City Council

BETHLEHEM CITY COUNCIL MEETING 10 East Church Street - Town Hall Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Tuesday, February 15, 2022 – 7:00 PM PLEDGE TO THE FLAG SWEARING IN CEREMONY Dr. Wandalyn J. Enix – Appointed to Vacant Council Seat – 2022-2024 Magisterial District Judge Nicholas E. Englesson, Esq. administered the Oath of Office to Dr. Wandalyn J. Enix who was appointed by City Council on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 to fill the vacant Council seat of J. William Reynolds as a result of his election as Mayor of Bethlehem effective Monday, January 3, 2022, and will serve until a successor is elected and sworn into office on Monday, January 2, 2024. Judge Englesson stated this is a great honor to be the judge swearing in the first Black woman on City Council of the City of Bethlehem. Dr. Enix remarked this is a momentous day. It is an honor to sit in this seat. She stands on the shoulders of giants, men and women who have come before her and men and women who wanted to serve. She thanks all her supporters and the organizations. If she would go into all of them she would miss some. She also thanked individuals who supported her; she thanks them from the bottom of her heart. Dr. Enix highlighted the fact that she received so many calls, emails, texts, social media, which she is not on, and even flowers, and she is so appreciative of everybody. She wanted to speak about the 10 wonderful, intelligent, talented men and women who applied for this position, thank you very much for also supporting her, too. Our city needs people for our Authorities, Boards, and Commissions; please serve on these. Finally, she would like to thank the Administration, you have helped me in talking with different Board Members, Department Heads, it has been very enlightening and she has more people to see. Dr. Enix wanted to thank everybody. We are the people who we have been waiting for, we are those people. Thank you. 1. ROLL CALL President Colón called the meeting to order. Present were Grace Crampsie Smith, Wandalyn J. Enix, Hillary G. Kwiatek, Rachel Leon, Paige Van Wirt, Kiera L. Wilhelm, and Michael G. Colón, 7. CITATIONS Honoring Lieutenant Simon Boddie President Colón presented a Citation to Lieutenant Simon Boddie on the occasion of his retirement from the Police Department after over 22 years of service. The Members of Council applauded Lieutenant Boddie and wished him well in his retirement. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 2 February 15, 2022 Honoring Captain Keane Knappenberger President Colón read the Citation for Captain Keane Knappenberger on the occasion of his retirement from the Police Department after over 21 years of service and stated the Citation will be mailed to him. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES None. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT (on any subject not being voted on this evening – 5 Minute Time Limit) Personal Problems Edward Rodriguez, 701 Main Street, remarked that usually he comes to Council speaking about drugs and gangs in the city. Tonight he is at this meeting to speak about being accused of being a burden toward a person in his life. This person was taken away from him under false accusations. He spoke of financial problems and the fact that he misses this person. Christmas Lighting Stephen Antalics, 737 Ridge, related if you drove from Main Street to Third Street during the holidays you had the sense you were in two different communities and in a sense you were. That is because the lighting on Main Street had white lights and on Third Street there were colored lights and they were reminiscent of a bygone era of almost 100 years ago when the white lights north of the river represented the exclusive Moravian Community while the colored lights on the south side represented the ethnic immigrants from Europe. The lights took us back to that period when they were boroughs, the Borough of Bethlehem and the Borough of South Bethlehem, and they were mutually antagonistic, they did not trust one another and they spoke in negative terms of one another with the Bethlehem Borough calling the people of the South Bethlehem Borough the stump of Europe. That term was used in the newspaper. In 1937 a Jew whose background was a Sephardic Jew was in the Spanish Inquisition so he knew discrimination. The President of City Council along with Mrs. E. G. Grace decided to use Christmas as a vehicle, not to celebrate the holiday but to try and create unity between both sides of the river because the animosity carried over. Mr. Antalics noted they devised a unified system of lights to show a unified city. That has been lost because of what happened this past season; it goes back to those horrid days of the borough mentality. There has been a study by the city to look at the Christmas lights. Whether the present scheme reflects it, he does not know. But nothing has happened publicly about the lighting system. So if Council has any ability or power to do anything about that, he suggests they press for lighting at holiday time to show unity of the City of Bethlehem on both sides of the river. On another subject, Mr. Antalics does not wish to embarrass anybody but has to direct his question to Dr. Enix. He asked her if she remembers what she was doing on Friday, November 15, 1974. He noted she was at a dinner with her father, Ernest Enix, and she was the music programmer and director of the program for the 4th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet of the NAACP and he has the program to give to Dr. Enix. City Council  Bethlehem City Council Meeting 3 February 15, 2022 Olga Negrón, 1552 Luzerne Street, remarked she is honored to be at tonight’s big celebration. She wanted to say thank you to all of the Members of Council that voted for Dr. Enix. This is history and her heart is beating right now because 6 years ago she was sitting up at Council with 6 men sitting next to her, not that there is anything wrong with that. But this is historic. She is proud to have women on City Council and she looks forward to a brilliant, beautiful city. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT (on ordinances and resolutions to be voted on by Council this evening – 5 Minute Time Limit) None. 5. OLD BUSINESS A. Members of Council B. Tabled Items C. Unfinished Business 6. COMMUNICATIONS A. Police Chief – Firearm Purchase - Martinez The Clerk read a memorandum dated January 27, 2022 from Chief of Police Michelle Kott with an attached resolution and agreement for the purchase of a duty weapon by a retired officer of the Bethlehem Police Department. Pursuant to the Third Class City Code, retired officers may purchase their duty firearms at fair market value. President Colón stated Resolution 10 B is on the agenda. B. Director of Water and Sewer Resources – Recommendation of Award – L. B. Industries, Inc. – Settling Tank Improvements Project The Clerk read a memorandum dated February 9, 2022 from Edward Boscola, Director of Water and Sewer Resources recommending a price adjustment contract with L. B. Industries, Inc. for the Settling Tank Improvements Project. The date for final completion is July 15, 2022. The change order in the aggregate total $177,931. President Colón stated Resolution 10 C is on the agenda. . C. Director of Purchasing – 2022 Equipment Auction The Clerk read a memorandum dated February 10, 2022 from Sandra Steidel, Director of Purchasing to which is attached a list of equipment to be sold at the next on-line auction to be held within the next 60 days. President Colón stated if Council has no objection to the property listed; the same may be added to the on-line auction. If Council would like to discuss a specific item, the same shall be removed from the list and discussed at the next Council Meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 4 February 15, 2022 President Colón queried if any Member of Council would like to discuss a specific item, have it removed from the list, and discussed at the next City Council Meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. President Colón stated a memo will be sent to the Purchasing Director that City Council has no objections to the property listed. 