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| Lesser Black-backed Gulls use site as staging area |
The Bethlehem Township Planning Commission on Monday night agreed to most of the five changes a developer requested for its 261-unit housing project near Green Pond Marsh, a National Audubon Society-designated Important Bird Area.
Traditions of America, a housing development company based in Radnor, wants to build a gated housing community catering to affluent residents age 55 and older. The 119-acre tract adjoins Green Pond Country Club—a key selling point for customers.
Green Pond Marsh is one of the best areas in the Lehigh Valley for viewing wetland birds, especially migratory species. Over the years, 162 different bird species have been seen at the marsh, including eight that are either endangered or threatened in Pennsylvania.
Birders have been kept away since September, when a backhoe dug 39 test holes around the marsh to test the soil composition, and the land's current owner, Green Pond Country Club, posted no-trespassing signs. The country club granted Traditions of America the right to develop the site. The tract is bordered in part by Green Pond Road, Farmersville Road and Church Road.
The development plan is in the preliminary stage, and it is subject to final approvals by the township Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners. A few federal and state agencies also must sign off on the plan for it is to proceed.
The developer on Monday sought five waivers from township ordinances. Four dealt with various aspects of road design, sidewalks and curbing. The fifth was a waiver of the township's storm water management ordinance.
Two of the waivers involve issues that directly pertain to Green Pond Marsh: the realignment of drainage patterns and the construction of a walking trail.
(This morning's Easton Express-Times focused on the controversy over the width of roads in the housing complex.)
The marsh's water source
The proposed storm water management plan is complex. The plan relies on a system of retention basins to maintain water levels in Green Pond Marsh, collect runoff from the golf course and reduce overflow into flood-prone Nancy Run.
Water that reaches the wetlands from the north would instead flow into retention basins, with the excess flowing northward toward the headwaters of Bushkill Creek. The rest of the storm water on the site would stay in the wetlands, except for retention basins that would slow runoff into Nancy Run. As a last resort, any excess would flow into that creek.
The retention basins would be scoured 8 to 12 feet below ground level, an idea that worried some in the audience. They feared that the depressions might drain the marsh as time went by.
Jack Glagola, who heads the citizens group Save Green Pond, said he doubts the storm water plan will work. The Farmersville Road resident pointed out that neither the Army Corps of Engineers, which serves as the government's delineator of water courses and wetlands, nor the state Department of Environmental Protection have granted final approval of the project.
The developer got a warmer reception for its proposal to re-create a pressure relief valve that existed in the past: a field north of Green Pond Road that occasionally accepted surplus water from the marsh. The water reached the marsh by flowing over the road. In 2011 the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation raised the road with the idea of eliminating dangerous driving conditions. The effect, though, was to cut off the source of water to the field. It became bone dry, harming wildlife. The new plan calls for installation of a pipe beneath the road so the water could reach the field.
Walking trail might harm birds
The proposed walking trail also received a cool reception. Traditions of America wants to create a paved trail that would parallel Green Pond Road roughly midway between the roadway and the houses it plans to build. Although the walkway would be outside the wetlands, speakers expressed concern that it would split the wildlife area in two.
"Put the sidewalk along the residential area, not down the middle of a wildlife area," said Mike Magnan, who lives on Farmersville Road.
"Do we really need a trail?" asked a woman who lives on Green Pond Road. "It would scare away the birds if a lot of people used it."
A consideration raised by another neighbor involved whether the new residents' dogs and cats would roam freely, killing smaller birds and chasing away larger ones. The developer said dogs must be leashed. No similar assurance was given about cats, which tend to kill more birds than dogs.
Without committing itself, the developer agreed to study the idea of relocating the walkway closer to the houses, so as to leave more land undisturbed for birds who use the area for shelter and feeding.
Planning Commission member Les Walker endorsed that idea.
Meeting did not draw a crowd
After two hours of discussion, the planners voted 4 to 2 to approve most of what Traditions of America sought, subject to the township engineer's review of some issues. Chairperson Lee Snover abstained.
Unlike the packed room at previous meetings, Monday's session drew fewer than 30 people. Only 12 spoke, most of whom lived in the neighborhood.
For the past 19 years, Traditions of America has embraced the concept of building age-restricted high-density housing punctuated by open space, said Tim McCarthy, founding partner and managing director of the company. He anticipates the price of a home at the Green Pond development to be 45 percent higher than the median sale price in the Lehigh Valley.
The Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors says the median home price in Lehigh and Northampton counties was $170,000 in 2013.
Two of the waivers involve issues that directly pertain to Green Pond Marsh: the realignment of drainage patterns and the construction of a walking trail.
(This morning's Easton Express-Times focused on the controversy over the width of roads in the housing complex.)
The marsh's water source
The proposed storm water management plan is complex. The plan relies on a system of retention basins to maintain water levels in Green Pond Marsh, collect runoff from the golf course and reduce overflow into flood-prone Nancy Run.
Water that reaches the wetlands from the north would instead flow into retention basins, with the excess flowing northward toward the headwaters of Bushkill Creek. The rest of the storm water on the site would stay in the wetlands, except for retention basins that would slow runoff into Nancy Run. As a last resort, any excess would flow into that creek.
The retention basins would be scoured 8 to 12 feet below ground level, an idea that worried some in the audience. They feared that the depressions might drain the marsh as time went by.
Jack Glagola, who heads the citizens group Save Green Pond, said he doubts the storm water plan will work. The Farmersville Road resident pointed out that neither the Army Corps of Engineers, which serves as the government's delineator of water courses and wetlands, nor the state Department of Environmental Protection have granted final approval of the project.
The developer got a warmer reception for its proposal to re-create a pressure relief valve that existed in the past: a field north of Green Pond Road that occasionally accepted surplus water from the marsh. The water reached the marsh by flowing over the road. In 2011 the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation raised the road with the idea of eliminating dangerous driving conditions. The effect, though, was to cut off the source of water to the field. It became bone dry, harming wildlife. The new plan calls for installation of a pipe beneath the road so the water could reach the field.
Walking trail might harm birds
The proposed walking trail also received a cool reception. Traditions of America wants to create a paved trail that would parallel Green Pond Road roughly midway between the roadway and the houses it plans to build. Although the walkway would be outside the wetlands, speakers expressed concern that it would split the wildlife area in two.
"Put the sidewalk along the residential area, not down the middle of a wildlife area," said Mike Magnan, who lives on Farmersville Road.
"Do we really need a trail?" asked a woman who lives on Green Pond Road. "It would scare away the birds if a lot of people used it."
A consideration raised by another neighbor involved whether the new residents' dogs and cats would roam freely, killing smaller birds and chasing away larger ones. The developer said dogs must be leashed. No similar assurance was given about cats, which tend to kill more birds than dogs.
Without committing itself, the developer agreed to study the idea of relocating the walkway closer to the houses, so as to leave more land undisturbed for birds who use the area for shelter and feeding.
Planning Commission member Les Walker endorsed that idea.
Meeting did not draw a crowd
After two hours of discussion, the planners voted 4 to 2 to approve most of what Traditions of America sought, subject to the township engineer's review of some issues. Chairperson Lee Snover abstained.
Unlike the packed room at previous meetings, Monday's session drew fewer than 30 people. Only 12 spoke, most of whom lived in the neighborhood.
For the past 19 years, Traditions of America has embraced the concept of building age-restricted high-density housing punctuated by open space, said Tim McCarthy, founding partner and managing director of the company. He anticipates the price of a home at the Green Pond development to be 45 percent higher than the median sale price in the Lehigh Valley.
The Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors says the median home price in Lehigh and Northampton counties was $170,000 in 2013.
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