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Politics & Government

Supervisors Hear Plan for Faith-Based Community, Cultural Center

Plans are in the very early stages; the Lower Nazareth Board of Supervisors are uncertain about the center's proposed cemetery, which would require a zoning amendment.

The on Wednesday discussed with project developers ideas for a faith-based community/cultural center that Lehigh Dialogue Center wants to build on a 9-acre tract off Commerce Park Drive.

No decisions were reached Wednesday. Township Manager Timm Tenges stressed that plans for the project are in the early preliminary stages.

“This is a very informal presentation,” he said.

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Lehigh Dialogue Center, a community group run by Muslims of Turkish heritage, hosts interfaith events and gatherings. The group has made an offer on the tract, south of Hecktown Road, in hopes of finding a permanent home for its meetings and events, now held in rented spaces across the Lehigh Valley, said Martin Gilchrist of Urban Research & Development Corp.

Gilchrist, one of the project developers, explained the group's three-pronged plans for the site. A long-term goal, once short-term plans are finished, is to open a hotel, he said. The shorter-term goals are:

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  • A community/cultural center of 15,000 to 18,000 square feet that ould host numerous events and programs, including weekly religious education for children and traditional feasts twice per year; and
  • A cemetery across the road from the community center, on part of the same tract.

The cemetery -- which would require an amendment to Lower Nazareth's zoning ordinance -- will be a tough sell to the supervisors, based on comments Wednesday.

Gilchrist compared the proposed cemetery to graveyards next to or near roadside churches.

“Lots of country churches have adjacent cemeteries,” he noted.

Supervisor Chairman Eric Nagle did not seem impressed.

The site of the proposed project is zoned Light Industrial, or LI.

“I have an issue with a cemetery in an LI district,” Nagle said.

On the process front: Community centers and hotels are permitted uses in an LI zoning district in Lower Nazareth; a cemetery is not. The project team wants supervisors to add cemeteries as an accessory use. That would require an amendment to the township's zoning ordinance -- which requires approval from the supervisors after public hearings and other procedural steps.

Township solicitor Gary Asteak asked Gilchrist to define exactly what the project team means by “community center.”

He added that he is not familiar with similar projects anywhere in the region.

“Can you provide examples of cemeteries as accessory uses to a community center?” Asteak asked.

Gilchrist said he will provide further details and information about the project at the next supervisors meeting on March 28.

For more information on Lehigh Dialogue Center, see: lehighdialogue.org

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