BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Two separate applications to convert former churches in Bethlehem to housing were approved Wednesday by the city\u2019s zoning hearing board. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The first application, from DTMG 1665 VCP LLC of Bethlehem, calls for converting the former Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in the 500 block of High Street into a 15-unit multifamily structure.<\/p>\n
Plans include nine one-bedroom units, three two-bedroom units and three studio apartments with a total of 21 parking spaces, said Kevin Horvath of Keystone Consulting Engineers.<\/p>\n
No changes are planned for the church exterior, Horvath said.<\/p>\n
But some residents expressed concern over parking and the location of the dumpster on the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cParking in that neighborhood is extremely difficult,\u201d said East Walnut Street resident Chuck Hennet. \u201cThere is no permit parking. It\u2019s a free-for-all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hennet added that although there may be enough parking for building residents, problems may arise if the residents have visitors.<\/p>\n
The application was unanimously approved with several conditions, including relocating the dumpster from its proposed location along Walnut Street, ensuring that fencing is taller than the dumpster and adding a buffer.<\/p>\n
In addition, the board is requiring that the proposed studio apartments have one designated parking spot each, something that must be included in the lease.<\/p>\n
Finally, the developer must work with city planners to realign a shade tree on the property.<\/p>\n
The board also approved an application from Monocacy General Contracting LLC to partially demolish the former Zion First Hungarian Lutheran Church in the 900 block of Fourth Street and construct a 24-unit multifamily structure.<\/p>\n
The developer is proposing to build eight one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedrooms units. In addition, the first floor of the church structure will consist of a gym and community space. A total of 42 parking spaces are proposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me it would be a shame to tear down the whole thing,\u201d said developer Plamen Ayvazov.<\/p>\n
About 40% of the church structure, including the fa\u00e7ade and church steeple, will remain intact, representatives for the developer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started the design work trying very hard to keep the church,\u201d said project architect Christine Ussler.\u00a0 It is a petite church and we really couldn\u2019t get that many apartments into the church.\u201d<\/p>\n
Louis James, president of the South Bethlehem Historical Society, expressed concern about the location of a dumpster on the property and the width of the proposed structure blocking the view of nearby St. Michael\u2019s Cemetery.<\/p>\n
The application was approved provided, among other things, that the developer keeps the 40% of the church structure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Two separate applications to convert former churches in Bethlehem to housing were approved Wednesday by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,84265,84267,84262,84268,84266,28,84264,84263,1087],"class_list":["post-189161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-chuck-hennet","tag-dtmg-1665-vcp-llc","tag-hungarian-lutheran-church-on-fourth-street","tag-louis-james","tag-monocacy-general-contracting-llc","tag-pennsylvania","tag-plamen-ayvazov","tag-salem-evangelical-lutheran-church-on-high-street","tag-zoning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189161","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=189161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}