Bethlehem’s City Council convened on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing efforts to remove an encampment located by the Hill-to-Hill Bridge and diverting funding from the downtown initiative fund to support the city’s world heritage site manager.
The council also discussed the need for affordable housing in Bethlehem and a proposal to construct units where Martin Tower once stood.
Encampment relocation
Six constituents came to speak regarding the ongoing effort from Norfolk Southern Railways, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and UGI, a gas and utilities company, to relocate the homeless encampment under the Hill-toHill Bridge by Dec. 15.
Along with the constituents, some council members spoke in regards to the encampment and asked questions about what is being done.
“The hot issue and pertinent issue right now is the encampment,” said Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith. “It’s a crisis situation and we have to do whatever we can.”
Valerie Noonan, a Bethlehem resident, said the eviction process and information being relayed around it was unclear.
She said when a community member was at the encampment on Sept. 10, they were told by Bethlehem Police Captain William Audelo that the entire nearby canal, including city parcels, were being swept.
However, she said Sara Satullo, Bethlehem’s deputy director of community development, said in a call today that city parcels wouldn’t be included in the sweep.
Councilwoman Kiera Wilhelm discussed the Community Connections initiative that supports the homeless population living in the encampment. She said Community Connections is an organization that offers long term services, forming trusted relationships with the homeless individuals.
Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott said the police department’s goal right now is not sweeps, but rather getting people housing and help, and Community Connections helps them in this process.
“Community Connections has been a godsend because they’ve really enabled us to try to help people in getting help with housing, food insecurity, joblessness and unmet social service needs that they may have,” Kott said.
Affordable housing and Martin Tower redevelopment
Smith and Councilman Bryan G. Callahan urged the council to revisit a proposal about Martin Tower.
Martin Tower was a 21-story building originally used as the headquarters for Bethlehem Steel, located in north Bethlehem.
The building was demolished in 2019, and the site has since been mostly vacant.
Councilman Bryan G. Callahan said due to high interest rates and costs of building supplies, the developer hasn’t been able to build much at the site with the exception of a few buildings for Lehigh Valley Health Network and Jefferson Health.
The developer had previously proposed offering land for affordable housing in lieu of fees associated with a LERTA, which is a tax abatement program meant to encourage the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized properties.
Laura Collins, Bethlehem’s director of community and economic development, said an evaluation showed less than 2% of land in the city of Bethlehem was considered developable and identifiable for affordable housing.
Callahan said the original proposal included 1,700 affordable housing units but had since shrunk to 880 units in the last letter he received.
“Option A is we do nothing, or option B is we get land for affordable housing, we get money for affordable housing, and we get 50% of a huge tax amount of money,” Callahan said.
Collins said Bethlehem typically doesn’t do one off LERTA’s and that they’re not free, but rather are a tax abatement programs that costs taxpayers money.
Callahan said if a LERTA wasn’t approved and the city didn’t act on the proposal, the developer might sell the property to Lehigh Valley Health Network and Bethlehem would get no money because LVHN is a non-profit.
UNESCO world heritage site manager funding
A new ordinance proposed transferring $120,000 from the downtown initiative fund to cover the salary of the recently appointed world heritage site manager.
Callahan and Smith both spoke out against the proposal, citing concerns that the funds are needed for downtown initiatives, when Moravian University already funds the UNESCO designation and expenses related to the position like retirement matches and insurance.
“A private entity has agreed to pay for this forever,” Smith said. “So why are we going to take taxpayer money to pay for it? The downtown initiative fund is meant to provide funds for needed resources and repairs for both downtown areas.”
Smith also said small business owners have approached her in recent years, requesting city funds for what they considered necessary repairs. Even with the World Heritage designation, Smith believes it’s important to earmark the funds for the downtowns of North and South Bethlehem.
Kwiatek and Councilwoman Rachel Leon both expressed their support for the redistribution of the funds.
They both said since the UNESCO status has been recognized, they must continue to invest in the site to attract visitors.
Kwiatek also said this distribution of funds isn’t permanent and is something that should be revisited by the finance committee in a few years to see whether fundraising plans were successful.
During the vote on redistribution, all except Smith voted yes, including Callahan. Councilwoman Colleen S. Laird recused her vote due to her position as the assistant chief information officer for strategy and communication at Moravian University.
Other topics discussed
Kott responded to concerns about Flock Safety’s license plate reader system and confirmed the Bethlehem Police Department does not share data with third parties.
“Our data is owned exclusively by the City of Bethlehem,” Kott said.
The council also gave approval for the mayor to apply for a $5 million grant to build a new SouthSide Community Center. They also gave approval to apply for a $2 million grant that would fund capital improvements to the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter to expand capacity and allow them to transition to year-round operations.
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