The Bethlehem City Planning Commission chose new officers Jan. 14. Rob Melosky remains as chairman, and Matt Malozi continues as vice-chairman.

The first case was 708-712 Jennings St. Andy Estojak, owner of the property and the business Andy’s Champion Auto Body, is planning to expand and add a new building, a technology center for the calibration and electronics servicing of newer vehicles. Andy’s has been in business at the site for 46 years. He was seeking a deferral of the sidewalks required by the zoning ordinance for the site. He explained the property has a steep bank, and the area around it does not have sidewalks. He also asked if he kept the improvements to the property at 708, and did not build on 712, would the sidewalks still be required. Director of Zoning and Planning Darlene Heller said they would be.

Malozi noted “it would be tough” to add sidewalks to the site. He said he personally would like to see the city prioritize the locations where sidewalks would be most needed. He said this case was “a good place to start” (noting that sidewalks did not make sense at the site}.

The commission voted to approve the sidewalk deferral.

The next case was a Design Guideline Waiver request for the proposed Auto Zone at 505 Wyandotte and 414-420 Broadway. Attorney Debra A Shulski represented Autozone. She brought along Kurt Rutter, Bill Roundtree, and Chris Peters, of MDM engineering.

Autozone had already made some alterations to its site plan, to align with previous suggestions from Planning and Zoning. After the changes, which included keeping Sheetz Street one-way, and realigning the proposed building to face and front on Wyandotte Street; the plan still required at least five waivers:

1. The building would be one story instead of two.

2. Street level windows.

3. Entrances on all sides.

4. Loading area “invisibility”

5. No driveway on arterial street.

These requests caused the board some consternation. Commission member Linda Cohen noted the front façade windows did not appear to look like a second story, but were squeezed between the first floor windows and the business sign. The developers felt one side of the site was at an elevation that precluded having an entrance on that side. On the loading area, Roundtree agreed that landscaping might be used to conceal at least much of the loading area. Zoning and Planning Director Darlene Heller explained that a traffic study was still pending for the site, and would take place during the Land Development Review. The size of the delivery truck was raised again, and again Autozone only had one size of delivery truck, though they would concede to doing deliveries during lower volume traffic hours.

Only Malozi, Tom Barker, and Linda Cohen were voting. Cohen dissented on the first three waivers, and voted with the other two commission members on the last two. All five design waivers were approved. However, Autozone was not permitted to file their site plan for approval. This caused some momentary consternation for the Autozone team, then Attorney Shulski quickly thanked the board, and the group departed.

The next case was a request by Bethlehem Manor for an expansion of the Institutional overlay at Center and Dewberry Streets. This parcel includes 1838 Center St., which has been vacant for many years. Owner Abe Atiyeh was hoping the overlay expansion would allow him to transfer ownership of the site to Lidil Supermarkets of Germany. This case was initial to be heard in September 2020. Real Estate Manager for Lidil, Chris Dakely, offered a presentation. The company has a location in Easton. Atiyeh characterized the site as less residential than highway. He offered the opinion that Bethlehem lacked grocery stores, and that the Lidil would be a welcome addition to the area. He also pointed out the several other plans he had brough forth for the site, with previous plans having been for a psychiatric hospital, a term care facility, or apartments.

However, the Planning Commission disagreed. Mazoli named several grocery stores local to the northern edge of the city. (In prior Planning Commission meetings, it has been the South Side of Bethlehem that is seen as in need of a major grocery store). Commission member Barker noted that some of the prior plans for the site had received approval, but no development had ensued.

The Planning Commission denied Atiyeh’s request for an overlay expansion.

The next item on the agenda was a recommendation to City Council for a change to the designation of multi-family homes in the CB Zoning district.

The Commission agreed to send its recommendation to City Council.

Finally, the Annual Report for 2020 was submitted.