LVIA may sell 40 acres to developer
Builder wants to buy fallow farmland for commercial use.

By Chuck Ayers
Of The Morning Call

Lehigh Valley International Airport, which has been stockpiling land over the years, banking 300 acres north of the airport mostly in Hanover Township, Northampton County, now wants to sell some.

Much of the land was purchased with an eye toward future expansion, but a large portion was bought to prevent residential development and avoid complaints of planes flying overhead.

So when New Jersey developer J.G. Petrucci — the single largest developer in the nearby Lehigh Valley Industrial Parks — inquired recently about buying 40 acres of fallow farmland for commercial development, the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority thought it was a good time to sell.

''We don't need it for any purpose so it was always our intent to lease or sell it for a non-aviation use,'' said George Doughty, executive director of the authority.

Doughty said the authority wants to get the best price it can for the land straddling the Hanover-East Allen Township border, and because it didn't know the going rate for prime industrial-commercial land, the authority administration decided it wanted to distribute a request for proposals, or RFP. The authority has hired a consultant to prepare the RFP that will be circulated among prospective developers.

''We had an offer [from Petrucci] … that said we are willing to give you 'X' for that property,'' Doughty said. ''We didn't know if 'X' was high or low; we said we would set up an RFP process.''

Petrucci said the property is ideally situated, with access to and from an improved Airport Road.

He said he has industries interested in moving to the property just northwest of Orchard Lane and east of Hanover Street.

However, Petrucci said he is precluded from divulging their identities by a confidentiality clause he has signed in a tentative agreement of sale.

Of the two companies interested in the site, Petrucci said one is a local firm and one is a national firm looking to break into the Lehigh Valley market. Petrucci said the national firm is a food-related business to which his company has exclusive development rights.

Petrucci said he envisioned using the land for a mixed office and industrial development.

''You could make the case that the airport is the epicenter of the Valley and Airport Road is a good road, so I think we could fill that location relatively rapidly,'' Petrucci said.

According to tax records on the Northampton County Web site, the land is appraised at $23,600, but given land values in the area and its planned use, it likely will sell for much more than that.

The uses proposed by Petrucci fit nicely with the airport's plan, Hanover Township's comprehensive plan and the surrounding uses, officials said.

When we sell it, we will see that it's not residential or other noise-sensitive uses,'' Doughty said. ''Right next to it is an industrial park and next to that is a big box development.''

Copyright © 2005, The Morning Call


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Monday, May 31, 2004

Neighbors put off home improvements amid questions over airport
expansion
The Associated Press


ALLENTOWN, Pa. - People living near the Lehigh Valley International
Airport are putting off home improvements because of concerns the
airport may buy up their homes as part of an expansion.

Airport officials have said that they intend to buy houses in the
Strawberry Hill section of Catasaqua for future construction projects
and runway extensions _ some of which have been in the works since the
1970s _ but haven't given a time table.

"I really kind of want an answer because I want to remodel," said Monica
Ryan, who has lived in her Strawberry Hill home since 1987. "If they're
going to take it in the next five years, I don't want to spend $10,000
on stuff I'm not going to get anything out of."

Elayn Shoemaker put off work on her town house after neighbors told her
the airport would take her land in a year.

Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority Executive Director George Doughty
said he knows residents sometimes hesitate to make home improvements
because of the uncertainty.

But he said they should go forward with renovations either way because
the airport will compensate them for the improvements if it buys their
homes.

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