Old West Side Factory Will Soon Be Dr. Li's Home

Suzanne Borzak reviews zoning approval with Yujing Xie. 

Dr. Sherri Li, a distinguished pathologist at Lehigh Valley Hospital, loves Bethlehem. "Especially West Bethlehem," adds her recently married daughter, Yujing Xie. It must be true love, too. She recently purchased an old factory at 821 13th Avenue, next to B. Braun. But instead of competing with her German neighbor, she plans to live there and is refurbishing the building in industrial decor, accentuating the steel beams inside the building. This tract already includes three garages, but to lure her daughter to move in with her, Li needed a fourth. Zoners unanimously approved Li's application for dimensional variances at their June 24 meeting.

Though Dr. Li also appeared before the Board last month, zoners needed to determine whether her proposed garage interfered with a PennDOT right of way. She was able to obtain a map showing clearly that there is no encroachment. After doing so, she and her daughter told zoners that they have located at least 25 abandoned tires on their property.

Bill Fitzpatrick joked that they could sell the tires to pay for the garage. Fitzpatrick was filling and providing the humor that usually come from the Chairman, Gus Loupos. Unfortunately, Loupos was experiencing minor medical difficulties that arose from kissing the Blarney stone in a recent trip to Ireland.

He apparently swallowed it.

The good news is that Gus has made a dramatic recovery at St. Luke's and is expected to return soon.