Palmer Tp Explanation of Hyman Harassment Rings Hollow

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. 

1) Everyone Is Treated the Same? - I threw up a little when I read that comment from Williams. If this were a Chrin project, public works would be helping him put it up. But let me give you yet another example.  In February, a warehouse developer was allowed to close Newlins Mill Road to all traffic while they work on one of their ugly and soulless concrete megastructures.  That road is still closed, nearly half a year later. Regular people who use that road to get to work or home must use detours.  The public is prevented from using an actual public road, not a mere bike path. All for a warehouse developer. That road was supposed to be closed two months tops but is still closed. Palmer is screwing with Hyman on his own property, even to the point of looking inside his windows like peeping Toms and executing a search warrant. At the same time, it is allowing a warehouse developer to take over a public road and prevent its use by the people for which it is intended.  This is far from equal treatment. 

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? 

Hyman to Cut Off Tatamy Trail Access After Palmer Tp Executes Search Warrant on His Apartment Building

I just don't get it. In Wilson Boro, elected officials are tripping over each other to help a nonlocal developer turn the long vacant Dixie Cup factory into apartments with rents so high that only people from Jersey and NYC could afford them. They're even willing to give a $29 million tax break, with the sole holdout being NorCo Council. But barely a mile away, Palmer Tp officials have thrown up roadblock after roadblock in a bizarre attempt to prevent local developer Nat Hyman from developing an old and vacant Crayola factory into apartments for workforce housing and without a dime in public handouts. The most recent example of Palmer's obstruction is a search warrant for his property, obtained on Friday, July 27, not for drugs or dead bodies, but for something far more sinister - "tools or evidence of construction activity." It was "served" by a code enforcement officer, accompanied by Palmer police officers who said they'd love to rent there. When the code enforcement officer was told that Hyman's contractor has 30 families who need to eat, the response was "then learn how to schedule your work better." 

Palmer Tp's zoners approved Hyman's property, located at 2025 Edgewood Avenue, for residential use on July 14. 

As soon as that decision was handed down, he asked Palmer officials to advise him of the process for obtaining permits. He was told he had to wait until they received the written decision, which is complete nonsense. After officials got the written decision, Hyman was told he had to wait until the 30-day appeal period had passed. This is also incorrect, although whatever work Hyman did would be at his own risk. Hyman was also told that he could get no permits until all conditions of approval had been met even though he met all but two conditions that were dependent on information being provided by township engineers. 

Obviously, despite support from zoners and even supervisors, someone in Palmer Tp's administration is pulling out all the stops to prevent Hyman from building workforce housing in a region facing a housing crisis. 

Hyman tells me in all his years of real estate development and even during numerous battles with Allentown, he has never been hit with a search warrant. Not in Allentown ... or Nazareth ... or Northampton ... or Stroudsburg ... or Williamsport .... or anywhere. 

The search warrant is predicated on an affidavit of probable cause from a code enforcement officer who was apparently visiting the site every day, looking for a reason to stop it, even to the point of peeping into windows. What his workers have done is pull out carpet, remove old lay-in ceiling tiles, cut wood and metal to use as studs and install some non-structural studs. That’s it. None of this requires a permit.

In the affidavit, the code enforcement officer includes photos that show the following: 

1. A dumpster showing residue from cutting wood for studs.

2. NON -STRUCTURAL studs seen by peeping through a window.

3. Two trucks in the parking lot.

4. A garbage cart with residue from cutting non-structural studs.

5. An EXISTING electrical panel observed by window-peeping and that was there when Hyman bought the place. He actually intends to replace it.

None of these items requires a permit, a point that Hyman's attorney made with Palmer officials on Friday afternoon. 

Palmer even hammered Hyman for replacing windows, even though he is expressly allowed to do so long as they are the same dimensions as the original. This is a matter of public safety and discourages mischief and prevents the property from becoming an attractive nuisance.

In an email to township officials, Hyman states, "These gestapo tactics are so beyond the pale that I can’t even begin to address the offensiveness and absurdity of it! They made all workers stop work and leave the building. ... Frankly, I don’t react well to being bullied and my experience tells me that a bully interprets kindness as weakness and only understands strength. I have had enough."

So how does he intend to show strength?

He could sue. He's already spent $250,000 in legal and witness fees to persuade Palmer Tp's zoners to grant him a variance that permits a residential use. He could sue for damages, especially since time is money. 

But he also has another tool and will use that one today.

Palmer Tp has an easement (in green) over a portion of Hyman's property on the north side of Edgewood Avenue for the Tatamy Rail Trail, which incidentally is among my favorites. People who use that trail can continue through Hyman's parking lot (in red) on the south side of Edgewood Avenue and make their way up the steep hill to Hackett Park or even the Dixie Cup in Wilson. But guess what? The township has no easement for the trail across his parking lot. The trail along the west side of Hyman's lot (in green) is actually a cliff owned by the township. It would probably cost close to $1 million to excavate and pave. 

Up until now, Hyman has had no problem with trail users who go through his parking lot. He likes seeing the activity and that is one reason why he bought the property in the first place. But he needs to send the township a message, and this is it, in his own words. 

Please be advised that a temporary barrier is being erected today to prevent access through our parking lot from one side of the bike and running trail to the other. We plan to erect a chain link fence to really secure the lot over the next few weeks.  In addition, the tow truck company has been contracted to tow all vehicles in our parking lots…. In including those of people who park there to use the trail. 

The only way the barricades come down and the trail reopens is if THIS WEEK:

1. We are permitted to resume work

2. The permit is issued. 

3.  Your officials stay away from me and do not harass me again.

If it goes beyond this week, the barrier remains permanently, and Mr. VanLuvanee [Hyman's lawyer] will be filing complaints to seek damages.