ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Two developers experienced contrasting fates during Monday night’s meeting of Allentown Zoning Hearing Board.
MPC Allentown LLC is moving forward with a project to fill an old warehouse with apartments after earning zoning officials’ unanimous approval.
But the zoning board unanimously rejected developer Manny Makhoul's plan to put six apartments in the vacant North Eighth Street church that houses the Casa Jeanette Food Pantry.
MPC Allentown plans to put 18 units in the two-story building at 951 Chew St., which has sat mostly unused for more than two decades.
Those units will include one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well a studio, according to Jason Colfer of Elevate Construction Partnership.
Several previous owners — including a church — pursued non-residential uses for the residentially zoned property.
But the zoning board rejected those proposals, leading MPC Allentown to explore building more apartments.
After years of inactivity
The building, which takes up almost all of the lot on which it sits, currently has five “very oddly configured” apartments, Colfer said Monday.
Some offer more than 2,000 square feet of space and “don’t even have bedrooms, just walled-off areas,” he said.
Some relief from zoning regulations is “not only reasonable but necessary to [allow] a reasonable use of the property.”Allentown Zoning Hearing Board member Scott Unger
The zoning board cut the developer some slack on parking requirements after Colfer spoke of the struggle to find spaces near the building.
City code requires MPC Allentown to add 19 spaces to the eight already set aside for current apartments.
But Colfer said the developer could only find six open spaces across two nearby lots owned by Allentown Parking Authority.
Zoning officials ordered MPC Allentown to work to reduce its parking deficiencies as it builds out the project.
Offering the developer some relief from zoning regulations is “not only reasonable but necessary to [allow] a reasonable use of the property,” board member Scott Unger said, noting the lack of activity there for many years.
Not so lucky
Developer Manny Makhoul was less successful Monday.
Makhoul hoped to overcome a lack of parking for future tenants at the North Eighth Street church property by putting angled spaces behind the building.
He also proposed offering up several unused spots at his property across the street, the former North End Republican club.
“There is insufficient parking in the area; that is an uncontested fact."Aaron Talago, Allentown resident
Several residents slammed that idea.
“There is insufficient parking in the area; that is an uncontested fact,” Aaron Talago said.
He told zoning officials they would be “foolhardy” if they approved Makhoul’s proposal despite “an absence of a plan” for tenant parking.
Unger said he felt there was “probably some relief warranted” at the property.
But he didn’t think Makhoul and his lawyer met the threshold for proving a legal hardship, as is required for the board to act.
