The Lower Saucon Township Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network\u2019s proposed 30,000-square-foot medical office building on Leithsville Road during its March 26 meeting, advancing a project that would bring a three-story facility with 150 parking spaces and more than $2.25 million in roadway improvements to the Rt. 412 corridor across from the Giant shopping center.<\/p>\n
The vote sends the land development plan to Township Council for final approval, with conditions.<\/p>\n
The Project<\/p>\n
St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network is proposing to consolidate three existing lots located between Leithsville Road (Rt. 412), Mount Pleasant Road and Springtown Hill Road into a single 6.11-acre parcel and construct a three-story medical office building. The top two floors would house medical office space, while the ground level would primarily serve as covered parking for 29 vehicles. It would also include an entry vestibule, elevators and a stairwell providing access to the upper floors.<\/p>\n
Township zoning requires 150 parking spaces for the building, and the plan provides exactly 150. The property falls within the General Business (GB) zoning district and the Carbonate Geology Overlay District. A medical office is a permitted use in the General Business district and requires site plan approval under Section 180-102 of the township\u2019s zoning ordinance.<\/p>\n
Scott Pasterski of Keystone Consulting Engineers, the site engineer for the project, walked the commission through the updated plans during a detailed presentation. He was joined by attorney Catherine Durso of the law firm Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba and Mary Jane McKeever of St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network.<\/p>\n
The project first appeared before township planners in November 2024. Pasterski noted the development team had been \u201cvery busy\u201d over the intervening 18 months addressing concerns raised by the commission\u2013particularly regarding pedestrian mobility and connectivity\u2013and working through the PennDOT roadway design process.<\/p>\n
$2.25 Million in Road and Signal Upgrades<\/p>\n
A notable element of the proposal is a planned roughly $2.25 million investment by St. Luke\u2019s in roadway and traffic signal improvements along Rt. 412 at the project\u2019s driveway entrance, which would be across from the shopping center entrance.<\/p>\n
The improvements would include installation of an upgraded traffic signal, two pedestrian crossings with ADA-accessible ramps and pedestrian countdown timers, a 200-foot right turn lane (not currently required by traffic conditions but provided voluntarily) and an extended left turn lane lengthened 25 feet beyond what current traffic volumes require.<\/p>\n
Pasterski said St. Luke\u2019s wants to build a high-volume driveway footprint partly to mirror the Giant Shopping Center driveway configuration across the street and partly to prepare for a potential future connection to Springtown Hill Road.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just better planning and better engineering, frankly,\u201d he told the commission.<\/p>\n
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The location of the proposed St. Luke\u2019s medical office building is on the site of a property known to longtime local residents as the former \u201cbuffalo farm,\u201d because of the animals that were visible grazing there. It\u2019s location is across the street from the busy Creekside Marketplace shopping center, which is home to Giant, Dollar Tree, Bubbakoo\u2019s Burritos and other retail stores.<\/p>\n
PennDOT also requires the addition of exclusive left turn lanes at the intersection, which widened the planned driveway substantially and pushed improvements onto the Giant Shopping Center driveway. Pasterski said St. Luke\u2019s has been in \u201cpretty positive\u201d discussions with the shopping center property owner regarding necessary easements and agreements.<\/p>\n
St. Luke\u2019s is also voluntarily extending water and sewer infrastructure beyond what the project strictly requires.<\/p>\n
Waivers and Deferrals<\/p>\n
The commission worked through the applicant\u2019s waiver and deferral requests one by one, with input from the township\u2019s representatives. Pasterski submitted a revised waiver\/deferral request letter dated March 26, 2026, adding two items that Hanover Engineering\u2019s review letter had flagged as missing.<\/p>\n
The commission, guided by Township Solicitor Steven Goudsouzian, ultimately approved a single motion granting a waiver and deferrals.<\/p>\n
A waiver was granted for the location of the proposed sidewalk along Leithsville Road. The ordinance requires the sidewalk to be placed one foot into the right-of-way, but the applicant proposed placing it approximately 15 feet off the back of the right-of-way due to a seven-to-eight-foot grade difference between the sidewalk elevation and the road, the presence of a roadside drainage swale and safety concerns about a retaining wall against which pedestrians could be pinned in an accident.<\/p>\n
Deferrals were granted for frontage improvements along Mount Pleasant Road and Springtown Hill Road, portions of sidewalk along Leithsville Road where no sidewalk currently exists to the north or south, travel lane and shoulder width on Leithsville Road and the township\u2019s street tree requirement along Springtown Hill Road, where there is heavy vegetation.<\/p>\n
Recommendation to Council<\/p>\n
In a separate motion, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the land development plan, conditioned on:<\/p>\n
Compliance with the Hanover Engineering review letter dated March 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
The applicant placing a note on the plan regarding the future dedication of the driveway to the township.<\/p>\n
All third-party approvals being obtained.<\/p>\n
All outstanding issues regarding third-party lands\u2013specifically the Giant shopping center property\u2013being resolved.<\/p>\n
The applicant\u2019s representatives indicated they would submit a revised plan to township staff before the project is placed on the Council meeting agenda. The township engineer also requested an updated deferral and waiver letter reflecting the Planning Commission\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n
Planning commission vice chair Jennifer Peters recused herself from voting on the proceedings.<\/p>\n
Public Comment<\/p>\n
Two residents spoke during the public comment portions of the meeting.<\/p>\n
David Boulin praised the thoroughness of the agenda materials and the professionalism of both the engineering and legal teams presenting the project.<\/p>\n
Robert Osman raised concerns about the potential financial implications of approving a tax-exempt entity\u2019s development at a time when the township faces a potential loss of revenue if Bethlehem Landfill\u2013which is seeking to expand\u2013reaches capacity. <\/p>\n
Osman suggested the commission consider recommending imposing an impact fee to council.<\/p>\n
The potential for lost tax revenue has come up in discussions about similar projects that are planned or underway in the Hellertown area, including a St. Luke\u2019s medical practice that will be located in a converted Rite Aid building at Main and Walnut streets<\/a> and a Lehigh Valley Health Network microhospital and medical office building that will be located on the site of the former Champion Spark Plug factor at the north end of town<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zoning Ordinance: Appendix A Removal<\/p>\n In the sole miscellaneous business item, the Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the removal of Appendix A from the township\u2019s zoning ordinance. The solicitor explained that Appendix A is a chart of permitted uses that was intended to be updated every time the zoning ordinance was amended, but in practice staff could not keep up, causing the chart to fall perpetually behind the actual ordinance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe intent of the chart was to make things easier,\u201d Chairman Christopher Nagy observed. \u201cThe result of the chart was to make it much more complicated,\u201d the solicitor replied.<\/p>\n The information contained in Appendix A is available directly in the zoning ordinance itself, making the chart redundant. The motion to recommend removal passed unanimously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lower Saucon Township Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network\u2019s proposed 30,000-square-foot medical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1085,7985,204,71022,205,22637,71023,22638,71024,1078],"class_list":{"0":"post-156737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-building","12":"tag-development","13":"tag-hellertown","14":"tag-leithsville-road","15":"tag-lower-saucon-township","16":"tag-medical","17":"tag-offices","18":"tag-planning-commission","19":"tag-rt-412","20":"tag-st-lukes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}