7. REPORTS A. President of Council B. Mayor Congratulations-Dr. Enix Mayor Reynolds related on behalf of the Administration we want to congratulate Dr. Enix for being sworn in tonight and joining City Council. He noted that she has had the opportunity over the past several days to come in and meet with Department Heads and sit down with Mr. Evans and Mr. Sivak and others. As with every Council Member, their door is always open to call and come in and have conversations. We are here to answer any questions you may have going forward. We did have our Bethlehem Corner video that was launched today which included his conversation with Dr. Enix and Ms. Santoro also. That is out there and we want to wish you and your family big congratulations on this historic day. He then turned to Laura Collins, Director of Community and Economic Development, to give a few updates having to do where we are at with the pandemic recovery and affordable housing. Pandemic Recovery/Affordable Housing Ms. Collins wanted to speak about a few of the Administration’s key priority areas, specifically pandemic recovery and affordable housing. The Administration is very committed to focusing on the American Rescue Act Funds with care, great thought toward what is most needed in our community and especially for those who have been most negatively impacted by the pandemic. We are putting together a far reaching community engagement plan that pulls from examples across the nation, best practices to make sure that when we are thinking about how we are directing and spending the funds that we receive from the Federal Government that we are doing so with the needs of the community in mind. Also that we are getting the very critical feedback and contribution from community members and to that end we are engaging with a vendor who specializes in web-based public participation platforms. We have seen a number of communities across the country that have used platforms like this which have capabilities beyond what we have used in the city before. They are very much 2022 type platforms that give us a lot of capabilities with respect to reaching people in different spaces who do not always get to contribute to conversations and provide feedback. Ms. Collins explained it is very important to us that community engagement is central to our planning for these American Rescue Funds, so we have engaged a vendor and we are working internally with our IT Department and the Mayor’s Office and other people who are going to be important in this process to get the platform up and running over the next few weeks hopefully. It will be supplementing, of course, our efforts in person, meeting people in their neighborhoods and doing everything we can to make sure that we are prioritizing not only the American Rescue Funds and our programming but also thinking more broadly about community development and community needs as we prioritize all Bethlehem City Council Meeting 5 February 15, 2022 of our efforts moving forward. We are excited about that and we are looking forward to launching the platform. In the meantime, we are moving forward with our ongoing efforts in a number of spaces that touch on community development and recovery from the pandemic, most notably affordable housing. Last month we put out a request for proposals for consulting services for a comprehensive housing strategy. We received responses yesterday, and we have now mobilized our review committee. We recognize there are a number of strategies and tools that we use to address housing issues in the community but our goal with the American Rescue Funds and creating a comprehensive plan is to look at specifically the needs right now in Bethlehem. Also the local and regional market must be assessed and we need experts to come in and help us understand how we are best directing and spending our time and resources rather than taking a piecemeal approach to affordable housing and housing needs in general. We are working on a comprehensive solution that is thoughtful and deliberate. We are very confident in taking the time to develop this plan and we are looking forward to working with City Council as we put together our implementation committee and work with all of you and those in the community that have been on the task force and have provided a lot of important work in this space. We are looking forward to that and happy to answer questions and take calls and meetings in City Hall. Mayor Reynolds added one thing that we all know and we are trying to shift the conversation to is the concepts and buckets of the areas where people want to invest in. Everyone can agree. If you look around at cities and you look at 8, 10, 12 things that people are looking to invest in as a community and government, there is a lot of agreement. It comes down to what are the specific uses for your particular market and what are the areas where you are able to get the most bang for your buck. As we take a look at the housing strategies and American Rescue Funds and when we went through that housing cohort in the fall and sat through that for 16 hours, one of the first things they tell you is that there are 35 different things that a community can be doing. Those might be direct rental assistance, façade, first time homebuyer, assistance programs, adding supply, working with non-profits, whatever it might be. But all of those strategies do not work for every single market. A lot of them are dependent on what type of land you have available, what are the economics, what are the regional economic. It is weird trying to focus on not just what kind of dollars are we putting somewhere but how do we make those decisions about what are the priorities. One of the real areas we are able to move and make progress and also measure that progress is something we are working on as far as that platform is concerned. We have all been to different public events or participate and said maybe, broadband expansion is important or affordable housing is important, or recreation opportunities are important, but trying to talk about what they actually are. If you spend $500,000 in one area and $500,000 in another area sometimes the difference between doing 2 or 3 months of work and doing 6, 7, 8, 9 months of work. We have all these things that are already started with all these different things that the city is already doing. One of the things our outreach plan is going to do is take a look at the communities and which ones do we want to focus on more than others. Mayor Reynolds added it is not like we are going to wait until this community engagement plan is finished and say now we are starting, we have started all those different trains. The question is going to become where are the areas that we want to be able to shift more dollars to. If you ask people if these are the 10 things we want to invest in, everyone will say yes, but the challenge is trying to decide what specific areas within those 10, how much staff time. That will be the measure of what we are doing. One of the things we are doing as well within the Mayor’s Office with Ms. Santoro and Ms. DelGrosso and Ms. Collins is that we are working on setting up relationships with institutions within our community. They may be churches, youth Bethlehem City Council Meeting 6 February 15, 2022 organizations, or schools, so it is not just how do we connect people with City Hall but how do we connect people with the people they trust in our community and in our institutions. What we are trying to do is expand beyond the normal people that can email their City Council person or walk into City Hall or call the Mayor’s Office. We do not need to reinvent the wheel, one of the things City Hall needs to do is have better relationships with a lot of the institutions that can help to share this particular information. Mayor Reynolds explained that is an ongoing process that we are working on. Our hope is within the next 3 or 4 weeks to be able to do a public launch event as Ms. Collins said having to do with this particular platform and talk about some of the things we are looking at specifically with affordable housing in 2022 and talk about some of our work with expanding internet access. That is our goal to do that in the first couple of weeks of March. We will let everyone know when. Mayor Reynolds mentioned we have met internally with our consultant having to do with the Climate Action Plan and we will be doing a similar type of event maybe a week or so later in March where we will talk about how we will tackle those priorities in the first year. Several Members of Council are involved in that effort as well. We look forward to working with Council and the community on those things. President Colón thanked Mayor Reynolds and Ms. Collins for insight into what is going on. We will be here every other Tuesday and always look forward hearing where we are at especially as some of these things come in to focus as we have had these conversations dating back to when the city was awarded that money. Also taking into consideration all of those variables and what is the best way. The goals are shared not only by the Administration but also all Members of Council and how do we actually spend those dollars and how do we implement these programs. He appreciates the work everyone is doing and bringing the updates to Council. 