BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Officials in Bethlehem are closing in on the next phase of a project to overhaul the city’s oldest public housing community.
Bethlehem two years ago secured a $500,000 Choice Neighborhood planning grant, which has been used to develop options for transforming Pembroke Village and the area around it.
The city has held several public-input meetings to gather residents’ feedback on those options.
The city’s Choice project in Pembroke offers residents “the opportunity to plan what the next generation of their neighborhood looks like."Mayor J. William Reynolds
Dozens turned out at the Northeast Community Center six months ago, and more than 50 people attended the “Pembroke Choice Festival” on Saturday afternoon in a popcorn-scented gym at the Boys & Girls Club.
Among them was Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds, who said Saturday’s event and the city’s Pembroke project is “about community building and about community development.”
“It's about building neighborhoods and building connections,” Reynolds said, gesturing to a host of local organizations lining the edge of the gym, offering residents information about services and more.
The city’s Choice project in Pembroke offers residents “the opportunity to plan what the next generation of their neighborhood looks like,” he said.
'Setting down roots'
The city soon could enter the project’s next phase by entering an agreement with a developer, the mayor told LehighValleyNews.com.
That will let officials start chasing state and federal funding to upgrade Pembroke. They plan to apply for another Choice Neighborhood grant of up to $50 million to implement the project.
Adding mixed-income housing to the public housing development "allows … you and your children to be able to stay in the same place that you've been, where you've been setting down your community roots."Mayor J. William Reynolds
Pembroke Village was built in 1941 and is run by the Bethlehem Housing Authority. The 19.5-acre property has 196 housing units, mostly in two-story townhomes.
Those apartments — a mix of one-, two- and four-bedroom units — house more than 460 residents. Pembroke Village residents have an average annual income of just under $29,000, according to city statistics.
All units, which are income-restricted, are to be demolished and replaced with mixed-income housing. That would offer families an opportunity to move out of public housing but remain in their community, Reynolds said.
“It allows … you and your children to be able to stay in the same place that you've been, where you've been setting down your community roots,” he said.
Sara Satullo, deputy director of Bethlehem’s Department of Community and Economic Development, told LehighValleyNews.com that income restrictions throughout Pembroke are “almost a disincentive” for many residents who would otherwise want to earn more money.
“What we’ve heard from folks is that there’s no economic ladder for them out of public housing. The aim for the Choice program is to build that ladder.”Sara Satullo, deputy director of Bethlehem's Department of Community and Economic Development
Residents whose earnings eclipse those restrictions must move out of their public-housing units within two years, Satullo said.
“What we’ve heard from folks is that there’s no economic ladder for them out of public housing,” she said. “The aim for the Choice program is to build that ladder.”
Pembroke residents are unable to work at Just Born Quality Confections, which neighbors the property, because they’d earn too much there to qualify under its income restrictions, Satullo said.
A draft plan on display Saturday showed 425 total units on the same land where about 200 stand today.
