In April, Northampton County Council voted 6-3 to approve a tax break known as a LERTA for industrial property owned by developer Lou Pektor. Those in favor were Council members Tom Giovanni, John Goffredo, John Brown, Ron Heckman, Lori Vargo-Heffner and Kerry Myers. Voting No were Council members Tara Zrinski, John Cusick and Kevin Lott.
This vote followed a lengthy hearing in which over 20 people spoke, some of them twice, either to support or oppose the tax break. Most of those who opposed were concerned that Pektor would develop warehouses instead of manufacturing facilities.
This tax break was quickly vetoed by Executive Lamont McClure because "we should not be incentivizing warehouse construction with tax breaks." But the same six Council members who voted for the Pektor tax break overrode McClure.
Last week, Lehigh Valley Planning Commission's Matt Assad advised County Council that 13 million sq ft in warehouse development has been proposed in Northampton County. Council was provided with a list of "land uses of regional significance," meaning their impact will be felt in multiple municipalities. They include nine separate development plans submitted by Pektor's RPL Logistics in Upper Mount Bethel Tp.
Assad was careful to avoid embarrassing Council by telling them they approved a tax break for warehouse development, but it certainly appears that is exactly what they did.
10 comments:
If you go back and review the County Government, you have to admit that this group of morons are the worst Council we ever had. Can you name one thing that they accomplished that will go down in the history of our government that they can point to as their legacy? Oh yea, they changed their names to "Commissioners".
The name Pektor should have been the first hint to stop this thing.
Ha!
To be fair, Bernie, you should point out the Upper Mount Bethel supervisors and the school district voted in favor of that LERTA first.
Anon 613am is correct - never trust a Pektor. It's not that hard.
Lou and Lisa Pektor are big donors or carpetbagger Maria Montero for Congress! It was on PoliticsPA. They gave her the maximum amount of $6,600. Save Mt. Bethel and say no to all three of these people who don’t care about our area. They only care about themselves!
I agree with 6:21.
If the township (which is much more involved in the decision than the county) and school district (which is giving up far more in terms of property tax than the county) both vote for it, it’s more difficult for the county to say no to it and put the project in danger.
If we’re going to blame any level of government for (possibly) giving us another 13 million in proposed warehouse space, it’s the local (city/two/borough) elected officials.
Where someone stands on more warehouses should be a deciding issue in all municipal races, and it’s not enough to say you’ll vote against proposed warehouses. We need people who are going to actively make changes to current local zoning codes to greatly restrict where warehouses can go in their towns.
You are doing a great job censoring comments critical of the McClure plot to destroy the LVPC. The crew thanks you.
I have received no comments critical of McClure's plot to destroy LVPC. I have always supported LVPC, think the world of Becky Bradley, believe the salaries paid are appropriate and have high regard for what they do. I disagreed with their move to the waterfront, and do not think they should take actions like that without more of a consensus. But that is not the end of the world for me.
The fact that any member of council actually believed Pektor’s promises to bring in manufacturing is deplorable. He said what he had to say in order to get what he wanted. Now, thanks to council, UMBT will have millions of square feet of warehouses. Now, he has tax relief over a ten year period.
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