Aside from Allentown's controversial Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ), the biggest Lehigh Valley development project right now is Charlie Chrin's Route 33 TIF. That's been projected to bring in 3,500 jobs.Dave Colver is Chairman of Palmer Township's Board of Supervisors. He was the most vocal and, in my opinion, effective advocate for Charlie Chrin's Route 33 TIF. Among his arguments last September, he said this.
We're controlling the zoning. No Big Boxes. We're not gonna' see the million, two million square feet under roof, with twenty or thirty people operating forklifts so that the trucks can run around the clock and get on an interchange. Not gonna' happen. We control it.That is exactly what is happening.
We've got a developer who is willing to work with the Township and who is not looking for residential or the Big Box development.
Colver is spearheading a change to Palmer's zoning ordinance that will provide for big boxes in the northern 200 acres of the 689-acre tract. He's doing so because Chrin is in talks with a developer who plans on bringing three 1-million square feet warehouses, with twenty or thirty people operating forklifts so that trucks can run around the clock and get on an interchange. Gonna' happen. Palmer Township controls it. A vote is scheduled for June 26.
Before that happens, Colver will have to explain his sudden about face to Northampton County Council. At this point, a cooperation agreement with the County's Industrial Development Authority still has to be executed, so this TIF is reversible.
Having those big boxes will enable Chrin to sell bonds at a better interest rate, but will the jobs promised still be produced?
According to Easton Mayor Sal Panto, another TIF advocate, "[T]he first thing we need are jobs. Everywhere I go, people are asking me for work, and I feel really badly about them. A lot of people we put out of our jails are coming back in because they can't find work."
I agree with Panto, but find it disappointing that Chrin is reaching out for the low-hanging fruit on a project in which he's marketed himself. On the other hand, Colver is a straight shooter, so I'll be interested to hear his explanation for his sudden about face.
21 comments:
Way to bring western Lehigh County to Northampton County. Warehouse City. Tractor Trailer trucks will clog Route 33 and this new interchange for a measely few jobs. Too bad for the people in Tatamy and that area. They should visit Route 100 and Schantz road area to see what life will be like in a few years.
33 is already a superhighway for garbage trucks heading to Plainfield. Just look at the banks on the side of 33. I travel the country and can say with certainty, 33 between 22 and Wind Gap is the most garbage strewn stretch of roadway in the country. It makes the Cross-Bronx Expressway look clean. Who cares what happens to this stretch of road? Public officials clearly don't give a shit about it. Much of it runs through Colver's township. Has he ever penned a letter to PennDOT or DEP about the condition of Palmer Township's stretch of that dump of a road? There's really nothing like it anywhere.
Shouldn't shock anybody. That was always the plan. Warehousing is the path of least resistance and the lowest common denominator wrapped in one.
Colver was either naive or not being completely honest. Don't know which would be worse in a public official.
My impression is that Colver is very honest and that Palmer is a well-administered township. I am certainly willing to wait for his explanation, which will be made at a county committee next week. But it better be good. His argument is what swayed me last year.
"33 between 22 and Wind Gap is the most garbage strewn stretch of roadway in the country."
Wow! That's the first I ever heard this. I usually get off at 248. The wind must be blowing my garbage all the way up to Wind Gap.
Seriously, though, 33 north of 22 is filthy as well. The higher banks on the highway north of 248 make quite a sight. I think motorists who regularly travel the stretch have become inured, like hoarders who can't see their own mess. It's unsecured and/or improperly tarped garbage trucks heading to Grand Central. It's not littering motorists, although they are out there. The PA entrance from NJ at 78 would be as bad (heading to Chrin) were it not for the efforts of the DRJTBA in keeping their stretch clean. Better enforcement of messy trucks is sorely needed. 33 is really an embarrassment. It gets cleaned around Earth Day in April each year by great volunteers. With little snow cover this winter, the garbage really showed.
Think you're being fed BS Bernie and County Council probably got lied to. Anything to seal the deal.
Palmer's zoning changes allow the warehouses. In fact, they've got two separate districts for warehousing. By far, those districts will take up the majority of the TIF/Interchange area.
The only reason it isn't all warehouses is because they probably can't get away with backing up one of these big boxes 10 feet from Tatamy backyards.