8. ORDINANCES FOR FINAL PASSAGE None. 9. NEW ORDINANCES None. 10. RESOLUTIONS A. Approve Records Destruction – Community and Economic Development Department Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-023 that authorized the disposition of Community and Economic Development Department public records, as stated in Exhibit A. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Dr. Enix, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 7. The Resolution passed. B. Approve Firearm Purchase – Martinez Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-024 that authorized to execute an agreement to effectuate the transfer of the city issued handgun to Fabian Martinez, a retired City Police Officer. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 7 February 15, 2022 Mayor Reynolds explained that he and Police Chief Michelle Kott have been doing some research looking at different organizations. We have not picked an organization yet, as to where these funds would go or how we would spend these funds. His comments from the last meeting remain the same. If the will of Council is to sell this, we will find a way to deliver those funds in a way that represents anti-gun violence efforts. Mayor Reynolds noted that Chief Kott has done a lot of research and we are still working on decision as to where that will be. Once we make that decision we will share that with City Council as well. President Colón stated to Chief Kott that her efforts are appreciated as you take on that task to find useful ways to spend those dollars. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Dr. Enix, and Mr. Colón, 6. Voting NAY: Ms. Kwiatek, 1. The Resolution passed. C. Approve Contract – L. B. Industries, Inc. – Settling Tank Improvements Project Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-025 that authorized to execute a contract price increase in connection with an existing agreement with L. B. Industries, Inc. for services related to the Settling Tank Improvements Project. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Dr. Enix, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 7. The Resolution passed. Motion – Considering Resolutions 10 D through 10 F as a group – Certificates of Appropriateness Dr. Van Wirt and Ms. Crampsie Smith moved to consider Resolutions 10 D through 10 F as a group. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Dr. Enix, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 7. The Motion passed. D. Certificate of Appropriateness – 77 West Broad Street Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-026 that granted a Certificate of Appropriateness to install two projecting signs at 77 West Broad Street. E. Certificate of Appropriateness – 239 East Church Street Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-027 that granted a Certificate of Appropriateness to remove asphalt shingles on a porch and rear of the main gable roof, reinstall ice breaks, and replace the existing asphalt shingles with GAF Slateline Shingles in the Antique Slate color at 239 East Church Street. F. Certificate of Appropriateness – 241 East Church Street Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-028 that granted a Certificate of Appropriateness to remove asphalt shingles on a porch and rear of the main gable roof, reinstall ice breaks, and replace the existing asphalt shingles with GAF Slateline Shingles in the Antique Slate color at 241 East Church Street. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 8 February 15, 2022 Voting AYE on Resolutions 10 D through 10 F: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Dr. Enix, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 7. The Resolutions passed. G. Certificate of Appropriateness – 305 East Third Street – Postponed from January 18, 2022 Council Meeting Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-029 that granted a Certificate of Appropriateness to construct a new building at 305 East Third Street. A COA was previously issued for constructing a new, detached, five-story building at the current location of a surface parking lot with ten mature trees. The structure will be mixed-use, including commercial space on the first floor and one-and-two bedroom apartments on the entry level and upper floor levels. The Applicant returned from the August 30, 2021, HCC meeting with revisions and responses to HCC comments. President Colón remarked before he turns to Members of Council for discussion he wanted to turn to our Council Solicitor Brian Panella. We will get into these Certificates of Appropriateness that had been postponed four weeks ago on January 18, 2022. One of the things that came up on the floor at Council at that time was that Council was without a Solicitor. That night was the night we appointed Solicitor Panella. He asked Solicitor Panella to give a brief background as to the legislation that allows for these COAs and exactly what we are voting on. Solicitor Panella started at the State Legislature level. The State Legislature passed an Act, and he will truncate this a little bit, he does not want to bore everyone with the legalese. It sums up to this, for the purpose of protecting those historic areas within our great Commonwealth which have a distinctive character, recalling the rich architecture and historical heritage of Pennsylvania, cities are hereby authorized to establish by ordinance a historic district, or districts within the geographical limits of such political subdivision. That is a section that specifically allows Bethlehem to establish the historic district and that is where the COAs, these Certificates of Appropriateness, come from. The State legislature also provided, any governing body in determining whether or not to certify to the appropriateness of the building of the proposed structure. The governing body shall consider the general design, arrangement, texture, material, and color of the building or structure only and the relation of such factors to similar features of buildings in structures in districts. As was also read by our Clerk, it is not just provided at the state level but by our Bethlehem City Ordinance as well, that is Ordinance 1714 for anybody that is interested. It is available on the Bethlehem website for anybody to access. When you look at subsection 1714.03, it specifically provides for our section’s purpose. That reads in part, it is the purpose and intent of the City of Bethlehem to promote, protect, enhance, and preserve historic resources and traditional community character. Solicitor Panella added when you look at the legislative history and you look at the real spirit of what is being discussed here, it is to ensure that especially in our ordinance it makes reference that you do not want a skyscraper in the middle of a residential neighborhood. That is in the same way that you do not want someone putting a single-family home in an area where there might be gigantic buildings everywhere. It is in the spirit of keeping our historic towns and our historic cities, such as Bethlehem, it is no secret that our community is Christmas City USA, we are a beautiful residence, a beautiful area, and the whole idea behind Certificates of Appropriateness is talking about whether or not the visual features of the building being proposed would match the spirit of the neighborhood, the historic district and if we get so far into it, even the street that the building is being built on. That is a bit of the legislative history when you look into this. He wanted to pull out some of the specific provisions of our State Legislature and our own ordinance itself. