Elias Market Case to be Heard Again

A “do-over,” generally limited to the realm of playgrounds and schoolyards, will be the operative word when the Bethlehem Zoning Hearing Board convenes for a special session tonight at the

A missing transcript or recorded disk of one of three hearings held last year, which led to the of the, has led us to a “do-over” hearing tonight, according to the board.

The session will be held at 6 p.m. tonight in the ground floor meeting room of the library.

A transcript of the 12-hour hearing, held over three sessions, is necessary to adjudicate the of the board's decision to Northampton County Court.

However, the record of the second session, held Nov. 10, has turned up missing or destroyed, board members say.

“Following the June 22, 2011 meeting of the Zoning Hearing Board, the stenographer advised that he lost the paper tape, could not retrieve data from the diskette used at that hearing and could not locate an audio tape from the November 10, 2010 hearing,” reads a prepared statement signed by board members. “As a result, he could not complete the transcript.

“The Board then directed the stenographer to produce either a completed transcript or turn over all records and information pertaining to the November 10, 2010. The Board obtained the computer diskette on June 27, 2011 and no data, retrievable or otherwise, was found within the diskette. No other notes, tapes or audio records were turned over to the Board.”

Case law demands that this portion of the hearing be re-done, board members said. The board’s plan is to have a “do-over” of the Nov. 10 hearing, then review the transcript of the Nov. 29 hearing before rendering a final decision on the case for what would be the third time.

The board issued a final ruling in favor of the expansion in 2009, but Northampton County Court directed a “do-over” then because the board had failed to rule on the need for a special exception to allow the market to expand, ruling only on the requested dimensional variance.

“Ultimately, it is the board’s responsibility to preserve the record,” the board’s statement said. “We are deeply embarrassed and have taken affirmative measures, along with the City of Bethlehem, to make certain that this situation never happens again.

“This includes hiring a new stenographer with modernized recording devices and multiplel evels of redundancy. We sincerely regret the inconvenience that this has caused to all of the parties involved and will do everything humanly possible to expedite this matter.”