ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A proposal to construct a more than 200,000-square-foot elementary and secondary school on the site of the former Allentown State Hospital was advanced by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s comprehensive planning committee on Tuesday.
The so-called Northridge Project consists of a multi-story, 203,400-square-foot school and the construction of new roadways at 1600 Hanover Ave.
The plan will be reviewed at a full meeting of the LVPC on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Existing paving and sidewalks are expected to be demolished and replaced with a new access drive connecting to Hanover Avenue.
The overall proposal for the entire 195-acre Northridge complex includes rental and for-sale homes with multi-family flats, single-family homes, senior living, garden apartments, town houses, retail, health care and flexible business spaces and retail.
If approved, the school construction will likely start in the fall of 2025.
City Center, the developer of the proposed project, lists its estimated cost at $115 million.
The 195 acres that comprise the Allentown State Hospital site have long been vacant and are located between Hanover Avenue and River Drive in the Rittersville neighborhood of East Allentown, near the border with the City of Bethlehem.
The site once housed a psychiatric hospital which closed in 2010, and the building was demolished in 2020.
The 195 acres have undergone remediation to facilitate a master planned development.
Rezoning request discouraged
A request by Serfass Development & Acquisitions, of Allentown, to have a parcel at 119 Technology Dr. in Bethlehem rezoned to build 240 apartments was not approved.
The site is currently zoned Industrial Redevelopment (IR) District, and is proposed to become Central Business (CB) District.
The site is currently developed with a manufacturing facility.
Apartments are not suitable for the site particularly because it is adjacent to an active freight rail line, the committee wrote.
The adjacent Lehigh Riverport residential development is known to have had issues with tenant retention because of noise generated by rail activity.
The site is most suitable for low-scale industrial/manufacturing and entertainment uses which provide economic revitalization and support the intent of the current IR designation, the committee said.
Warehouse project concerns
The planning committee voiced concerns over possible traffic-related issues from a proposed warehouse development project in Plainfield Township.
The project, known as The Cubes at Wind Gap, calls for building two warehouses at 905 Pennsylvania Ave., also known as Route 512.
The LVPC worries about how the project will impact LANTA bus routes, as well as general traffic in and around the site along Pennsylvania Avenue and Route 33.
Many roadways in that vicinity are not built to withstand the heavy vehicular traffic the development will generate, the committee said.
LVPC Chair Christopher Amato noted the commission has not received an updated Transportation Impact Assessment, or TIA, from the developer since May 2021.
While CRG Services Management LLC is the applicant for the project, the Jaindl Land Co. is associated with it.
Landfill expansion
The LVPC opposed a proposal by Waste Management to amend the Plainfield Township zoning ordinance to allow for the expansion of the Grand Central Landfill.
The request calls for rezoning from a Farm and Forest District to Solid Waste Processing and Disposal District.
If approved, the rezoning would encompass 211 acres.
Waste Management’s request is based on its assessment that the landfill is nearly full.
Landfills and waste disposal facilities are high intensity land uses with impacts that must be carefully considered and mitigated when proposed, the committee said.