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 9 February 15, 2022 President Colón remarked as he alluded to this is something that had been brought to tonight’s meeting from a few meetings ago and we have a few Certificates of Appropriateness here. One of the things that he had discussed then as a carryover from previous Council as it relates to some of these projects, 305 East Third Street, 317-327 South New Street, and 127 East Fourth Street. He will be supporting these tonight as he had previously when these were new COAs that had come forward from previous HCC meetings. Also, as our HCC, a group of volunteers that review these applications, all 3 of these COAs come before us unanimously supported by the HCC. We can have further discussion not only tonight but moving forward. There will be more discussions to be had surrounding other aspects of any project that comes before Council. We will talk more about the other things that have been discussed within Council but as he had supported the previous COAs for the parcels in question tonight, he will also be supporting these COAs which have the unanimous support of the HCC. Dr. Van Wirt remarked she wants to address each one of these specifically. She had initially had some consternation over approving this because if you go through the minutes from the January 5th HCC meeting there was a request made to the developer to set back the 5th floor. Particularly it was because the surrounding buildings are much lower than this building at 5 stories. The HCC wanted to mitigate the visual impact to the pedestrian on the street and the surrounding buildings of this very tall building that is going to be much taller than the surrounding buildings. A setback is when the top floor is pushed back kind of like a wedding cake, a tier, and it allows more sunlight and less of an impact of the mass of the building especially for the pedestrian on the street. Dr. Van Wirt felt that she wanted to understand how that accommodation could be made going further with this project. However, over the month that we were given, and she is glad we were given that much time to do the research that we needed to understand, it came down to the fact that the horse is already out of the barn here. This height was approved and these accommodations were made and all in all it is bigger and taller than its surrounding neighbors but is it is also a pretty good project. The developer did make a lot of other accommodations to design features to make this seem more like part of a row rather than one big flat apartment building. If you want to balance development in terms of this building itself, it would seem that you do not want perfect to get in the way of pretty good. Dr. Van Wirt stated she will be supporting this tonight. Mayor Reynolds added that Darlene Heller, Director of Planning and Zoning, is at this meeting tonight as is Laura Collins, Director of Community and Economic Development, Assistant City Solicitor Matthew Deshler, and City Solicitor John F. Spirk. He asked them to come to this meeting to answer any questions about what had come up at the HCC meetings and if anyone had any questions for Ms. Heller with any of these three projects. Ms. Collins could talk about some of the development process and some of the things that are handled under the purview of the HCC certificates. They are here and are well versed on the different projects. Ms. Leon remarked she also had concerns that Councilwoman Van Wirt had. She is very concerned about the height and would have liked to see the setback there as well considering its location to across the street where there are some very small mom and pop businesses. She is worried about how that would affect their business going forward but she reached the same conclusion as Dr. Van Wirt. Although she is hesitant in supporting this, she will support this as well. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 10 February 15, 2022 Ms. Wilhelm echoed what Dr. Van Wirt said regarding this particular project. Her feeling about this developer and this project is that things are being learned with every development and she does feel that some of that learning has been implemented in this project. In particular she was happy to see a reasonably sized retail space and plans to fill it. That will negate the possibility of an empty storefront which is something we do not want. Ms. Crampsie Smith concurs with her fellow Councilwomen also. While she has some concerns she is grateful to the developers because they did come back and make accommodations for the HCC; that is what we need in smart development. She will be supporting this. Dr. Enix related she is still not convinced on the historical nature of preservation. This is invasive in a sense so she is very hesitant about this. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 6. Voting NAY: Dr. Enix, 1. The Resolution passed. H. Certificate of Appropriateness – 317-327 South New Street – Postponed from January 18, 2022 Council Meeting Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-030 that granted a Certificate of Appropriateness to construct a new building at 317-327 South New Street. A COA was previously issued for demolishing all existing structures while integrating the salvaged front façade at 321-323 South New Street and constructing a new nine-story mixed-use building, including commercial space on the first floor and on-and-two bedroom apartments on the upper floor levels. The Applicant returned from the November 15, 2021, HCC meeting with revisions and responses to HCC comments. Dr. Van Wirt reported this is a more problematic building amongst the three of these COAs. Most people are aware of the issues surrounding it. She wanted to reflect on what is happening in South Bethlehem. Back in the 1970s there was a Mayor of Bethlehem who was known as the Main Street Mayor and that was Mayor Gordon Mowrer. He opposed the enormous economic and social forces of development that were asking him to tear down our buildings on Main Street. They did not look the way they look now; some of them were pretty gritty. Back then, urban renewal was the thing, every city was doing it. There were a lot of development forces that were pushing for this to happen in our downtown. Mayor Mowrer pretty much single handedly, from what she was able to read over the last few days, he really stopped that from happening. Instead, he said we are going to save it and we are going to invest in it. He took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city and privately raised from companies and he invested in our Main Street. They put in sidewalks and benches and beautiful lights. He did all that in order to make the small businesses in Bethlehem invest in their buildings. We have this today because of that tenacity. Dr. Van Wirt admires and thanks him for having that vision and that strength of character to see what could happen if we honor our own history. A lot of what we are seeing right now in South Bethlehem is a true mirror of exactly that situation. Some of these buildings may not look lovely, some of these lots are underutilized and should have development on them but at the same time our mandate is to preserve the character of the historic district. This ordinance that our Solicitor referenced exactly gives City Council the right to vote no on a Certificate of Appropriateness regardless of what the HCC says. Dr. Van Wirt noted when she was thinking about this she wanted to understand what was City Council’s Bethlehem City Council Meeting 11 February 15, 2022 power here because the size of this building is problematic, it is not the same as the contributing historic buildings in the area. It casts a shadow on the Greenway, we think, but we do not know because we do not have any data that tells us what that could be. Dr. Van Wirt had enormous problems with it. Since the height was already approved, we have to stick with what was discussed at the HCC meeting. They had specifically asked them to set back the top two floors. This was not done because of the lack of square footage. The setback would be the same thing as we were talking about before on the Third Street building: It gives a different experience for the pedestrians on the street and makes Third Street less of a canyon and it can stop some of the shadow that would fall on our Greenway. Dr. Van Wirt thought about this and the threat of lawsuit is real here. It is a matter of