EASTON, Pa. – Easton City Council advanced legislation involving the historic Hooper House’s restoration Wednesday night at city hall.

The resolution authorizes the city’s department of community and economic development to apply for a Semiquincentennial Grant for façade restoration and rehabilitation for the historic structure located at 501 Northampton St. The city is seeking $200,000 and will provide $100,000 in matching funds, should it receive the grant. 

Hooper House was owned previously by Col. Robert Lettis Hooper Jr., an officer in the Revolutionary War. The home is the oldest in Easton.

The property, which was purchased in 1992 by Rock Church, was deemed blighted by the city in 2021. Easton attempted to take the property in 2024 whereas Rock filed preliminary objections to the taking. After a court appearance last year, the two sides agreed to resolve the pending and uncertain litigation. 

Property maintenance guidelines

City Council also introduced an ordinance amending exterior property maintenance (see page 20).

The bill adds general guidelines involving access ways, private, unnamed, vacated and unimproved streets along with alleys, lanes and shared driveways. 

The additional regulations require the areas “be maintained free from obstructions and hazardous conditions so as to provide safe and reasonable ingress and egress.” The additions also require that no obstruction “within an access way serving multiple properties…interferes with or prevents reasonable access to any property served by the access way.”

Should the bill become law, no person would be allowed to “install a gate, fence, barrier, wall, post, chain, landscaping feature, or similar obstruction across an access way serving multiple properties in a manner which restricts access by emergency responders, utility providers, municipal officials or persons possessing lawful legal rights.”

A violation of the law would be declared “a public nuisance,” and when the city’s chief code administrator determines that an obstruction presents “an immediate threat to public safety,” Easton officials have the authority to remove the obstruction.