In a post on Facebook yesterday, Palmer Tp advises the public that it has started working at the bike path location it actually owns on the south side of Edgewood Avenue and west side of Nat Hyman's parking lot. It estimates that a "temporary" route for pedestrians will be ready by August 8. Until Monday, it relied on Hyman's forbearance. He allowed cyclists and pedestrians to use his parking lot to make trail connections even though the township has no easement over that portion of his property. He would have allowed this to continue, but things changed when the township refused to issue permits for him to begin construction at his approved apartment complex. Not only that, but the township even executed a search warrant on Friday after being there every day, looking for trouble. Township Manager Robert Williams told Lehigh Valley Live's (LVL) Rudy Miller that Hyman is being treated no differently than any other developer. He added that township officials were simply responding to noise complaints from neighbors. Finally, he told the long-time daily news herald that making Hyman wait for permits is state law. I smell a big, fat bullshit burger. Let me explain why.
2) Noise Complaints From Neighbors? - Williams also told LVL that residents were complaining about noise. Really? Look at the township's own aerial photo above. There are no residents anywhere near this apartment complex. I don't want to call Williams a liar, but it's hard to reach any other conclusion.
In the Affidavit of Probable Cause supporting the search warrant, a code enforcement officer makes no mention of any noise complaints received from residents. He instead noted that he was driving by and happened to notice work was being done. He returned with another code guy and began peering through windows like junkies looking for a place to crash.
There's little doubt in my mind that they were looking for trouble, especially since Williams is reputed to have disagreed with the decision to grant Hyman a use variance for apartments.
3) Making Hyman Wait For Permits is State Law. - Wrong. Once the variance is issued, Hyman can apply for permits. Nor does he need to wait for the 30-day appeal period to expire. As Hyman himself told the Township, "From the outset, you all have done everything possible to make this process incredibly difficult for me, erecting obstacles at every turn….too many to enumerate here. Most recently, not giving me the process of how to apply for a permit before you received the official zoning decision, trying to have me wait the 30 day appeal period, making "will serve" letters a condition of issuing the permit, etc. In so doing, you have cost me a small fortune. I jumped on getting all of the conditions addressed upon which our Zoning Hearing Board approval was conditioned in an effort to illustrate my willingness to work with you amicably. This was obviously to no avail."
Good Government? - Now, instead of simply giving Hyman the permits to which he is legally entitled or asking for a formal easement across his parking lot to connect Tatamy Trail with Hackett Park and the Palmer Bike Path, the township is going to have to excavate a cliff if it wants to continue a paved trail on the land it owns. Williams seems to think this can be done inexpensively. He's wrong.
After costing Hyman a small fortune so he can build workforce housing that addresses a national crisis, the township will spend its own small fortune in creating a bike path when it could have had an easement for nothing. Is this good government?
34 comments:
Democrats are going after Hyman because of his religion.
Williams has a PhD in EnlaredRectumitis
Are noise or zoning complaints public record?
Didnt Nate evict poor people during Covid at wintertime ?
It’s time for Bob Williams to go!
I hope Hyman sues their asses off! They are all a bunch a liars at Palmer Township
Did Palmer pull a permit before beginning their construction of the trail ? If so, how did they get it so fast?????
Does Hymen pay you to be his attack dog ?
Meanwhile , the local newspapers, together with tenant advocate groups, love to lie and say that "the housing shortage" is helping greedy landlords and investors get rich on high rents. This is false. High rents follow high property tax, high insurance costs, skyrocking utilities, and of course the zoning and permitting process, which doubles the cost of construction. The average cost of an apartment in the lehigh valley isn't getting reduced by manipulating supply and demand. The attempt to saturate the market with more housing is failing because cost isn't driven by demand. It's driven by these little lord fauntleroy municipal employees who like to play king, on top of high property tax, utilities and insurance.
Bernie: I read that one of the victims of the shooting in New York was Julia Hyman. I seem to recall that Mr. Hyman has a very accomplished daughter named Julia. Please tell me that was not his daughter who died ! Prayers
Chrin is Catholic. Hyman is Jewish. Hateful Williams knows the difference. Antisemitism is more fashionable now than in the 1930s. Mamdani would win in a landslide in disgusting blue Palmer. Perhaps if Hyman agreed to wear a Star of David patch they'd stop harassing him.
