ANR VII LLC's five-story, 34-apartment mixed-use building called Dutchtown Pointe, proposed for 34-42 S. Sixth St. in Easton, is seen in a rendering. City council on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, approved a certificate of appropriateness for the development.Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com
Neighbors still aren’t happy, but the developer of a five-story apartment building called Dutchtown Pointe at 34-42 S. Sixth St. in Easton has the city’s go-ahead for construction.
The city council on Wednesday night voted 5-2 to approve the Easton Historic District Commission’s recommendation to certify the development is appropriate for Downtown Easton’s historic district.
The project has already passed reviews by the city’s planning commission and zoning hearing board. With the city approvals in place, final construction plans will now be submitted to the city to receive permits, the developer, ANR VII LLC, said in a news release.
The building will contain a mix of two-bedroom, single-bedroom and studio apartments, as well as around 1,700 square feet of commercial space, according to the release.
Council last October had rejected the certificates of appropriateness needed for the overall project and for the demolition of a garage on the property. Council then in March reversed its garage decision to permit the demolition after ANR VII LLC appealed the October denial to Northampton County Court, which remanded the matter to the city.
The October decision came after the historic commission recommended council reject the overall project. But through subsequent meetings with the developer the commission on July 11 voted 3-2 to recommend city council approval.
“This project has been scrutinized from a 360-degree view around,” project architect Jeffrey Martinson told city council Wednesday night.
The developer met with the historic commission three times and has one more pending to go over the exterior construction materials, but the project can proceed. Exterior facades are proposed to consist of veneer stone, veneer brick, fiber cement cladding, double hung windows, and decorative aluminum and glass railings, the developer said.
Historic commission member Phil Mitman appeared before city council at its July 13 meeting to say the developer’s changes through the city’s review process led to the acceptance of the 34-apartment building with first-floor commercial and 29 off-street parking spaces. Fellow Commissioners Diane Haviland and Clay Mitman joined him in recommending council approval while commission members Shabel Korrie and Barbara Rossi voted against it.
ANR VII LLC's five-story, 34-apartment mixed-use building called Dutchtown Pointe, proposed for 34-42 S. Sixth St. in Easton, is seen in a rendering. City council on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, approved a certificate of appropriateness for the development.Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com
Concerns raised by neighbors Wednesday night focused on the size, scale and mass of the new building in the city’s Dutchtown neighborhood bordering the Downtown and West Ward.
To address the scale, ANR principal Monty Kalsi agreed to step back the fifth floor’s west/front facade by 28 feet and the fifth floor’s north and south sides by 12 feet. The rear will be massed to resemble separate buildings, according to the certificate of appropriateness approved by council.
The project has changed since earlier versions, and Mayor Sal Panto Jr. called the revised plan “something that city council can’t refuse” because it meets the requirements of Easton’s historic district ordinance.
Councilmen Peter Melan and David O’Connell voted against approval, citing city ordinance requirements that building heights be in “harmony and scale” of their surroundings and the increase in the new building’s footprint beyond what’s on the property already.
Kalsi received city approval to consolidate four parcels into one for the project. On one of them is a 2 1/2-story house whose facade will be incorporated into the design of the new building.
Next-door neighbor Kira Millick said she continues to dispute that the building will encroach on her property line, and Easton redeveloper Mark Calafatello raised concerns over the size of the building, as well as about the city’s review process for large-scale developments that makes decisions “silo’d and compartmentalized.” Both spoke at length during prior reviews of the project, as well.
City Solicitor Joel Scheer said the matter before council on Wednesday was limited to approving or denying the historic commission’s recommendation to grant a certificate of appropriateness.
“I cannot vote against this,” Panto reiterated. “I can’t whether I like it or not, whether I think it should be something different. It’s not my decision.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated with project renderings and additional information from the developer.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
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