(The latest in a series of posts on the Southside and Neighborhoods)
Olga Negron is a member of Bethlehem City Council.
Gadfly:
When I spoke about using the Zoning ordinance to incentivize developers to include affordable housing when constructing, I was referring to our Zoning Ordinance Article 1307 (copy attached), where it details how the city can incentivize the developers allowing them to use a density bonus. The city has been giving bonuses without using the ordinance in the books! Maybe that’s we are called “the Christmas City”!
Zoning Ordinance Article 1307.Workforce Housing Incentive
“This Article 1307 shall only be available if a development will include 20 or more new dwelling units. If a minimum of 10% of the total dwelling units in a development will be sold or leased as workforce dwellings, then a density bonus shall be allowed. If more than 30 percent of the total dwelling units in a development are workforce housing units, the density bonus shall only be available for that first 30 percent of the total dwelling units. The density bonus shall be that for every workforce dwelling unit, 1.5 additional dwelling units shall be allowed in the development beyond the number of dwelling units that would otherwise be allowed. However, in no case shall the total density of the development exceed a minimum average lot area of 1,000 square feet of lot area per dwelling unit. The restrictions of this Article shall be established and enforced by lease and by deed. The bonus may be rounded to the nearest whole number.”
Olga
They could — and should — use the same approach to incentivize climate-neutral building for all new construction and major renovations.