The Nazareth Area School Board voted Tuesday, Nov. 25, to condemn the former Calandra’s Cheese site to make way for athletic fields and for its administrative offices.
A developer has proposed 154 apartments in five buildings on the site at East Lawn Road and Friedenstahl Avenue in Upper Nazareth Township.
The township zoning officer rejected the plan in April because there are too many apartments proposed for the 10-acre parcel, according to township meeting minutes.
Developer One More Properties LLC has appealed to the township zoning hearing board looking for permission to put in the apartments or at least some guidance about how many apartments it might pursue.
The developer shares an address on Falmer Drive in Bethlehem Township with developer Tuskes Homes. Attorneys Michael Peters and Mark Eastburn have represented the developer at zoning hearings. Neither replied to an email seeking comment Friday. An email to Tuskes Homes was blocked by a spam filter.
The apartment plan was panned at an Upper Nazareth Township planning commission meeting in July. Residents raised questions about traffic, sinkholes, the number of children that would head to already crowded public schools and the density of people moving into a small area.
“The density is staggering,” township solicitor Gary Asteak said at the July 10 meeting. The planning commission voted to table the proposal. It hasn’t been reconsidered.
The developer came before the zoning hearing board on Oct. 29, but agreed to put off testimony until December because “the township and the applicant have been discussing an alternative use for the site,” according to the Oct. 29 zoning hearing minutes.
The school board voted unanimously to seek condemnation. They did not discuss the decision at the meeting. You can click on a link in the agenda to see a meeting video.
The school board resolution says condemnation is necessary due to increasing enrollment. The district will need the space to relocate its administrative offices and make more room in the high school. The property is adjacent to the middle school, which is adjacent to athletic fields shared by both the middle and high schools.
Under state law, a government entity can condemn a property if the property is needed for an important public use. The landowner can fight the proceeding in court, although most of the time landlords accept the condemnation and negotiate over the value of the land.
It’s unclear how much the school district would pay to condemn the property. Typically, condemnation proceedings would include an appraisal to determine the property’s fair market value. Like any civil lawsuit, the proceeding can last for many years.
The listed property owners in Northampton County online records are members of the Calandra family. They started their cheese business in 1949 but closed in 2020. They were known for years for their fresh mozzarella.