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Planning commission forwards Zone Allentown zoning and SALDO updates to city council, urges future amendments where needed
Summary
The Planning Commission on Sept. 16 forwarded a comprehensive zoning rewrite (Zone Allentown) and a new SALDO to City Council with favorable recommendations and signaled willingness to pursue targeted amendments after initial adoption to address stakeholder concerns.
The Planning Commission on Sept. 16 voted to forward two city‑sponsored bills — a replacement zoning ordinance and map (Zone Allentown, Bill 69‑2025) and a replacement subdivision and land‑development ordinance (SALDO, Bill 70‑2025) — to City Council with a favorable recommendation and an acknowledgement that the documents are intended to be living codes subject to future amendments.
Planning staff explained the adoption timeline: the commission had previously forwarded recommendations; City Council introduced both bills; the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission reviewed them favorably and provided letters of support; and the city anticipates committee and public hearings in late September and October 2025. Staff confirmed an April 2024 change that created the SRRO overlay district to incorporate earlier 2022 zoning relief in limited riverfront areas; staff also noted that some stakeholders raised questions about boundaries and intensity after the Zone Allentown drafts were distributed.
Several community members from the Sixth Ward spoke at length, urging the city to retain the 2022 zoning relief that had enabled larger‑scale redevelopment in parts of the Sixth Ward. Speakers said projects approved earlier in the decade had created jobs and reduced crime in their neighborhoods and asked that the SRRO boundary or related provisions be reconsidered so those benefits would continue. Planning staff and the mayor’s office representative replied that the SRRO overlay and other changes were considered during the drafting process and that the city is prepared to pursue targeted amendments after initial adoption rather than restarting the entire adoption timeline now.
Commissioners said the proposed ordinances represent a comprehensive update and that public outreach was extensive; they also acknowledged that the code is a long‑term framework that will be amended after adoption where stakeholders demonstrate the need for localized changes. A motion forwarding both bills with a favorable recommendation passed by voice vote.
Staff said public‑outreach materials and a Zone Allentown website will be updated with committee meeting and hearing dates, and that the city would welcome continued engagement from neighborhood representatives and developers during the amendment phase.
