{"id":302878,"date":"2026-10-09T05:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/302878\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T05:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:38:06","slug":"mixed-use-plan-including-60-townhomes-proposed-near-route-512-in-east-allen-nazareth-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/302878\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed-use plan including 60 townhomes proposed near Route 512 in East Allen | Nazareth Area"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>E. ALLEN TWP., Pa. \u2013 The East Allen Township Board of Supervisors held a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/eatwp.community.diligentoneplatform.com\/document\/26573\/?lastModified=639270966593330000\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">conditional use hearing<\/a> on a mixed-use development Thursday night at the municipal building.<\/p>\n<p>The project, known as the Villages of East Allen, calls for two commercial buildings; two medical office buildings; a 4,800-square-foot restaurant; and a residential area of 10 buildings with 60 townhome units at 7111 Beth-Bath Pike (Route 512) in Northampton County. That\u2019s near the intersection of Beth-Bath Pike and Steuben Road.<\/p>\n<p>The property rests in the PC-2 Limited Planned Commercial zoning district and currently is agricultural and vacant land. The applicant, developer Abe Atiyeh through ARA Racquetball LP, acquired the property on Aug. 28, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Two witnesses testified on behalf of ARA during Thursday night&#8217;s hearing \u2014 Kris Reiss, the project&#8217;s engineer, and Gene Berg, the project&#8217;s architect.<\/p>\n<p>The townhome units would be 38 feet in height with no elevators. The applicant added the structure could be designed to save 3 feet in height. This would reduce the total from 38 to 35 feet. Each unit will be equipped with a one-car garage.<\/p>\n<p>The project is slated to be served by public water and public sewer. The plan also proposes curb and sidewalk for stormwater control and pedestrian safety. The developer&#8217;s staff noted the sidewalks will also provide connectivity between the commercial and residential areas. Lighting proposed for the project will not be higher than 16 feet above the adjacent grade.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed Villages of East Allen has been designed so no commercial traffic would pass a residence, the applicant said. All the commercial uses are designated along Beth Bath Pike.<\/p>\n<p>Reiss and Berg told the board the project complies with the spirit, purpose, intent and requirements of the zoning ordinance. The plan is also in compliance with East Allen&#8217;s comprehensive plan for the district, which is to provide for a variety of commercial and business uses.<\/p>\n<p>During a public comment session, residents expressed concerns about how the project could make an already challenging traffic situation in the area worse. Others thought the three-story townhomes would not be conducive to older residents. Still other speakers thought the development was not family-friendly.<\/p>\n<p>Supervisors offered no verdict Thursday night. They are scheduled to announce a decision on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"E. ALLEN TWP., Pa. \u2013 The East Allen Township Board of Supervisors held a conditional use hearing on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,63700,5446,124117,94250,124556,1087],"class_list":["post-302878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-east-allen-township","tag-mixed-use-development","tag-route-512","tag-townhomes","tag-villages-of-east-allen","tag-zoning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302878","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=302878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}