The Whitehall Township Industrial & Commercial Development Authority (ICDA) will continue to seek state approval to establish a City Revitalization & Investment Pilot Zone (CRIZ) that will include Coplay, Catasauqua and the township. Recently its application was denied by the state.

"It ain't over until it's over," Howard Lieberman, executive director for the township's ICDA, said in a report Monday at the board of commissioners meeting. Lieberman, in his report on the status of CRIZ, said it "is not dead."

"It is extremely important to note that in denying our application the Commonwealth also choose not to certify any pilot zone at all," Lieberman said.

Lieberman told the commissioners he is hoping modified state legislation will emerge.

He said the ICDA was recently informed its application "was denied," as was the case for three other municipalities seeking the pilot zone certification.

"Upon notification of the certification of Bethlehem and Lancaster, a number of legislators have taken on the job of reformulating the legislation so that the coveted certification can be expanded beyond the appointed sites," Lieberman said. "The legislators are meeting to address the parts of the legislation and regulations that were considered less than advantageous."

"It is important to note that our application was denied on the basis of the Inter-Municipal application and the fact that the Industrial Development Authority was not authorized to be the contracting agency," Lieberman added. "These are factors that need to be addressed in the new version of the legislation. As I have discussed with you during the last few months, the cost to establish a new authority of any kind approaches $10,000. I would be fiscally irresponsible for any community to create a new authority to meet the requirements of the CRIZ without even giving the certification."

Lieberman said the Commonwealth has always pushed for intermunicipal cooperation and while Whitehall would have qualified on its own, the compelling portion of the ICDA application was the cooperation between municipalities and the ways ICDA might compete with the economic incentives given developers in surrounding urban settings.

"This we hope to address in the modified legislation," Lieberman said.

A meeting is scheduled Jan. 24 with area legislators, Catasauqua Mayor Barbara Schlegel and borough Manager Eugene Goldfeder, Coplay Secretary Sandra Gyecsek and CRIZ committee members to help draft changes to the legislation. Liberman said he will also travel to Harrisburg to discuss the issue further.

Whitehall is seeking CRIZ certification for properties including the Lehigh Valley Dairy and Dent sites in Coplay, the General Supply property off Bridge Street and Catasauqua property on Front Street.