The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission's (LVPC) Annual Report, published on February 28, was presented to Northampton County Council last week. According to the study, the Lehigh Valley faces a 9,000-unit housing shortage, a strained transportation and utility infrastructure, and a rapidly changing development landscape with new industrial uses (can you say data center?). Population is increasing, but job growth is even greater.
Job growth is predicted to increase by 25% by 2040, which Healthcare and Social Assistance jobs leading the pack.
Although there is an affordable housing crisis, plans for nearly 6,000 residential units were reviewed in 2025, of which more than half - 3,450 - were for apartments.
In addition to housing units, LVPC also reviewed plans to develop 1.3 million sq ft of nonresidential use, of which 7.2 million sq ft is for industrial use.
Council member Jason Boulette asked Executive Director Becky Bradley about Plan Slate Belt multi-municipal plan, where three townships dropped out. She explained that a "really divisive" development planned in Upper Mount Bethel (Lou Pektor's subdivision) "created some issues of trust in the communities up there." She added that one of the developments that pulled out (Lower Mount Bethel?) is currently writing legislation to support a data center.
Council member Jeff Warren said he'd be inviting Bradley back to discuss her views on data centers. She's already discussed them in a piece for the Morning Call in which she cautions that Pa. is a right-to-develop state, meaning every community must plan for every lawful use. She added that the Lehigh Valley already has several small data centers, which a large one planned in Upper Macungie. Rather than painting them as villains, she noted that many of them "are looking to develop geothermal, closed loop and onsite energy generation systems to not only reduce their costs of operation but, reduce impacts. The industry itself is rapidly evolving too. So before anyone declares the downfall of mankind or stirs up any more gossip bordering on hysteria, take a deep breath and proceed with logic."
38 comments:
From the last paragraph,
“So before anyone declares the downfall of mankind or stirs up any more gossip bordering on hysteria, take a deep breath and proceed with logic."
I suggest all of your readers take heed, and apply this policy to all political matters that come before you throughout remaining days. Understand that today’s news media is largely designed to frighten you, and to turn you against the existing order. The reporters hope you will then fall in line with whatever philosophy their ownership group, their funding group, etc. prefers you to believe. Journalistic integrity is mostly gone now.
There is no more straight news reporting to be found these days. It’s all designed to shape and move you in a certain direction. In effect, third party gossip. Proceed with caution and rely most on your OWN eyes, ears, and experience to determine what is accurate about the world around you.
Big data centers and their continued evolution reflects the era in which we live. Hopefully, this expanded ability actually does serve us in positive ways.
a few years ago, AI was predicted to eliminate 40 million US jobs. Those jobs are disappearing faster than predicted, and the number will easily exceed 40 million. How will people feed and house themselves? Waiting for your you boomer parents to die and leave their paid-for homes and retirement portfolios is the strategy for many. But generational wealth won't help most. What now? Trying to put the genie back in the bottle is ridiculous and we can't all be painters and poets. Maybe we should ask AI.
Logic. Bravo Becky
In our area new housing means million dollar plus homes or luxury garden apartments. When people move in their license plates are from NJ or NY.
It's fine to build needed housing but makes little sense when the people who work here can't afford to live here.
overpaid BB and her cohorts telling us what we already know
Respectfully disagree with some points. Data centers, notoriously target rural areas for lower land prices, and less legislation. As technology improves data centers will get much smaller. Today’s data centers are already outdated. Keep your eye on the ball on this one.
Points taken however, the news media has become very business friendly as of late. Smaller media outlets are doing a good job of coverage with integrity.
C'mon guys. You're supposed to hop on your smartphones, get on your cloud-based social media platforms, and smuggly proclaim "nobody needs data centers!" Then to make yourself feel better, order something online...
5:14’s comment should be required reading for just about everyone. There’s still some real “news” being reported, but it isn’t easy to find.
Bradly sold out years and years ago.
The Lehigh Valley that we know and love is dying.
Data Centers? We are still waiting for the
Cost study for rail services being brought back to Lehigh Valley! Oh, and how many warehouses has the planning Commission been introduced to by Bradley? A lot of money being made by
Contracts and Proposals for all the suggested innovative services, but where are the results and costs? Funny how the engineers and architects get paid thousands for studies that dead end.
Becky Bradley is better suited to be a washroom attendant.
If you knew the process, you'd understand that you are uniformed & incorrect.
that's really funny... you should get to know her
Some changes are good, some are bad, but communities change and the existing laws are what govern. If you prefer less change ... move to a less populated area.
