Allentown's Forums on Zoning Start Tonight

Allentown City Council and Allentown’s President Council are hosting four community forums on the city’s zoning code. The Morning Call describes some of the changes that would be implemented:

First made public in October 2008, the zoning changes would be city-wide and impact homeowners, businesses and others in the city for decades to come.

The roughly 50 proposed changes run from the simple, such as requiring barbers and salons to have someone with a state certification always on site; to the controversial, such as prohibiting owners of one-to-four-unit properties from adding units in all residential districts except high density.

The changes would also make it easier for developers to convert large, non-residential structures — such as factories and warehouses — into residential buildings and prohibit owners of property along the Seventh Street commercial corridor from converting ground-floor businesses into residential units.

Council hopes to introduce a zoning amendment bill later this year and is looking for public input on the zoning changes. The meetings are as follows:

• 7 p.m. Monday, June 7 at Faith Fellowship Church, East Pennsylvania and North Ulster streets
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 8 at West End Youth Center, 848 N. 20th St.
• 7 p.m. Thursday, June 17 at Allentown City Hall, 435 Hamilton St.
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 22 at Trinity Memorial Lutheran Church, 535 W. Emaus Ave.

If you are able to attend any of these, feel free to come back to our blog and post your thoughts on the changes.

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