Anyone who thought that this area was going to be anything but warehousing was naive at best. Chrin was smiling all the way to the bank, he knew it. People like him count on local municipal officials to be dupes. Maybe I'm giving Colver too much credit for at least being honest in his intent, but his naivete is possible (or maybe he was in denial). We need smarter people in local government.
Bernie...you must not know Dave Colver at all. He's tied at the hip to Chrin and has been for years. You can meet them most days having breakfast together before the crack of dawn.
Public tax dollars supporting the destruction of more open space.
Almost as bad as LMT seeking DCED grant to develop open space off of Krocks Road. LMT does not need the DCED money to destroy more farmland for a shopping center. Invest public money in Brownfields redevelpment, not more shopping plazas on undeveloped land.
LV's secret NIZ. LMT relying on the PA taxpayer to provide police protection. That is worth about $3-4M per year.
I remember expressing some skepticism back when this was first being discussed on LVR. I pulled back as it was said that there were businesses just waiting to move in. But I recall expressing concern as to what happens if development doesn't happen as planned, and what businesses there were in the TIFF area could not make bond payment, as it can't fall on the taxpayers? The land's market value was supposed to increase from $2.2 million to $414.4 million in 12 years so bond payments could be paid, and 3,682 jobs were to be created. These warehouses are going to make that happen?
Between the warehouses on 248 that create an eye-catching backdrop for the hotel, and if this interchange is built down the road just to create more warehouses with few jobs.... I guess a point of vision, but is this the Quality of Life municipal and County leaders are after?
Wonder if the county ever got their million dollar check from chrin and company, or was that a lie also?
if u believe a chrin i have a bridge to sell u
YOU WERE HAD BERNIE!
MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS.
"Wonder if the county ever got their million dollar check from chrin and company, or was that a lie also?"
It was $2 MM, is not a lie, and will be paid out of profits once lots are sold.
What did you think was going to happen once #33 was completed? It was going to be developed. It was supposed to create jobs. It was supposed to increase the tax base. Developers such as Chrin are not new to this area. They are in business to make money. It is up to the townships and their modern day zoning laws to keep things honest. The area Chrin wants to develop is the most desireable industrial property in the Country. It is the center, the hub for tens of millions of people. You can be in Norwalk Conn. in 2 hrs. and 20 minutes, you can be in Baltimore in about 3 1/2 hours, you can be anywhere in New Jersey in less than 3 hrs. anywhere in Pa. in 3 1/2 hrs, almost anywhere in New York in 3 1/2 hrs, Maryland, Washington D.C., and the list goes on and on. We are a hub. the Spokes will dictate what kind of development occurs. We are playing on a National Field of dreams. It is up to local zoning boards to make sure it doesn't become a local field of Nightmares.
Well said.
"What did you think was going to happen once #33 was completed? It was going to be developed. It was supposed to create jobs"
"We are a hub. the Spokes will dictate what kind of development occurs. We are playing on a National Field of dreams. It is up to local zoning boards to make sure it doesn't become a local field of Nightmares."
Sorry, but not well said. Yes, CREATE JOBS...thats what the "job creators" are supposed to do...but warehouses that consume valuable real estate (so exactly HOW MANY jobs are created??): a.) it is NOT up to local ZHBs "to make sure it doesn't become a local field of nightmares"--it is is up to the ELECTED local governing boards (supervisors or commissioners) who write the ordinances, SALDOs, and comprehehensive plans that ZHBs are bound to, and b.) so local GOVERNING bodies should just go with the lowest form of development (warehouses) because that is the market now??
Warehouses have their place, and I have supported them in their proper place....but prime County real estate is being wasted on a TIFF to create warehouses..."just one" now...we'll see in then end. As a previous posters have noted, look at Rte 100/Schantz Rd. IF, note IF, there is a viable market for them, then no corporate welfare is needed--isn't that what the Tea Nuts preach?? "the Spokes will dictate what kind of development occurs"...well then the spokes should be driven and paid for the old fashioned way--with no need for government help, right??
Lighthouse, I posted the zoning overlay. Let me know what you think.
I will comment on your other post. I comment here to see if I draft comments in Word first, will italics transfer to blogger comments. I really don’t like when people, myself included, use upper case. It comes across as unintentionally shrill. My apologies.
Post a Comment