Redevelopment Authority of Allentown Meeting - July 8, 2026
Redevelopment Authority of Allentown Meeting - July 8, 2026
The Redevelopment Authority of Allentown met on July 8, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Council Chambers, 435 Hamilton Street. The meeting began with a call to order, approval of prior minutes, and a public comment period (no public comments were recorded). The meeting then moved into executive session for real estate transactions, reconvening at 3:23 PM for the remainder of the agenda. The key actions included approval of a request for proposals (RFP) for 332 Front Street, a solicitor's update on a property at 902 North 18th Street, and a planned grant application.
Consent Calendar
- The minutes from the June 10, 2026 meeting were approved.
- The staff financial report for June 2026, including budget-to-actual comparisons, balance sheets, and profit and loss statements, was accepted. Invoices for payment were approved.
Discussion Items
- Approval of RFP for 332 Front Street: Following an executive session, the board discussed and approved the release of an RFP for 332 Front Street, incorporating edits and adjustments made during the closed session. A motion was made and seconded; the motion carried unanimously.
- Solicitor's Update – 902 North 18th Street: The solicitor reported that the property at 902 North 18th Street, previously designated as blighted and unresponsive to authority communications, is now subject to a conservatorship filed by a neighbor. The authority decided to pull back from any further action on the property as it proceeds through the court process.
- Grant Application for Affordable Housing: A staff member announced plans to file a grant application to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh for its Affordable Housing Program. The grant is due August 6, 2026, and would be leveraged with the authority's SPP tax credit application to create owner-occupied homes from blighted properties.
Key Outcomes
- Approved: The release of the RFP for 332 Front Street (motion carried unanimously).
- Decision: The authority will not pursue further action on 902 North 18th Street due to the pending conservatorship.
- Next Steps: Staff will prepare and submit the grant application to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh by August 6, 2026.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for August 12, 2026, at 2:00 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, okay. All right. It is now 323 and we are out of executive session and um back calling us to order. Um with that we will look for a motion. I have a motion. Move that the board approve the RFP presented by the staff with the edits and adjustments discussed in executive session included. I move that the board approve the RFP. The release presented by the staff with the edits and adjustments discussed in executive session included. Yeah for 332 Front Street. I'll second. We have a motion, we have a second. Do we have any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, signifying saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Do we have any more of a solicitor's report, Josh? Yeah, only one thing, which is we had talked about this with 902 North 18th Street. They were not responsive to our previous communications. I don't know what event I just want to bring that up because I did an email exchange with Kelly about it the other day. I know you've capacity Linnace. I don't know if we're gonna do anything else with them at this point. So what I'm sorry, but I have that sorry. So what I found out is actually there was a conservatorship filed from the neighbor on the property. Okay. Um so they are going through the conservatorship property, so I guess we should pull back because it's going through that process. Okay. So that they filed um it's in the court system. All right. So we had talked before about would we you know do anything with respect to that property because they had been designated blighted and they weren't being responsive to us in light of that. That that was my only other solicitor update item. Does everyone know what I'm talking about here with 9218? All right. We filed the reserve is your neighbor filed. Um I I can get that for you. I'll send it, I'll send it over to the is that in partnership with the group. No, it's completely different because I reached out to them and asked them to look into it, and then um when I looked into the when I looked into the dockets yesterday, that was in there. So the neighbor actually filed the conservatorship. So they actually couldn't go forward because the neighbors filed the conservatorship. Okay. I I didn't know a neighbor could file a conservatorship, but apparently you can. So I mean I thought it had to be a public entity or a nonprofit, but interesting enough, that you know their property was annoying for them when they did it. Yeah, so they'll fix it up and then they petition the court to sell it to somebody else. I'll do whatever you worry about title labor. All right. Uh used rarely around here's a reason for the pain. We have anything else to do the good of the order? Good of the order. Uh just to update you. We're gonna look to file a uh grant application to the federal home loan bank of Pittsburgh.
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