerns prompted the school board to decline to participate, recalled Meg Sayago, the board’s vice president.
“As far as I know, the position of the district and the board has not changed from earlier in the year, when the district declined to participate in the project,” she said.
Still, other officials remain hopeful that an intersection can be carved out.
“We still want to communicate with the Easton Area School District,” Palmer Township Manager Robert Williams said, adding officials hope to reset discussions early next year.
While the school district sees advantages to opening the road, there are also disadvantages, according to Sayago, including the stormwater drainage.
“I think the district has never had a compelling reason to open up that intersection to through traffic,” she said. “Schools are not like shopping malls; we are not looking for a whole lot of easy access.”
PennDOT records show the average daily traffic volume on Greenwood Avenue in 2020 was 12,562, down from 14,304 vehicles the previous year. Young suggested the 2020 decline might have been due to the pandemic; he did not have figures available for last year.
Traffic declined by 4,000 vehicles between 2000 and 2010, Young said. He said after the Route 33 extension between Route 22 and Interstate 78 opened in early 2002, some Greenwood Avenue traffic started using Route 33 as an alternate north-south route.
New recycling center
The township plans to open a $1.16 million recycling center next to the current facility at 3600 Hartley Ave. in spring 2024, Williams said. State money in the form of Department of Environmental Protection grants, will cover the construction, he said.
“The new recycling center will provide Palmer Township residents with a safer, more convenient and assessable facility,” he said.
The recycling center at 3600 Hartley Ave., which opened in 1998, shares a driveway and parking lot with the township parks building, which creates traffic and safety hazards. Township supervisors sought to build the updated recycling facility in part because of an incident 20 years ago in which two attendants were accidentally run over and killed at the Bethlehem recycling center.