trying to decide whether or not going forward with this and risking a lawsuit and distracting us from the very real and good work we can do in the long run is worth it or not. She wanted to address that the south side is the way it is because of Bethlehem Steel. One of the gems of the south side is our Greenway. It is 4.7 miles long and runs east to west; therefore, it is at particular risk because any of the buildings that are built south of it go up and cast shade on the Greenway. Right now we do not ask anybody who is building there to come up with studies to tell us how much shadow is going to be cast. In the winter-time it will be very long shadows, and in the summer-time very short shadows. We need to have much more data before we continue, whether this is in a historic district or is anywhere in Bethlehem. We need more data to understand the impact of these buildings. We should as Council be considering how do we address going forward the development pressures that are being put on Bethlehem because we have a 150-foot zoning ordinance and an HCC that is mandated to only approve things that are contextually appropriate, only approve a 4-story building if the buildings around it are 3 stories. Dr. Van Wirt is trying to say that this Council is struggling a lot with the already approved buildings that are being built in South Bethlehem and she is asking, how can we make this better, how can we take what has already been done and make it better. This is very difficult once the approval has already been done. She does feel that City Council has the ability to say no to the COA, but she does not feel that a lawsuit and the distraction it may cause in terms of this Council and the enormously important work we have to do going forward would be worth it at this point. With total reluctance, she will be supporting this so we can focus more on what we can really do and make an impact going forward. Ms. Kwiatek stated she agrees with Dr. Van Wirt and she certainly has been going through the same struggles this week and last week in reviewing this and understanding what our power is on Council and recognizing we are a differently composed Council than previous Councils. Those other votes happened and it is water under the bridge. What is past is past but it does not have to be prologue. While her vote will be yes tonight it is not a portent of the future. Ms. Crampsie Smith thanked Dr. Van Wirt for so eloquently stating what she feels and putting the situation out there in a clear manner. She feels the same and this will be one vote she will really regret. She is concerned that the HCC did recommend the setbacks and they did not do that. She does not understand why but she does value the HCC and she does support them and she will stand for whatever they decide but she hopes that they know they can deny these if the developers do not do what they recommend. She has concerns about this development in general. It is all about location. If you go to buy a house that is what you hear and you have to be living in a cave to not realize that Third Street is a mess, it is congested with traffic and right how it is a mess and we are going to put a building up with 60 or 70 units. Unfortunately, our public transportation is not to the point where people are using it as often as we would like to see so that means there will be more cars in that neighborhood. She has concerns about preserving our Bethlehem City Council Meeting 12 February 15, 2022 historic city; she has always said that we need smart development and we need to balance it with historic preservation. She does not think this development does that at all. She is very passionate about the south side although she has not lived there because it reminds her of the hometown where she grew up. Her brother was the President of Bethlehem Steel Union for almost 40 years locally as well as internationally. He worked right beside Bubbles and they fought hard so the people in this city could have a living wage and they could buy a single-family home or a twin home and raise a family. Right now 85% of the new development is all rental development and that is not where she wants her city to go. She wants there to be inclusion and belonging and we need to have diversity and we need that in our housing. We need to have single-family homes and twin homes being built and owner/occupied homes and not just rentals but that is all she is seeing. Ms. Crampsie Smith remarked while she feels she has to vote in the spirit of the law and, unfortunately, she has to vote yes for this, she will fight until her last breath that we do everything we can so we can have a truly inclusive Bethlehem as far as housing goes. Ms. Wilhelm remarked for all the reasons mentioned thus far she will also be begrudgingly voting in favor of this project. Councilwoman Crampsie Smith mentioned location and if you know where this building is, it is a gateway to the south side. This building is one of the first things you will see as you cross the Fahy Bridge and our buildings send a message and our residents have relationships with buildings even if we do not live or work in them. She was saddened to see the design that has degraded through the process. Also, having watched a number of meetings around development and now having dug deeply into multiple development projects the process really translates as opaque and complex, even adversarial at times. She does not think this project was any different. She is hopeful that we can work together to create clearer guidelines and better communication around future projects so that all parties know what is expected of them and we can all work together toward a common goal which is doing the best we can for Bethlehem. She returned to the concept of design, which is extremely important and is sometimes perceived as frivolous but discussion around any project should include conversations about affordable housing, traffic sustainability, height density, mass, etc. Those conversations have already occurred and we cannot change those things. Ms. Wilhelm wondered if we had the capacity to change the design of this project with the setback that had disappeared as well as other character building design elements of this project, which had disappeared little by little. She was alarmed by the new design and disappointed. It is worth mentioning that good design relates to all of those things she mentioned before, all those important conversations, affordable housing, traffic sustainability; they all are impacted and embraced by design. There is strong evidence that good design in public spaces offers many potential benefits to its community including improved physical and mental health, improved sensible being, happiness, belonging and civic pride, reduced car use, improved air and storm water quality. Also improved public safety and a positive impact on the local economy, so good direct impact from design and urban design in this case, the design of this building literally shapes a city. That is how the city looks, how people experience it as they live and go through their day to day. It is also about people and how they connect their surroundings; good thoughtful, intentional urban design serves every resident of Bethlehem by creating and reinforcing a unique sense of place. Every time we build or reuse it is an opportunity to contribute to that sense of place. We need to create an expectation from the start that a developer cares about what her or his project will contribute to that sense of place and to help them to do so in making our own goals, expectations, and objectives clear. Supported by growing evidence quality design is a crucial part of a successful place. It is not a frivolous extra. We can and should improve the process and communication around all development and that process should include thoughtful design as a given when we discuss Bethlehem City Council Meeting 13 February 15, 2022 building in Bethlehem. It is something that is tied to other factors such as affordable housing, traffic sustainability and on its own merits for the way it makes us feel as a vehicle for communicating to the residents of Bethlehem that they are valued whether they work or live in that building or just walk by it every day. Ms. Leon remarked when she was reading through the HCC minutes that one of the things she has seen a lot was hesitation and mixed emotions. While she