If they "target" rural areas it's probably because there's more available land and fewer residents who will freak out.
The LV has been extraordinarily well planned. It's time for summer hours.
What are social assistance jobs? Government?
And your profession? Heeva Hava?
The finest farmland in the United States is located right here in the Lehigh Valley. We are covering up our quality farmland with macadam and warehouses and development no person in their right mind would want. Our present highway system sucks and is worse than Philadelphia. We suffer with poor transportation while the developers skim millions from the valley. Our farmland is rated #5, which is the highest rating in the Country. We pay for farmland preservation with tax dollars and no one complains. We bought the development rights for over 20,000acres with local tax dollars and the only people complaining are the developers. Wake up Northampton County.
Process? Is that what it’s called? Fleecing thousands of dollars for studies that show we can’t afford to do the suggested projects only help the designers and planners wealthy, doing nothing for traffic flow charts, eradicating our pot hole and road deterioration from truck flow, or excessive runoff from covering up our fields with macadam. Bradley’s planners have little to show of success for this Lehigh Valley.
Lived here my entire life, observed the route 78 project, to relieve traffic increase from route 22. They built two lanes , not 4
and we now, after all the planning, have two major routes that are overwhelmed with truck traffic and car flow. The other project of using trains, after years of charts and discussion, was deemed too
costly. Can’t wait to see the drawings, sketches, and underwhelming theater for the data centers.
What Lehigh valley business partners have determined that the warehousing sprawl in the Lehigh Valley should be deemed “well planned” and “resident friendly” for the area residents?
Maybe charging the “owners” of the massive concrete buildings for ALL ROAD damage caused by extreme weight from traffic flow of hundreds of trucks should be included in these well planned and wonderful new projects.
I moved to the Lehigh Valley in 1985 so I'm part of the problem. That said, I miss the 1980s landscape.
Our yields of grain crops don’t compare to that of the Midwest, so if the info you have says we’re #5 there’s a big gap between #1 & #5.
Maybe a group of concerned citizens should buy up the land they don’t want developed. Or work on changing the zoning.
Just said same thing. Should be ongoing contribution. Airport road was bad one month after new road when FedEx grew.
Posters . . .
The Lehigh Valley is BECOMING NEW JERSEY! In addition to becoming New York, too. The new people in our neighborhoods ARE those people. They are leaving those failed states with their very high taxes, horrible traffic, etc., and bringing it all right here. Wake up! This is what radical liberalism in government creates. But, we have plenty of fools who keep voting this stuff right into their homes. Enjoy!
My grandparents missed the 1930s landscape.
Blaming liberalism is bonkers. The things you mention are the case in most cities or densely populated areas. Liberal or conservative, politics has nothing to do with it.
As far as I understand the cities or townships can assess one time impact fees for large developments, there can’t be ongoing charges, that’s what property & gas taxes are for.
If that guy isn't truly a local — he wont know what a heava hava is. 😂
Ask Bradley how many luncheon meetings she has had with warehouse developers, data center owners , and contractors since taking on bringing the Lehigh Valley into the 21st century? Then ask her to show those glowing studies done that show how much the people living here responded to being deemed the warehouse hub of PA.
Our farmland, and counties that neighbor us have extremely productive farmland, and opposed to Cali and the Midwest, our farmland does not depend on irrigation. These farms must be preserved for the future of all of us. All the AI in the world will not feed us. All those warehouses you see were once farms too, but that will never be fertile amiable land again while our population increases.
You mean to say the landowners & realtors or economic development /business recruitment people (that’s what they do) or maybe the municipalities who are the direct beneficiaries of the increased tax revenue resulting from the development.
The midwest doesn't typically need irrigation and has far richer soil / higher average grain yields per acre than Pennsylvania. The farmers here are selling their land because 100 - 200 acre farms aren't economically viable. The only farms that are sustainable are 1000 acres or more.
A few grain growing states, a couple others for fruit and nut production, a couple more for livestock plus Florida and California for vegetables and we could support our entire population. Sure, having a balance of development and open space is good planning for an uncertain future. But, the reality is that farmland Preservation in Pennsylvania is more about open space preservation for those who don't want to see development in their backyard.
Beneficiaries of what? Crowded truck traffic on highways, Degraded asphalt and rutted cement roads do to extreme truck weight. Noise and aggravation with trucks speeding through small town roads following gps systems like a robotic floor cleaner hurrying back to its base to recharge? No thank you. I see no benefits to taxpayers, only inconvenience and chaos.
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