Allentown Planning Commission Meeting - June 9, 2026
Allentown Planning Commission Meeting - June 9, 2026
The Allentown Planning Commission met on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at 12:17 PM in Council Chambers, 435 Hamilton Street, and adjourned at 2:05 PM. Chair Christian Brown presided. The meeting primarily focused on the final approval of the Southside Homes at Harrison subdivision and land development, along with administrative matters and announcements.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (May 12, 2026): Unanimously approved as written with no corrections or comments.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Postponed Items: Justin Hernandez (815 N 21st St) inquired about the rescheduling of the 2401 Emaus Avenue data center project. Staff responded that no date is set, but it may appear on future agendas, and that the applicant is still evaluating feedback.
- Southside Homes at Harrison: Several residents spoke about concerns:
- Sylvia Yorgey (431 Harrison St) raised issues of parking, narrow Pear Street, snow plowing, flooding, and flood insurance costs.
- Donna Ortwein (424 Harrison St) questioned the flush curb, retaining wall, flooding, parking, and noted previous homes torn down due to flooding.
- Brenda Krasenics (442 Auburn St) expressed concerns about parking on one-way Harrison Street, flooding, and the project worsening existing problems.
- Miguel Marrero (415-417 Harrison St) described difficulty accessing his garages from Pear Street, property damage from other vehicles, and flooding. He also stated he had maintained the project lot for years.
- Neil Sickler (412 Auburn St) noted living in the area since 1964, witnessing extreme flooding, and previous home demolitions.
- Darnell Mussa (440 Auburn St) questioned plans for floodwater direction and parking.
- Commissioner Brown acknowledged residents' concerns and stated the city holds developers and itself accountable to regulations.
Discussion Items
- Southside Homes at Harrison (401 Harrison St):
- Staff Overview: Melissa Velez summarized a major land development and subdivision proposing six townhouses on vacant land. Preliminary approval was granted November 11, 2025, with conditions including facade staggering, architectural enhancements, exterior lighting, and neighborhood concerns. Staff noted that plans did not show staggering or significant enhancements; only color changes to two houses were added. Engineering comments recommended widening Pear Street to 12 ft and dedicated right-of-way; applicant proposed a 10 ft cartway with a 4 ft access easement, which staff did not accept. No additional lighting was added. Staff remained supportive but suggested conditioning approval on addressing comments.
- Applicant Response: Bernard Telatovich (Hanover Engineering) and attorney Tim Charlesworth (for owner Chad Clifton) stated most conditions were addressed. Outstanding issues: lighting, sewer, Pear Street. They agreed to a 2 ft stagger, discussed lighting options, noted sewer backups are a neighborhood problem not solvable by this project, and proposed a 4 ft access easement instead of right-of-way. They also committed to milling and overlaying Harrison Street. Floodplain compliance was discussed; project is in 100-year floodplain (not floodway) and meets elevation requirements.
- Commission Deliberation: Discussion centered on facade variation (1–3 ft suggested by Commissioner Hornung), additional front-yard lighting (freestanding light considered), sewer backup prevention (to be coordinated with LCA), and the Pear Street width and turning radius. Chair Brown raised concerns about vehicle access and turning movements from narrow driveways onto underimproved Pear Street. Commissioner Hartney supported pedestrian lighting. The applicant asked for conditional final approval.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to Grant Final Plan Approval (401 Harrison Street): Commissioner Brown moved, seconded by Commissioner Hornung, to grant final plan approval with the following conditions:
- Compliance with the Staff Report and City Comment letters.
- Provide additional exterior lighting to the front of the project.
- Provide a facade variation between 1 to 3 feet and use building materials and shadow lines where less variation is possible.
- Coordinate with the City Engineer to resolve the width of improvements to Pear Street frontage.
- Provide a turning template to demonstrate access turning radius to the private driveways from Pear Street right-of-way.
- The motion passed unanimously (4-0).
- Appointment of Secretary: Following the passing of former Secretary Jeff Glazier, Commissioner Brown nominated Erich Hornung as new Secretary. Seconded by Commissioner Hartzell, the motion passed unanimously (4-0).
- Public Comment Policy Discussion: The Commission discussed adopting a formal public comment procedure for future meetings. Feedback on a draft policy should be directed to staff (Jennifer Gomez) individually, not as a group, to comply with sunshine laws. The policy will be presented for approval at the next meeting.
Other Announcements
- Sustainability Coordinator Veronika Vostinak (Parks Department) introduced herself and announced public events for the City Climate Action Plan (virtual forum June 10 at 6 PM; in-person forums June 16 at Muhlenberg College and June 27 at Fearless Fire Company) and the Urban Forestry Master Plan (meeting July 14 at Bucky Boyle Park). She also noted the recent street tree inventory counted approximately 13,000 street trees.
- Jennifer Gomez announced a pre-launch event for the Zone Allentown Pattern Book on Tuesday, June 23 from 5:30–8 PM at Inkwell, in collaboration with Lehigh University.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Welcome everybody. We're going to call this meeting of the City of Entown Planning Commission to order. Appreciate your patience. A couple announcements regarding the agenda. So there were three land developments on the published agenda. We have two projects that have postponed. And that is number two, which is two Allen Street West Residences. That was a resubdivision or resubmission. That project has been postponed to a later date, as well as 2401 Mayus Avenue, the data center. That has also been postponed to a future date. So if anybody was in attendance for either of those two applications, we will take some public comment should you care to do so. But there will be no presentation or deliberation on those projects today. All right, moving into our first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes of the May 12th meeting. They've been prepared and circulated. Does anybody have any comments or corrections of the amendments? All right, hearing none, those will stand approved as written. And we'll roll into we'll take uh public comment for the two items that have been postponed if anybody feels so inclined. Uh then we can go ahead and let you guys go if you want. All right, very well. Pardon me. We're gonna we're gonna stick to the city council rules, so we're gonna give you three minutes here. You can start by stating your name and address, please. All right. Um my name is Justin Hernandez. I live in uh 815 North 21st Street. And the only thing I just wanted to ask was what since it is postponed, uh, when will be the next meeting? Like what do you have any date planned on that yet? Jennifer So the applicant has postponed. We don't have a meeting date set. This um commission meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 1215. So it may be placed on the next meeting, or it's um uh they're still evaluating all the feedback that they've received so far and how to address it and they're reaching out to the community. Um, and we may need to do more than one meeting for this. So we're still figuring out a strategy for that and how to get best get the information out to everybody. But when we have that information, and we will share it with you as soon as possible. But please keep your eyes on the agenda for the following meeting, and um it will provide information and also on the city's website. All right, thank you so much. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience? Um I'd like to back up one minute. I I forgot to do one important matter of business here, what's not on the agenda, but I think um you know we all recognize that there's uh one last person up here on the dais. And um, I just want to officially for the record acknowledge with regret that we have lost um a trusted and valued member, not only to this commission, but to the city, and uh Jeff Glazier and his contributions will be greatly missed here and across the across the board. So um let that be known that we have an official vacancy. All right, let's uh move on to 401 Harrison Street. That's our final um business item on the agenda today. Um turn it over to staff for an introduction, please. This project is um 41 Harrison Street's major land development and subdivision. Uh, the project was heard by the planning commission on November 11th, 2025 and granted preliminary plan approval with conditions, including to address comments and recommendations of city staff and to address neighborhood concerns to the best extent possible. In addition, the owner agreed to stagger the facades and architecturally enhance the project and to incorporate exterior lighting. Um this is the uh land development and subdivision proposing construction of six townhouse units on uh currently vacant land.
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