Official hopes grassroots survey of ideas for Dixie Cup factory is ‘bat signal’ for developers
Northampton County officials said they need to see more details before taking seriously the results of a private survey about the Dixie Cup building.
The county council’s Economic Development Committee asked the Wilson Borough resident who conducted the survey of residents’ thoughts on the South 24th Street site’s development to involve Lehigh University students and include information about the respondents’ demographics in the future.
“I don’t know how you would get a definitive study going door to door,” county Councilwoman Tara Zrinski, chairwoman of the committee, said during a review of the study Thursday.
Zrinski said she hoped the preliminary study would act as a “bat signal” instead, to inspire developers to research the property.
Some 121 Wilson-area residents were surveyed in the study over a five-month period, said borough resident Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, who presented the survey. Wilson borough has 8,222 residents, according to the 2021 U.S. Census estimate.
Respondents’ preferences for possible uses were rated on a scale of “strongly support” to “strongly oppose.” The survey considered 28 possible uses across commercial, residential and industrial zoning options.
According to the results, residents overwhelmingly supported converting the property into a recreation use or apartments. Warehousing and a car wash were among the least desired uses, the report showed.
Moritz-Chapelliquen, who was recently appointed to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, said he conducted the independent survey to show that past development proposals for the site were in opposition to what residents needed or wanted to see happen. He also asked the commission to rethink how it shapes its final decision.
“I want to see something happen to this building that is reflective of what the community wants,” Moritz-Chapelliquen said. “I’m hoping for this to be a conversation starter.”
Moritz-Chapelliquen’s survey was sent out in August after the Northampton County Council voted down a tax-reduction application that would’ve supported turning the dilapidated Dixie Cup factory that’s been mostly abandoned for decades into a mixed-use, last-mile distribution center.
A pending sale for the old factory sale hinged on approval of the LERTA proposal, and the New Jersey developer involved in the talks, Nick Tsapatsaris, ultimately walked away from the deal that sought to rehabilitate and reuse the property.
Wilson Park LTD, led by Joseph Reibman, still owns the property.
The county said it’s tried dozens of times to incentivize developers into tackling the blighted property. Each time the developers encounter some obstacle, their plans fall apart, county Councilman John Cusick said.
“I think something has to be done to connect the right developer with Mr. Reibman and his group to make something like this happen because the plans exist,” Cusick said. “Can it still happen? I think so, but we need to get the right people to the table and that’s going to require capital.”