The proposed Lofts at Fullerton Mills, a 49-unit affordable workforce housing complex at the longtime-idled three-story Fuller Sportswear, was given a major boost at a Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners special meeting Monday when the adaptive re-use ordinance was passed by a 5-2 vote.

For PathStone, a nonprofit housing firm, the decision by the commissioners ends a lengthy process that began in 2014 when it went before the township’s zoning board requesting several variances to the current township code.

Unlike several previous commissioners meetings, when residents in the Quarry Street neighborhood packed the township hall to protest the PathStone project, on Monday, there were approximately 20 people attending.

“Anyone from the board?” President Phillips Armstrong asked when the adaptive re-use legislation was on the floor for a vote. Hearing no one, Armstrong asked, “Anyone from the audience?” Again no one spoke - not even Attorney Catherine E.N. Durso, representing PathStone.

After a call for a vote, Commissioners Philip Ginder, Thomas Slonaker and Linda Snyder, Vice President Dennis Hower and Armstrong voted to adopt the adaptive re-use ordinance.

Commissioners Joseph J. Marx Jr. and Jeffrey Dutt cast no votes. Neither Marx nor Dutt cited the reason for their votes when the balloting took place.

The adaptive re-use ordinance does not just pertain to the 215 Quarry St. property in Fullerton but pertains to all qualified structures in residential zoning districts in the township: R-1, R-2, R-3, R-3A, R-4, R-5, R-5A and R-6.

Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. at the Oct. 10 meeting said 16 postings near properties could meet the adaptive re-use criteria.

“The postings do not mean that any property was sold and is immediately going to be redeveloped,” Hozza said.

The ordinance adopted regarding affordable housing and multi-family housing is not the razing and redeveloping of an entire structure, but it may include selective demolition of up to 50 percent of the existing structure and reconstruction of such demolished areas and minor additions - such additions keeping in nature and character of the original structure.

Adaptive re-use is limited to a building over 5,000 square feet, the original structure having existed from 50 years prior to adoption of the ordinance and the structure has been vacant, partially vacant or underutilized in that at least 50 percent of the building remained vacant for a minimum of three consecutive years.

Following the Oct. 24 meeting, when asked what the next step is for PathStone, Armstrong replied, “They have to follow the process.”

The process, however, does not have PathStone returning to either the planning commission or zoning board on their plans for The Lofts at Fullerton Mills. Township Solicitor Charles Fonzone, Esq., said PathStone can now file for the permit with the township that moves the project to fruition.

Hozza said his comment to The Press in last week’s story remains so.

“I want to warn the people of Whitehall Township the possibility exists that even if the ordinance passes on Oct. 24, PathStone and its Washington, D.C., legal representatives may decide to continue with federal legal action against the township,” he told The Press Oct. 18. “If they would succeed with their legal action, the township, with limited insurance liability coverage, would be forced to enact draconian cuts to services, raise the local property tax and, in the worst-case scenario, would need to seek state Act 47 financial distress status.”

Commissioners, in a change from the proposed legislation, reduced the two parking spaces per unit to 1.2 per unit. Hozza said previously the revised ordinance before the board “is a good-faith effort of the township to resolve this matter.”

PathStone filed a federal Housing & Urban Development (HUD) fair housing discriminatory complaint against Whitehall Township.

Washington, D.C., Lawyer Michael Allen charged that the township permitted the “public process to be infested by the stereotypical and discriminatory views of the predominately white neighbors surrounding the parcel.” It was suggested the U.S. Justice Department may get involved.

Citizens’ concerns centered on safety and parking.

With modifications made to the ordinance, the township hopes to stave off any litigation regarding the issues.

Hower, who grew up in the Quarry Street area, said previously, “No one can convince me that the Township of Whitehall Township is racist.”

Located at 215 Quarry St., between Second and Third streets, the apartments would be one- to three-bedroom units and rent for $250 to $1,000 each to low-income people, Wendy Carter, PathStone’s director of housing administration in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, said at a previous commissioners meeting.