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South
Bethlehem Eastern Gateway Vision Plan
The Eastern Gateway Vision Plan, prepared by the renowned
urban planning firms Project for Public Spaces and Phillips
Preiss Grygiel LLC, is a community driven report providing
ideas for enhancing the major eastern entranceway to South
Side Bethlehem, marketing the neighborhood, creating renderings
of possible streetscape amenities, and suggesting signage
and wayfinding ideas to direct residents, nearby employees,
and visitors to all the diverse opportunities offered here.
One of the main goals of the Southside Vision 2012 (now 2014)
Plan is to improve the gateways leading into Bethlehem, especially
the Eastern Gateway. After a neighborhood visioning party
where community residents were challenged by PPS and PPG to
look at their public spaces and make suggestions for improvements,
and after 13 separate focus groups of community experts convened
to discuss ways to enliven and redesign the neighborhood,
the plan was finalized in late summer 2011. Implementation
of this plan over the next few years will hopefully create
exciting and highly visible public spaces as well as much
needed retail, service, and residential development in this
crossroads neighborhood.
Review the plan. [PDF]
Historic
Preservation Plan
In 2009, the City of Bethlehem received a federal Preserve
America grant to complete a citywide Historic Preservation
Plan (the “Plan”). Bethlehem is using this opportunity
to create a cohesive strategy to ensure that significant historic
and cultural assets in the City—including buildings,
neighborhoods, industrial remnants, oral histories, cultural
sites and traditions—are preserved and utilized for
positive economic and community development. The initiative,
which is being overseen by the Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission (PHMC), is expected to run throughout 2010.
Review
the draft preservation plan. [PDF]
The
City Livable
Modest Proposals for a More Walkable Downtown
In 2009, Jeff Speck, the City’s consultant
on walkability and other related planning issues, developed
a report based on the conviction that a successful city is
one in which people choose to walk. If people are not fully
comfortable using the City as a pedestrian, then the City
will never provide the high quality of life that is now demanded
in our communities. Read more...
Comprehensive
Plan
Bethlehem's new comprehensive plan charts for how to develop
and preserve the City over the next decade. The comprehensive
plan is not an ordinance, like the zoning ordinance. But it
provides the rationale for revising the City's zoning ordinance
and for updating other City regulations that affect future
growth. Read the full Comprehensive
Plan.
"Southside
Vision 2012" Southside Residential Master Plan 2002 - 2012
 "The
Southside Vision 2012 plan is funded through the Community
Action Development Corporation of Bethlehem (CADC-B) and their
parent organization, the Community Action Committee of the
Lehigh Valley (CACLV), by a grant from Allfirst Bank with
tax credits from the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development.
The City partnered with CADC-B to complete
the plan to develop a strategy for addressing some of the
issues and opportunities in the neighborhoods on the south
side. The plan was completed in 2002 and a steering committee
has been developed to facilitate with the implementation of
the recommendations of the plan."
Click
here To Download (Adobe PDF File 4091 KB)
Census
Report for City of Bethlehem The
Census Report for the City of Bethlehem contains commonly
requested data such as population, housing and income characteristics.
Data from 1990 and 2000 were compared wherever possible to
reveal trends in the City. The information is broken down
by the 18 census tracts, Lehigh and Northampton counties,
and four distinct neighborhoods that make up the City of Bethlehem.
Comparisons to the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) comprising
Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton were completed to compare
the City of Bethlehem with the region. For complete census
information go to, http://factfinder.census.gov.
Click
Here to Download (Adobe PDF File 400 KB)
Five
Points Gateway Enhancement Study
The Five Points Gateway Enhancement Study was completed in
2004 and addresses parking, traffic, and pedestrian safety
issued in the Five Points area.
Click
Here to Download (Adobe PDF File 2.6 MB)
Elm
Street Plan For North and West Side Neighborhoods Webpage
Pennsylvania’s Elm Street Program assists municipalities
in rejuvenating residential and mixed-use areas adjacent to
their central business district. Pennsylvania based its Elm
Street Program on its successful Main Street Program, which
targets downtown commercial districts. Central commercial
areas and the neighborhoods that surround them are linked.
Vibrant neighborhoods provide customers and a labor pool for
downtown businesses. In turn, a healthy downtown improves
the quality of life in nearby neighborhoods. The idea behind
the Elm Street Program is that communities should plan the
future of these two types of areas together, instead of treating
them like separate entities.
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