is not the HCC and cannot speak for them, she can feel that hesitation in her own vote right now. She added there is the understanding of how she feels about this project and how she is going to have to vote on this project. While digging into this she came across the HARB guidelines for sustainability and she had spoken with some members of the HCC that said that they also use these guidelines. She encourages the HCC to talk more about these guidelines especially as we move forward with our Climate Action Plan. They should be considering environmental issues, social issues, as well as economic issues. She encourages the HCC to continue their very difficult work. Ms. Kwiatek wanted to be clear that she is not opposed to having a growth in rental properties in our city. She welcomes all people who want to live here, and many of them do not want to or are not at a stage in their life where they are ready to buy a home. In her own neighborhood, they are going to have many new residents at the Armory apartments. She welcomes them and cannot wait to see them walking down the hill to go to Musikfest every August with us, carrying their mugs and then watching the fireworks from their beautiful apartment building. The reason why we can see such a disproportionate number of rental units being built in the last 5 years versus owner/occupied single-family or twins is just demand. There is a need for these kinds of properties, and she feels it is not inclusive to not welcome people who rent. She lives on a street on the west side that is a combination of owner/occupied and rental and we are all neighbors and are all residents of Bethlehem. Ms. Kwiatek wanted to say that for the record for herself. Dr. Enix agrees with everything that has been said here this evening but it is very simple for her. She lived half of her life on the south side. She agreed with Ms. Wilhelm; it is the people who count. Her understanding is that the people in the neighborhood on the south side do not want this. Ms. Crampsie Smith wanted to respond and clarify her comment to Councilwoman Kwiatek. What she means is she is not saying she is against all rentals, she realizes people want to rent but she thinks it is important to have balance and equity and diversity so there are resources for all. She noted that people’s resources vary. Some people want to buy a home and some want to rent. Her concern is if we have 85% of the new developments as rentals, that is an imbalance, a very significant imbalance. She is concerned because we will see more developments coming before us in the near future where people are looking at taking away single-family homes and putting in multi-unit rentals. That is her concern because to make a community very cohesive and let everyone have a sense of belonging, there is a variety of housing options for all people from all income levels. Dr. Van Wirt wanted to address the remarks made by President Colón about the unanimity of the HCC vote. This is a pretty complicated process and she would not want the public to think that the unanimity of these COA approvals was necessarily a full approval in terms of it. There is real history here and what happened in a few instances over the last year Bethlehem City Council Meeting 14 February 15, 2022 with previous Council is that the HCC followed the design guidelines by recommending historically appropriate buildings and turned down COAs for inappropriate sized buildings. The previous Council denied their denial, thus overriding the HCC and approving the building. That took the HCC out of the discussion from then on out, after City Council approved it. So part of what we are seeing is an HCC that is looking for some guidance from Council about what they will accept, because they do not want the same thing to happen. They do not want to deny a project based on its incompatibility with the historic character of the area and then have Council override it. This Council is obviously quite different from the last one and we will work this out going forward. She would suggest to our Council that we could give HCC some guideline with accommodation of course, not just flat, only this and not that. But she does think it would help the HCC to get some guidelines from Council about what we are looking for. She asked President Colón if there is a way that we could do this as a Council that would be a good idea. She did want to clarify about the unanimity of the vote that she would not interpret that as approval of the building itself. President Colón noted as we talk about the South New Street project and this is the block across from the new parking garage and the new building on Third and South New Street. This is a block he is familiar with. We had voted on a COA for this last year. He shared at that time that his father for about 2 years rented one of the rooms above the newsstand. So he spent a lot of time there visiting with his father so he is familiar with this block. While we talk about different things like affordable housing, traffic and other things that are relevant to broader bigger discussions that we will have beyond tonight as other members of Council had alluded to, affordable housing comes up and we heard the Mayor and Ms. Collins talk about what the Administration is currently doing looking at how to spend our American Rescue Plan dollars. These dollars are waiting to be exhausted as we come up with these policies to support affordable housing, whether through further ordinances or some of the different programs Mayor Reynolds had alluded to. Dr. Van Wirt had talked about the 150 foot height limit for zoning and every parcel here in the City of Bethlehem is zoned in a different zoning district that essentially regulates how that land can be used. One of the challenges for him as a Council Member over the years has been some of the ordinances that relate to the historical district, whether north or south side, or some of the guidelines which our Solicitor had read. Sometimes they are in conflict or there is the lack of compatibility with how the zoning reads. You have a historic district at South New Street where we are talking about essentially our equivalent of Broad and Main on the north side. He noted that South New and Third is the heart if our south side district and we promote it as one of our 2 downtowns which is saying this is our commercial core, where we want dense foot traffic and where we want people to be. At the same time we are pulled because we want to respect our historic history and the surrounding buildings. That is where, for him, sometimes there is conflict where we are trying to align all these different interests, not that any interest is malicious or one is more virtuous than the other. President Colón does not want to tie the COA to affordable housing; this is one of the rare circumstances. He queried if the developer had committed to a certain amount of affordable housing units within this development. He does not want to hold the developer to something but he thought that was a discussion that happened. Mayor Reynolds explained the developer had voluntarily agreed to 10%, he believes that was the number. President Colón remarked he is trying to separate that from the Certificate of Appropriateness because it is not relevant to his vote for this, but it is just another factor in Bethlehem City Council Meeting 15 February 15, 2022 multiple factors when we consider what is going on with any particular project. Within the scope of the COA, this developer had committed to 10%. In his experience on Council, we do not vote on every project that comes along but that is fairly rare. His point being that there are a lot of things that have merit to discuss, a lot of things in the planning and the development process of each project that comes along at different points and as we move forward as a new Council we need to remember that. He pointed out that at near the end of the meeting he will be announcing the Committees. The Mayor and the Administration always avail themselves to have certain discussions and there is a lot of room for discussion and insight and engagement whether it is the HCC, our Planning and Zoning Department, our Community and Economic Development Department and attending some of these Authorities, Boards and Commissions. He does agree in a different respect with all the comments that were made tonight but he added that while we take all these different things into consideration sometimes it is not as simple to easily align these different considerations. When we look at the HCC ordinance there is a level of subjectiveness as our Solicitor reads it. He will be supporting this as he mentioned before and he invites every Member of Council in different ways to have conversations, here or at committee meetings or to engage with those Authorities, Boards, and Commissions to further some of the things brought up tonight. This is not the last COA that we will be voting on but it is no secret, there is interest in south Bethlehem right now. That has to do with the demand. People are looking for these apartments, and people are occupying them. It is important that we sort some of these questions out; there is opportunity to explore some of those conversations. