In a surprise appearance Feb. 20, Stephanie Hnatiw and Virginia Oskin of the Bethlehem YWCA presented Councilwoman Olga Negron a bouquet of flowers and named her the YWCA’s Public Servant of the Year. Negron will be formally honored a dinner April 12 at the event center at Blue in Bethlehem Township.

The anticipated final vote on a plan to convert part of Filbert Street and part of Second Avenue status to be “vacated, discontinued, abandoned and stricken from the city’s general plan of streets” didn’t happen as originally planned, but has been rescheduled. The proposed action is in support of the redevelopment plans for the vacant armory on Prospect Avenue.

However, that didn’t keep residents from continuing their campaign against the project. Resident William Scheirer spoke against one of the several amendments that he said the Zoning Hearing Board has granted to the project. He opposedan amendment that “increases the lot coverage by 10 percentage points for all buildings in all RT, the most dense, residential zones,” describing the action as “a Trojan Horse that will enable developers to build even more massive projects as a matter of right.

“Do we want to become a wannabe [sic] small city with pretensions to concentrated urban dynamism, or do we want to retain the delights of a large town that have [sic] bequeathed to us? If the latter, then ask the administration to simply limit the additional 10 percentage points to decks and sheds. What could be easier?”

Minutes later council approved the article increasing the maximum building coverage in RT districts.

Marsha Fritz spoke in favor of historic buildings in general, saying “Many cities have local organizations that promote the preservation of buildings, but Bethlehem does not. Instead concerned citizens must organize around each threatened building; rarely do they have the resources for the inevitable legal action. Developers know this. So do politicians who can wait out citizens in favor of developers.”

In other business, council approved the vacation of a portion of Pyatt Street at the intersection of Pyatt Street and Covington Avenue. The adjacent properties are owned by Ryaz, Khairunisa, and Mubina Gangji and by Gentle Family Dentistry.

Council also voted to change the definition of what a hotel is by an ordinance that reduces the number of rooms a hotel must have from five rooms or rental units to one room or rental unit.

The American Association of University Women of Bethlehem got approval to use the Memorial Pool building for its 2018 Book Fair from April 26–30.

Council also approved use of the Earl E. Schaffer Ice Rink for St. Luke’s University Health Network’s 2018 Boutique at the Rink scheduled for May 29 – June 2.