Borough Council Discusses Adding Permit Parking on Cherry Lane

A Hellertown resident who lives across the street from the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bethlehem on Cherry Lane approached Borough Council at their last meeting to request help with addressing a parking issue.

According to the resident, he and other residents regularly experience parking difficulties because of hotel guests who either park on the street in front of their homes or prevent borough residents from being able to park near their homes.

“I’ve been parked in a few times, and the times when I shovel out the snow all the spots fill up if the hotel hasn’t plowed their parking lot,” he told council.

The resident said he has approached the hotel on three separate occasions, but to no avail, which is what brought him to council to intercede on his and the other Cherry Lane residents’ behalf.

Borough Council took the issue to heart and began an in-depth discussion about how to approach the parking issue involving Hellertown residents and the hotel, which is directly opposite borough homes on the Bethlehem side of the municipal boundary that runs up the center of Cherry Lane.

Several options were floated during the discussion, such as Borough Council reaching out to the hotel, communicating with the City of Bethlehem and providing parking permits for Hellertown residents.

Each suggestion was discussed and in turn, more questions were raised.

During the discussion about providing borough residents with parking permits, one council member asked about how parking by visitors or guests to those Hellertown residences would be handled. The suggestion of two permits per residence was made.

Chief of Police Robert Shupp was tasked with drafting a permit-only parking ordinance that could be adopted by council in order to help alleviate the parking problems in that area.

The ordinance is scheduled to be reviewed at the next borough council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. at Hellertown Borough Hall.