At the June 17 Emmaus Borough Council meeting, council unanimously approved a conditional approval that will allow Phoebe Ministries of Allentown to build an independent senior living community at the old Rodale property on South 10th Street.

The current title is Chestnut Ridge at Rodale which pays homage to Rodale’s long standing presence in the borough and also encourages a healthy lifestyle in the elderly community.

Joseph Bubba, of Fitzpatrick, Lentz & Bubba, who was at the meeting representing Phoebe, said this community is the first step in an aging in place model. Instead of going right to nursing homes, these types of communities will allow “independent members of the elder community who need very few services to begin transitioning over time to more intense services like personal care, assisted living and then potentially skilled nursing,” Bubba said.

The community will have 122 units split between two buildings, which will consist of one to two bedrooms, and in some cases a den. The community, which is estimated to generate 35 jobs, will have a dining venue with a pub, activity spaces, a fitness room, bike storage area and a pet watch station to name a few.

Phoebe’s Vice President of Health Care Services Mary McMahon was in attendance as well. She noted the company is really trying hard to incorporate the local community into the residency. “We want to give them enough amenities to make living there easy and carefree, but not so much that they don’t venture out,” McMahon said.

McMahon said some ways they will incorporate the local community will be keeping the previous day care that was on Rodale’s campus up and running as “intergenerational activity is a great service for the elder community, so we expect there will be volunteers.” She said they are looking into the uses for the warehouse to incorporate creative arts for the community, and as part of the sidewalk waiver, will create a connective sidewalk from South 10th Street all the way into town.

The walking trails on the former Rodale campus will be open to the public and will be maintained by Phoebe. A gravel access to the trail along South 10th Street will be added. Walking, jogging, and dog walking will be permitted during daylight hours and bikes will not be permitted.

Borough Manager Shane Pepe raised stormwater concerns, as this has been a big issue for the borough recently. The existing campus has two detention basins controlling the release of stormwater into the borough sewer on South 10th Street. Phoebe will reduce the amount of impervious cover to the site, so the two stormwater detention bases will be able to function as they were originally designed with no modifications.

It was noted that for some reason if Phoebe does not maintain the basins, the borough is legally allowed to go in, fix the issue themselves, and then send the costs to Phoebe.

Plans will now move forward to the land development stage.

In other business, council gave the approval to allow a taproom at South Mountain Cycle & Cafe. Owner Chad Balliet will work with the owners of Mountain View Vineyards, Linda and Randy Rice, to sell wine, beer and spirits in the newly moved cafe.

South Mountain will start with installing the tap in the cafe, with hopes to incorporate it into the future restaurant portion of the shop, as Balliet plans to expand into the building’s lower level portion in the future. Balliet said “this whole process will evolve” as other types of these cafes have been successful in areas of Europe, Seattle and Portland according to Balliet.

Fire Department Chief John Price presented three recently retired members of the fire department plaques recognizing their services throughout the years. John Reiss, who retired as assistant fire chief, served for 25 years and responded to 3,220 calls, Jeffrey Kuhns, who retired as captain of fire police, served for 39 years and responded to 6,429 calls and Robert Martrich, who served for 12 years and responded to 1,393 calls.

Council passed the first reading of Ordinance 1191, which will modify a zoning ordinance from 1993 pertaining to usage particulars and regulations in churches and other places of worship in the borough.

Pepe said this ordinance came about after one of the local churches approached the borough with concerns.

“Obviously our local churches are struggling financially and some churches just have bigger venues where they can do things in addition to the normal church type of services such as plays, or renting out basketball courts, which we know is happening but not regulated,” Pepe said.

“What we needed to do was figure out a way for to at least give them [smaller churches] the opportunity to be considered,” he said.

This new revision will essentially have churches come to council for conditional use approvals on a case-by-case basis depending on the event.