LOWER SAUCON TWP., Pa. – Lower Saucon Township Council tonight is expected to consider a measure that would advance a proposed expansion of Bethlehem Landfill, in part by removing oversight steps and giving the council final say on the project.
- A proposal before Lower Saucon Township Council would help Bethlehem Landfill's owners double its size and extend its lifespan
- The measure would shift control over permitting for landfills from the zoning board to the Township Council, relax site planning requirements and creates an exception to land preservation regulations
- The council will hold a hearing on the proposal during Wednesday night's meeting
Owners of the landfill in Lower Saucon Township say that without expansion, it has room for six more years’ worth of garbage. To keep it running for another few decades, they say, it will have to be expanded.
In an October letter, lawyers representing the landfill laid out a plan to roughly double its size by expanding onto nearby farmland. However, there are a number of legal and regulatory hurdles that stand in the way.
The letter asked the township council to clear several of them. In response, council is considering a measure rezoning land, creating an exception to land preservation regulations, removing site review requirements and shifting ultimate control over approving landfills to the council.
In the last township council election, landfill owner Waste Connections gave $75,000 to Responsible Solutions for Pennsylvania, a political action committee working to elect a slate of three Republican candidates running together: Jason Banonis, Thomas Carocci and Jennifer Zavacky.
Much of that money went to Mercury Public Affairs, a self-described “high-stakes” lobbying and campaign consulting firm based in New York.
All three candidates won, though Zavacky resigned in May.
At least one of the consultants felt his contribution affected the race. In a ranking of Pennsylvania’s top 50 political consultants published by City and State Pa., Mercury Senior Vice President Vincent Galko said one of his biggest accomplishments was “[Sweeping] Lower Saucon Council races on behalf of our client Responsible Solutions for PA.”
What the proposal says
Section One: Rezoning
Waste Connections want to expand onto several parcels it owns wrapped around the dump’s northeast corner, along with a small strip along its western edge. All that land – about 275 acres total – is currently zoned for agricultural use, not landfills. Step one is to change that.
Sections Two and Three: Removing Zoning Board oversight
Currently, landfills are allowed in light industrial zones by special exception – allowing construction if it can show the Zoning Hearing Board it meets a specific set of criteria.
The proposed ordinance would change the rules to make landfills a conditional use. In practicality, that would shift the final decision on whether to allow the development from the zoning board to township council.
In their letter, the lawyers for Waste Solutions never directly asked the council to make that change – it was more of a suggestion.
“In the past, the Township has considered revising the Zoning Ordinance to make landfills and waste disposal facilities a Conditional Use, which will fall under the jurisdiction of Township Council,” it says. “If Council wishes to amend the Zoning Ordinance to make such a change, [Bethlehem Landfill Company] has no objection.”
Sections Four and Five: exempting landfills from most township site planning requirements
Landfills are subject to the township’s usual requirements to submit a site plan, which includes a long list of information, to its planning commission.
That section would exempt landfills from the usual requirements and more than 20 special planning rules that currently apply, along with standards for how the site is set up, such as mandatory fencing and a berm around its perimeter.
The landfill still would have to submit plans under a separate set of township rules, called the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, a less rigorous standard requiring less information be submitted.
Section Six: "Natural Resource Mitigation Alternative"
In Lower Saucon’s Zoning Code, there are limits to how much of a piece of land someone can build on, along with limits on building over “valuable and environmentally sensitive natural features and resources,” as the code puts it.
The expansion Bethlehem Landfill is proposing would blow past those limits, so owners are asking for an exception.
Specifically, the new regulations the company proposed would let them offset the requirements by giving the township more land than regulations would require them to set aside. If finding land proves difficult, the company can commit land that already has something built on it, or just pay a fee with approval from township council.
That exception would be available to all future development in Light Industrial zones, not just landfills.
