According to both the "Citizens for Responsible Development" (CRD) and their attorney, Gary Asteak, NorCo Judge Abe Kassis issued a ruling yesterday that, if it stands, will make a desired expansion of Bethlehem Landfill highly unlikely. According to both Asteak and CRD, Judge Kassis reinstated two conservation easements and a woodland easement that were adopted by the City of Bethlehem in 1994, when it owned the Bethlehem landfill.
The conservation easements preserve 208 acres of landfill property for scenic and conservation purposes and specifically exclude landfills. The woodland easement, which applies to 8 acres, is intended to preserve undisturbed woodland. It was binding on both the City and future owners to preserve the Delaware and Lehigh Canal Heritage corridor as well as "the original character and scenic nature of the land."
Judge Kassis concluded that Lower Saucon Tp, under a previous Council, violated the Donated or Dedicated Property Act when it rescinded these easements without first seeking approval from the Orphans Court. If this ruling stands, Bethlehem Landfill will be unable to expand into any areas protected by these easements.
CRT applauded the ruling as "a crucial affirmation of the public’s rights and the legal protections created decades ago to preserve the character, ecology, and scenic integrity of this landscape.”
Bethlehem Landfill provides waste disposal services for five area counties, including Northampton and Lehigh. It has a 201-acre permit and was approved by DEP for a 40-acre expansion. It was cited last January for failing to control odors.
25 comments:
Lower Saucon obviously thinks more about trees than their revenues or citizens. Bend over residents the tax hikes are in your future.
Thank you Judge Kassis for taking the health and welfare of the local citizens into consideration in this matter.
You have to give the environmentalists a lot of credit. They wisely saved the trees so when the 3 local landfills go bust, they will have somewhere to put their trash.
Northampton County is the GARBAGE CAPITAL of THE EAST COAST. Three landfills and a transfer station is ridiculous for a County of our size. New Jersey and New York ship their garbage here because of interstate trade laws that give them that privilege but it does not give us the privilege to control what comes into our County. Why doesn't Lehigh County have a "Landfill"? Why do we have to take their garbage? Thank you Judge Kassis for sticking up for our local people. It's long overdue and a step in the right direction.
How much garbage must we bring into our community before our elected officials say "enough is enough". There is a Transfer Station (recycling center) on Hanoverville Road that breeds illegal trucks using restricted roads. These garbage vehicles come from many other states into our community. The paper flies out of the backs of these vehicles onto our roads and pollutes our land and streams. Follow one of those trucks on Rt. 22 or I-78 for a short distance and see for yourself. Why can't the Legislature pass a bill that each County must provide a means by which they are mandated to handle their own municipal waste "IN HOUSE". It's your garbage. You address the problem and don't shift the burden onto your neighbors.
Hey yeah just strip everything down, love on a mountain of garbage surrounded by warehouses and McMansions. But muh taxes!
Landfills are not sustainable solutions for tax revenue. They are a non-productive and finite thing. They are necessary but basing your tax revenue scheme around them in the long run is a losing game. You need an off ramp at some point.
Because this is a Commonwealth, ie: all power stands with the municipal officials. Hence why we are stuck with so many ridiculous and useless local levels of government. Nobody wants to lose their power. Must move to a state to see those ideas comes to fruition.
Thank you, Judge Kassis! Conservation easements are meant to be permanent, not cancelled just because some developer wants to make a profit
9:36, I don't know what nonsense you've been reading, but in the US, there is no functional difference between a state and the four states designating themselves as Commonwealths. In the context of the US, it is simply a nice sounding English word used to describe 4 states. The term is also used to describe Puerto Rico and Guam, whose citizens are treated differently in that they are unable to vote in Congress. Maybe you should move to Puerto Rico or Guam, where there are no federal income taxes.
Just reminder about the brainiac sellouts who sold the city of Bethlehem landfill years ago and how much revenue was lost
It is the responsibility of government to provide services at a reasonable cost to its citizens. Not a subsidized by private industry cost. Very few municipalities have income from a landfill. If Lower Saucon can't figure out how to exist without funding by a private industry, they need new leadership. Which is exactly what they now have. The obnoxious corporate lawyers on council who engineered this illegal violation of conservation easements are leaving in a few weeks.
Exactly. These landfills are making a killing off revenue from taking garbage from NY and NJ, and turning the Lehigh Valley into a great big dump. Kudos to Lower Saucon voters for standing up to this attempted environmental fleecing.
There will always be a place for our trash. The PA DEP tightly regulates permitting of landfills so that there are not too many. When one closes, it makes it possible to open another. There is plenty of land in PA.
With the assistance of two lawyers on council. Lower Saucon voters hopefully have learned a lesson that lawyers can be terrible council members. Sorry, Bernie.
High Upon a Quiet Hillside….. Thank you from a Terrier!
Trash has to go somewhere.
Can anyone please explain to me how three landfills and a transfer station can be legally permitted in one County like Northampton. Thank you.
Heres a thought, MAYBE if you stopped all the trash from NJ coming into our landfill, it will last a tad bit longer. You are going to rue the day when that place has to close and we are stuck sending our trash 100s of miles away
Unbelievable that 24 people have acted to screw all 11,000 people because those 24 people, like morons, decided to buy property next to a dump. Ironically, most of those 24 people are dirt poor and won't be able to remain in their homes when taxes double.
Its significantly easier to allow an existing facility to expand than to build a new one. This will flip on appeal.
And don't forget that loser, Rick Anderson, got himself involved. While St. Lukes is buying every property they can (and not paying a dime in property taxes), he wants to fight? Maybe you shouldn't have built your hospital in view of the dump? Once all the boomers are gone we will have tons of buildings to store garbage in, courtsey of Rick.
Didn't he also use St. Luke's, a non-profit entity, to influence Lower Saucon's election by sending mailers to every LS voter that had an address for? Using patient data for politics. What a guy.
At the last Lower Saucon Council meeting a resident (who was obviously upset and pro landfill at its potential closure) said that she should dump her trash in Councilwoman Deleon's yard if the landfill closes. Deleon took such offense to this comment that she wanted the record reflect that this resident threatened her. What a whiny, complaining narcissistic spiteful woman.
What's the difference between Priscilla Deleon and Taiba Sultane? Not much. Two peas in a pod.
Yea, ironically, all 5 councilmembers are now unemployed losers. Should be great.
Yea neither can hold a real job so they grift voters. And dems love em.
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