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 6. Voting NAY: Dr. Enix, 1. The Resolution passed. I. Certificate of Appropriateness – 127 East Fourth Street – Postponed from January 18, 2022 Council Meeting Mr. Colón and Dr. Enix sponsored Resolution No. 2022-031 that granted a Certificate of Appropriateness to convert the former Holy Infancy School into a mixed-use building, with a commercial tenant and 24 residential units at 127 East Fourth Street. Proposed exterior work involves opening previously closed window openings and replacing all doors and windows. An exterior ramp will be constructed on the side of the building to accommodate ADA-compliance. Ms. Leon remarked it is her understanding that this was a very specific COA but she did want to highlight that the HCC had made note of how the back of the building interacts with the Greenway. She thinks that might be outside of this COA but it was good to see it there because she likes that they are taking those things into consideration. Dr. Van Wirt stated this is a great project. It is adaptive reuse and is taking a really great building and making it better. The one thing she was concerned about, and it was a request to the developer and a request to anybody who is building a building above the Greenway, this is a public way and important that the buildings reflect that relationship to the Greenway. The comments from the HCC were that the current plan for the exterior door was very utilitarian. There is a brand new beautiful playground right there, so it makes that relationship a little tricky but that does not mean it cannot be done well. She would put this out as a public plea to this developer and to anyone who is thinking of doing something on the Greenway to use that to the benefit. There are great examples like the Brinker Lofts, Café the Lodge, Bonn Place Brewing, and buildings that acknowledge the pedestrian flow along the Greenway and use it to their benefit. Bethlehem City Council Meeting 16 February 15, 2022 She hopes that anybody coming forward to the HCC will take the Greenway for what it is: an absolute gem of Bethlehem that we will all do everything we can to protect. Ms. Wilhelm agreed. It occurred to her that buildings that are built or renovated or redeveloped on the Greenway no longer have a front and a back. They have two fronts. The Greenway is an invitation to every resident of Bethlehem and it is important. She agrees that the playground is beautiful and it does diminish the importance of this particular door and ramp but she does want to contribute to compelling those who build or develop buildings on the Greenway to think of that as another front of the building. Ms. Crampsie Smith noted that is a very good point. She agrees with Ms. Wilhelm and Dr. Van Wirt and their comments. Also, it could be advantageous for the residents of these buildings if they have it really nice in the front facing the Greenway where it could be a nice outlying area for the residents to go to the Greenway. Ms. Kwiatek agrees with adaptive reuse and she is excited about this project. She loves the idea that this space has had thousands of children running through it all those years; it will not have an unhappy fate. That makes her happy. She was walking on the Greenway this past weekend and just looking at the old buildings on the Greenway, the apartments and town homes and it is great, it is part of the Greenway. It is an urban linear park and so we can have an urban feel to our park while at the same time still enjoy it as a beautiful place to recreate. Ms. Wilhelm added for public knowledge that this is the same developer associated with the complicated project just discussed. This indicated to her that the same developer can make a different choice and do better. President Colón mentioned returning to the Greenway project, he agrees with Dr. Van Wirt and Ms. Kwiatek, we are fortunate in Bethlehem with the foresight that was many years ago to create that linear park that runs through the south side. He does not know if anyone has been to the High Line in New York City where it is pretty much our Hoover Mason Trestle but through the heart of lower Manhattan. That is a very unique experience as is our Greenway. That is just an example where we can kind of develop around what currently exists because the Greenway is definitely an attraction. We have all been to different community events at the Greenway over the years and we definitely do not want to lose that as an asset. Whether it is students jogging or school kids playing on that playground or any of us going out for the numerous events over there we do not want to encroach the Greenway because of any of these projects. Also, as we talk about his specific project, the Holy Infancy building, this is a great way to maintain that building for what it was. So many families have known this building over the years as it has served many, many students and families especially of south Bethlehem. Unfortunately the need was no longer there in enrollment to maintain it but this is a great example of adaptive reuse. Voting AYE: Ms. Leon, Dr. Van Wirt, Ms. Wilhelm, Ms. Crampsie Smith, Dr. Enix, Ms. Kwiatek, and Mr. Colón, 7. The Resolution passed. 11. NEW BUSINESS A. Committee Assignments – 2022-2024 Bethlehem City Council Meeting 17 February 15, 2022 President Colón announced the Committee Assignments for 2022-2024 as follows: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE  Paige Van Wirt, Chairperson  Grace Crampsie Smith  Kiera Wilhelm FINANCE COMMITTEE  Wandalyn Enix, Chairperson  Grace Crampsie Smith  Paige Van Wirt HUMAN RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE  Kiera Wilhelm, Chairperson  Rachel Leon  Paige Van Wirt PARKS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE  Hillary Kwiatek, Chairperson  Rachel Leon  Kiera Wilhelm PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE  Rachel Leon, Chairperson  Wandalyn Enix  Hillary Kwiatek PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE  Grace Crampsie Smith, Chairperson  Wandalyn Enix  Hillary Kwiatek CITY COUNCIL LIAISONS 2022-2023 1. BETHLEHEM AUTHORITY Wandalyn Enix 2. BETHLEHEM HOUSING AUTHORITY Hillary Kwiatek 3. ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Kiera Wilhelm 4. LEHIGH VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION Bethlehem Council Member will be the Appointee for the year 2022 Grace Crampsie Smith Bethlehem City Council Meeting 18 February 15, 2022 5. LIBRARY BOARD Rachel Leon 6. PARKING AUTHORITY Paige Van Wirt 7. REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY; and BLIGHTED PROPERTY REVIEW COMMITTEE The same Member of Council will be the Liaison to the Redevelopment Authority and the Appointee to the Blighted Property Review Committee Hillary Kwiatek Masks President Colón mentioned he has sent out a memorandum to everyone earlier about masks. He pointed out that Mayor Reynolds and Michelle Cichocki, Human Resources Director, had sent out a memorandum yesterday advising that City Hall will no longer make mask wearing mandatory for city employees or members of the public coming in to do city business. He decided the same will apply here in Town Hall for City Council Meetings; however, Council Members have encouraged individuals to wear masks. We wear our masks as we sit up here elbow to elbow and some of us during our day jobs are a little more exposed to cases of COVID. So, Members of Council, for the time being likely will be wearing masks but it is strictly optional here in Town Hall as we gather these Tuesdays in the