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Commission grants Walnut Street subdivision waiver with conditions amid neighborhood concerns
Summary
Commissioners approved a waiver allowing subdivision of 1420 Walnut Street — where the applicant plans to convert the front Victorian into four apartments and build a two-family rear building — conditioned on documentation of financial hardship, addressing city comments, and returning to the commission for plan review.
The Allentown Planning Commission voted to grant a waiver for 1420 Walnut Street that will allow the parcel to be subdivided so the existing Victorian front structure can be converted to four apartments and a detached two-family building constructed on the rear lot facing Hickory Street.
Engineer John Koutsource, representing the owner, said the property has been vacant for about 20 years and that a series of prior attempts to rehabilitate the site were unsuccessful. “The site was previously owned since 2005… it has been vacant ever since, so it's been vacant for 20 years,” he said, arguing that redevelopment via subdivision is the only financially viable route to restore the building and preserve its Victorian character.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about whether two principal structures could be allowed on one lot, traffic and safety given the adjacent school, parking access across the proposed lots, and whether financial hardship documentation should be provided. A nearby resident, Mark Paradis, asked whether the carriage house would be demolished and whether construction debris would be controlled; the applicant confirmed demolition of the carriage house and said construction controls would be in place.
The motion that passed requires the applicant to submit documentation supporting the financial-hardship claim, address city comments, and return to the planning commission with revised plans or subsequent minor land-development filings as appropriate. Commissioners emphasized that the waiver does not itself authorize construction; zoning relief or administrative approvals may also be required.
