Meeting Notes June 3, 2015
Our Greeter this morning was Randy Beitler and he did an excellent job.
Past President Halyna Stegura rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Chuck Ehninger gave a very nice invocation with special mention of Don Grammes.
GUESTS: District Governor Gary Fedorcha (Slatington RC), Tom Hartzell (Bethlehem Morning Star RC), Dave Dries (Spring Twsp RC), Wendy Weaver, guest of Barb Kistler; and our speaker Zach Jaindl brought his Mother.
Honorary member Shirley Randall was with us today.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our next Thursday evening meeting at the Holiday Inn will be tomorrow June 11th starting at 5:30 PM.
Sunday June 7th is our day to help at the Miracle League baseball game. Some Interact students will be there to help too. We need volunteers -- see AJ.
The AWRC annual Changeover this year will be a dinner event at LCCC in the same room as we used for the scholarship awards. The date is Thursday June 25th starting at 6:00 PM. There will be no other meetings of AWRC that week.
Gloria Zimmerman gave a report about our Service committee’s activities over the last year. See separate article.
Dale Utt read out loud two thank you letters to AW Rotarians from the May 20th scholarship award recipients.
Sue Weber announced that our inbound Youth Exchange student this year is a 16 year old young lady from Slovakia. She will first be hosted by Dana and Mike Gschwendtner.
Mike Henry confirmed Len Salines’ e-mail that our club's third annual Community Pig Roast Fundraiser is on Saturday July 18, 2015. It will be held at Ontelaunee Park in New Tripoli from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM with food being served starting at 4:30PM. Please invite friends and family and join your fellow members for food and fun and fellowship at this community event. Adults $20 pp; Children 5 to 12 $8 pp; <5 free. Net proceeds will go toward the Snack Pack program.
On June 10th Chad Butters is the scheduled Greeter and our Speaker will be Kim Schaeffer, Director Community Bike Works Program Allentown
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize donated by Randy was won by Dr. Bob Gordon. The $16 pot of the 50:50 was not won by George Ikeda who selected a white marble.
FINES:
S-a-A Don Davis fined DG Gary, Gwen Pongracz and George Ikeda for coming late. Shirley paid a dollar for reaching 10 years as an honorary member.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
DG Gary paid an extra dollar recognizing Rotarians of the district and AW Rotarians specifically for their support and good works this Rotary year.
Dale Heffner is happy that his granddaughter, Jaidin was baptized in their church last Sunday.
Bill Palmer said that Yvette’s granddaughter, Arista, with her dance group finished with a first, a second and a third in KOP on Sunday. They next compete in Atlantic City in August. Bill’s granddaughter Shaina received a phone call from the Principal of Bethlehem’s Freedom HS last Friday informing her that she is the senior class Valedictorian from 428 seniors.
Jerry Frank’s granddaughter and the Parkland HS softball team have moved up to the state competition.
Joe Goll noted that the Parkland HS Volleyball team is competing at the state level this year.
Geoff Legg proudly announced that his Doctor daughter was named the #1 Family Practice for the second year in a row.
Dr. Bob Gordon is happy that he was asked to be a guest lecturer in Albania this Friday……..…and he will not be going.
PROGRAM:
Sue Weber has known our speaker for many years and did the introduction. Our program today was Zachary J. Jaindl, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Jaindl Properties with his father, Mark W. Jaindl. Zachary was named the youngest member of Lehigh Valley Business’s “Top Forty Under 40” in 2014 and serves in a number of leadership positions at his alma mater.
While studying Finance and Marketing at Lehigh University, Zachary began developing business models focused around smart urban growth and the prevention of urban sprawl. Upon founding Jaindl Properties in 2011 the firm embarked on a number of historical renovations around the city. These projects would ultimately pave the way to the firm’s involvement in The Waterfront in 2012.
The Allentown Waterfront Project has been about 10 years in the making to date. The Waterfront Development Company includes six office buildings, three apartment buildings, a pair of parking decks, two open-air plazas and retail and restaurant space on 26 acres of former Lehigh Structural Steel property along the Lehigh River in Allentown. Zach told the story using slides of the site and various renderings.
The redevelopment of the property in Allentown will start this summer and finally open the neighborhood to the Lehigh River, long hidden from view by industrial development. The development group is made up of Jaindl Properties and Dunn Twiggar. The long awaited American Parkway bridge is to open soon and make access easier.
The river will be the focal point of the project that will include two 1,200-space parking decks, a half-mile River Walk, a pair of open-air plazas and two floating docks offering river access to the development. The first office will feature a two-story lobby that makes the river visible through the building.
The Tilghman Street Bridge roughly bisects the property, and the project's first phase just south of the bridge will include three office buildings, about 120 apartments, the first half of the River Walk, all underground utilities, the first half of Waterfront Drive and the Allen Street plaza. PPL will upgrade their substation for supply redundancy.
Zach said that they also have acquired the 3-1/2 mile railroad right of way along the river. This will allow widening of the roadway and improve access. The site really is almost in the center of the Lehigh Valley. It should be attractive to the younger folks and hopefully induce them to stay here after college.
Riverfront dining and events planned for the plazas and amphitheater will draw visitors from around the area. And the property's industrial past will not be forgotten, since the project is to include crane runs in one of the plazas.
The 26 acres are in the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) that allows all taxes, outside local property taxes, to be redirected for development within the zone. The current taxes from the area of $100,000 a year are expected to grow to about $4 million per year. They anticipate that 2,900 jobs will be created. And Zach assures us that the lowest elevation of the site is the same as the 500 year historical high for the river there.
CLOSING: Halyna hit the right note to start us singing a good rendition of “God Bless America” This was followed by the recitation of the Pledge to the Flag of the United States and then the saying “One profits most who serves the best.”
ocus on membership for our Club. 