Robert “Bob” Williams is an honorable man. He served this Country with distinction in the United States Army. Nat Hyman is a man without honor.
Doesn't palmer need zoning approval for that? DEP approval because they are so close to the creek? building permits? Or do they get to live by a different standard than the rest of us.
One of his property managers did send out a warning to tenants, and Hyman immediately apologized when it was brought to his attention.
I happen to admire and respect Hyman. He is one of a rare breed who could have moved out of Allentown but chose to stay there. He has prospered without holding his hand out for tax breaks like so many others. And I write what I want to write and when I want to write it. I have never been paid by anyone to write anything. I have followed his situation in Plamer and could have written about it long ago, but believe the supervisors and ZHB had come around. Unfortunately, it appears that Palmer administrators have set out to defy the people's elected representatives.
Nat has a successful daughter named Julia. She works in real estate just like the Julia Hyman who was killed. They are both the same age and both were NYC residents. They are two different people, but what happened threw a scare into Nat. She is OK.
As one of my readers noted, Nat relies primarily on nonunion labor for his projects. This, and not his religion, is posited as a reason why Dem politicians erect roadblocks for him. I do not know this is true and Hyman tells me no trade union rep has ever rebuked him to his face.
I served my country as well and am far from honorable, lol. I know plenty of people who served in the military and who are very honorable but also know others who have no honor. Serving in the military is not what makes you honorable. You're reaching.
OMG! Hyman had thought his daughter died yesterday and he has to deal with this harassment from Palmer on top of that. These officials have no shame. Just give the poor man his permit, let him open the bike trail and move on!! No one should have to go through that.
If the variance appeal period is 30 days how can permits be issued before the appeal period expires? I someone successfully appeals the variance but permits were issued before the appeal period expires does the work get undone?
Bob Williams is bigot. Don't blame the US Army for his behavior. These veterans also reportedly served honorably: Arthur Shawcross, David Berkowitz, Dennis Rader, Gary Ridgway, John Allen Muhammad, Randy Steven Kraft, Robert Lee Yates, Timothy McVeigh.
It’s time for it to get ICY at all of Nat’s projects.
Still wondering In what world is a studio apartment under 600 square feet starting at $2,000 considered "work force housing"?
I don't think our government needs approval for anything it decides it wants to do and the hell with us when we want to do something with our own properties... we only rent our property!!!
There is nothing that prevents them from being issued, but the permitee is working at his own risk. Hyman was willing to take that risk, and I know that most people will do so unless there was some serious opposition. The only opposition to Hyman came from bureaucrats.
I think they would fall into an exception under Pa's RTKL.
Hyman’s studios don’t start at $2,000. I just looked online and he has some starting at $890
I don’t believe the problem here is antisemitism or the unions. The problem is plain old jealousy. Nat is very successful and these bureaucrats aren’t. They wish they had what he has but they don’t recognize that he got there because he worked really hard and took risks while they sat on their fat assess playing video games. And that in a nutshell is the problem with America….jealousy and entitlement
I personally would let Hyman continue with his project.
Then we can see how Palmer likes low to moderate housing and see
who moves in. He is a typical SLUM LAND LORD
No Bernie, faith as nothing to do with it
Which of his buildings exactly have you been in to say he is a slum land lord? I’m guessing none
If the developer was a member of the Palmer Township Athletic Association then the township manager would get down on his knees and lick the applicants boots. Its obvious that some employees in Palmer Township administration are anti -Jewish. The question is whether its only the township manager or some or all of the township supervisors? Sometimes the supervisors go into "executive session" to discuss township business in private. I wonder what is said at those meetings.
The ones in palmer will be "at least $2,000 per month,"
This isn't remotely close to "work force housing", these are "luxury" prices for shoebox sized studios.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/northampton-county/easton-area/developer-apartments-at-former-crayola-factory-would-be-affordable-not-low-income/article_ef3a4f6d-d99b-40d2-aa0c-33cebb5d2a60.html
The anti-Semitic argument is really a stretch, especially since supervisors and zoners supported the application.
Hyman will charge market rate and that will not be $2,000 per month for a studio.
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