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‘Choices Are Limited,’ Council Pres. Says of Potential Building Sites

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Hellertown Borough Council members listened and tried to assuage concerns about a proposed public works building at a roundtable meeting held Saturday on what could ultimately be the location of its construction.

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Several dozen residents attended the Hellertown Borough Council roundtable on the Reinhard School field Saturday morning. Public works vehicles and plans for a proposed maintenance building were on display.

Hellertown Borough Council members listened and tried to assuage concerns about a proposed public works building at a roundtable meeting held Saturday on what could ultimately be the location of its construction.

In reality, the options other than the Reinhard School lot are “limited,” council president Tom Rieger told a resident who questioned whether building the maintenance facility on the flat, empty lot at Northampton Street and Magnolia Road would be what Rieger called “best for the community as a whole.”

“It’s only because there’s no other choice,” the woman said.

Rieger said that utilizing the borough-owned land is in the community’s best interests because it will cost less money than purchasing and developing a privately-owned property would.

Purchasing a property such as the former Kichline’s garage complex between Main and Front streets would not only require a substantial investment, but would also take a tax revenue-producing parcel off the borough, school district and county rolls.

In that case, Rieger estimated that the borough would lose approximately $10,000 in annual property tax revenue; income that would have to be made up for somewhere else.

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Borough council president Tom Rieger speaks at a residents’ roundtable held Saturday at the Reinhard field, at which plans for a new public works building were discussed.

Another advantage to using the land for a public works building is that doing so will guarantee that it never sees high density development.

Although it’s owned by the borough, about 20 years ago the Reinhard lot was sold to it by the school district for $1, with the stipulation that it only be used for municipal purposes.

Failure to do so could ultimately put it back in the hands of the district, and since it’s located in the borough’s R2 zoning district as many as 40 townhomes could be built on it if it were sold to a developer.

Rieger admitted that this scenario is unlikely to occur in any case, but stressed to roundtable attendees that the public works department’s use of the land would have “minimal impact.”

He said the borough plans to fund the project with grant money and possibly “additional monies in the general fund,” but stressed that “the plan is not to borrow any money.”

Once the public works department is relocated, the chronically space-deficient Hellertown Police Department will take over the use of their current building, which isĀ  known as the Stables.

The police will use the building’s bays for garage parking, and an aged bottling works attached to the Stables will likely be demolished because it’s in “rough shape,” Rieger said.

Money for the demolition and upgrading the Stables building will have to be procured as part of a Phase II project in the future, because “if we try to develop everything at the same time that’s where we get to something that is unobtainable,” he added.

Responding to a concern raised by a Saucon Valley Community Center representative at the meeting, Rieger said stormwater runoff improvements would be made to the Reinhard property, which is adjacent to the community center.

With parking at a premium in that part of the borough, he said the plans for the public works facility could be modified to include a larger parking area with additional spaces that could be utilized by the center when they’re not needed by the borough.

Regarding opposition to the project from some residents who live close to the Reinhard lot, resident Dave Schweisgut said he thinks the emotion fueling that opposition is abating, with cooler heads prevailing in support of its use by the public works department.

“The pros outweigh the cons a lot more now,” he said.

The next regular Hellertown Borough Council meeting will be held Monday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall, 685 Main St., Hellertown. Meetings are open to the public and draft agendas are published in advance on the borough’s website.

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A three-dimensional rendering of what the new public works building could look like was one of the items displayed at the roundtable. The building would occupy the western half of the lot. The baseball field on the other side of it would not be built upon.

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A photo shows what the 1910 Reinhard School and a 1950s addition that was part of it looked like. The building was demolished in 2013 after being vacant for a number of years, and following asbestos abatement.

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A zoning map of Hellertown borough was one of the items displayed at the roundtable. The Reinhard lot is located in the borough’s R2 zoning district, which is at the bottom center of the map (in yellow).

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An aerial view of the plan for a new Hellertown public works building shows the main structure surrounded by trees, landscaping and a fence. The parking lot for it–as designed–would accommodate 14 vehicles.

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About the author

Josh Popichak

Josh Popichak is the owner, publisher and editor of Saucon Source. A Lehigh Valley native, he's covered local news since 2005 and previously worked for Berks-Mont News and AOL/Patch. Contact him at josh@sauconsource.com.

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