future. Community Development Committee Meeting request Ms. Crampsie Smith remarked she had submitted questions regarding housing and development to the Department of Community and Economic Development. She wanted to thank them and all on the Administration for the quick response. In the interest of time, she does not want to go through all the responses. Instead she would like to make a motion that we have a meeting of the Community Development Committee to go over these responses and perhaps invite the HCC to get input from them as well as the public regarding housing and development. She would like to make a motion to have that committee meeting and use that time to review those responses. President Colón noted he will turn to Solicitor Panella regarding the motion on the floor, but his early thoughts are that we do not need a motion on the floor of Council to schedule a meeting. That is something the Chair of the Committee can do through the Clerk’s Office. We do not need an official action on the floor of Council but he will defer to our Solicitor. Solicitor Panella agrees. He does not think a motion is needed for that. It is up to the Chair of that Committee individually to make the arrangements of those meetings. Dr. Van Wirt, Chair of the Community Development Committee, stated we can do that. Housing/Greenway Bethlehem City Council Meeting 19 February 15, 2022 Mayor Reynolds remarked they are open to a committee meeting at any time. Essentially every day in City Hall we are having an internal meeting about these issues. He knows that Ms. Collins had sent over today the housing needs assessment that Ms. Karner and Ms. Heller and their departments had done in 2019. He encourages City Council and everybody to take a look at that because it helps to draw the conversation to just how much of a regional issue this really is. Since 2000 our population has increased 6%. The number of housing units has increased by 5%, so we are about even. He pointed out that the number of jobs has increased by 30%, so those people in the city we have been building for the past 2 decades, live, work, and play and want to live in the City of Bethlehem and there is a supply issue. When you take a look regionally, and he and Ms. Collins have talked to Don Cunningham with LVDC and others today, and when you talk about what is going on in the Lehigh Valley and the housing supply, it is not just the City of Bethlehem, but what is going on in our suburbs and our townships. Mayor Reynolds noted that the Lehigh Valley is a place that people want to live and a lot of these things are market driven. When you take a look at the City of Bethlehem, there has never been a time that it has been more popular, that people want to live here. When we are talking about everything that Bethlehem Steel did, one thing Bethlehem Steel did not do is build a Greenway: The City of Bethlehem did that. He noted that Ms. Heller has worked through the different phases of the Greenway. Solicitor Spirk, he believes, went up the 52nd floor in Philadelphia to meet with Norfolk/Southern. Mr. Alkhal worked on that also. For years the thought was, how do we create the Greenway? It was an idea and then it took years to implement, and now it is something that people want to be around. We forget all those conversations we had for all those years and now it is one of those competitive advantages the City of Bethlehem has and it is a distinct thing that has made property in and around the south side very lucrative to live towards. That is the same thing with SteelStacks, the same things we take pride in. When you take a look at that 30% increase in jobs you could say that is a lot of adding jobs, but those jobs saved the City of Bethlehem after the closing of Bethlehem Steel. Mayor Reynolds noted the City of Bethlehem did not have to make decisions that other cities had to make. He added that Easton and Allentown have special earned income tax dispensations that allow them to go above 1% because of their economic picture. The City of Allentown had to sell its water authority and all the pre-bankruptcy things that the City of Bethlehem never had to do because we were able to add those jobs. Yet, at the same time, it is creating this period of change in the City of Bethlehem. The people here wake up every day with the same priorities whether it is Ms. Collins or Ms. Heller or Ms. Karner or Mr. Spirk or Mr. Alkhal, and these are the goals we try to take a look at. One of the things we look at as well are the things we can control. In 2010 our home ownership was at 50.4%. Now in 2020 it is at 50.7%. It has actually only increased the amount of people that own. Part of the reason you do not have more single-family home development is the areas where people are adding density in housing is in and around your downtowns, where you really do not want single-family homes. That is also not what the market is. One thing he has learned in this job like he learned on Council is how much of this really is driven by the market and how much is driven by private property rights, by zoning and other things. A lot of the things that came up here today, whether affordable housing, transportation, the Climate Action Plan, or how do we get the type of buildings we want, those are all things we spend every day, all day thinking about. Also thinking about what point in that process we are able to influence that. It could be in front of the Planning Commission, or maybe it has to do with getting the permits and things like that. We have those same goals and we have those same priorities. Mayor Reynolds added that something else that came up was New Street as far as streetscape, and he turned to Mr. Alkhal. We are looking at somewhere in the $1.6, $1.7, $1.8 million in streetscape improvements that are coming to that corridor of New Street. That will increase the walkability and the on-street feel and quality of life there. He knows that we tend to Bethlehem City Council Meeting 20 February 15, 2022 think about things saying we grew up in a certain neighborhood, but as a whole we need to be rooting for more housing to be built outside of the City of Bethlehem because it is going to help decrease the housing supply pressure in the City of Bethlehem. That may be in townships or wherever it may be. When you talk to the Lehigh Planning Commission, they say the same thing: there is a higher demand to live in the City of Bethlehem than there ever has been before. It is a regional issue and partly it is driven by the pandemic and telework. If we do not add more housing supply, the affordable housing crisis is only going to get worse; it is a simply supply and demand type of idea. Whether or not we are adding those units in the City of Bethlehem or adding them outside in Easton, Allentown, or the townships where people do not really want houses right now. We can like or dislike that but there are a lot of things we need to root for that need to happen outside of the City of Bethlehem. When people move to the Lehigh Valley and they work for Air Products or Lutron or Lehigh University, they look for a place to live and they want to live close to where they are. When we take a look at what the decisions are and what we are pushing people for and what legally we are allowed to do. We may hear that this is not in our purview, he will get frustrated, but there is a lot we can do and a lot we cannot do. We are here ready to work with City Council. That housing needs assessment does a great job of pointing out where the City of Bethlehem was, how we got here and where necessarily we are going. We are ready for as many committee meetings to have further conversations about this particular issue. Officers Ms. Leon remarked that we had Citations for two retired officers tonight but she wanted to welcome Officer Rosado and Officer Marten to the force and she wanted to congratulate our emergency services on their successful hazmat training. American Rescue Funds Ms. Wilhelm mentioned as we determine what to do with the American Rescue Plan Funds she wanted to thank the Administration for so energetically seeking public opinion by meeting people where they are and by putting this opportunity online. She appreciates they are making such an effort to hear from the residents of the city on that matter. 12. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:39 pm. ATTEST: Judy R. Kelechava Assistant City Clerk