Upper Mount Bethel this week considered and then rejected a plan to sue six residents — including one of the supervisors — who sued the township over concerns about plans for a massive industrial park by Bethlehem developer Lou Pektor.

Township officials voted 2-3 on a motion made by Supervisor Robert Teel to recover $100,000 Upper Mount Bethel says it spent to defend the board’s decision to change its zoning law to allow the massive River Pointe Commerce Park. The vote took place Monday during supervisors’ regular meeting.

Supervisor David Due seconded and voted for Teel’s motion, but Chair Martin Pinter and Supervisors John Bermingham and David Friedman voted against it.

Friedman, who was one of six residents from a group known as Concerned Citizens of Upper Mount Bethel Township who sued the township in 2020 after supervisors passed a text amendment that changed the township’s industrial zoning, was elected last fall to the Board of Supervisors and removed his name from the lawsuit.

On Wednesday, Friedman sounded satisfied that he and the other five residents would not face legal repercussions.

“I’m glad it’s been put to rest, and perhaps we can get on with getting to work on planned, logical development in the township,” Friedman said.

He said he ended his role the lawsuit after his election, as per the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission. The commission’s recommendation allows him to vote on matters related to the project, he said.

Richard Wilford-Hunt, one of the Concerned Citizens members, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.

Township manager Ed Nelson said Wednesday that some on the board believed the residents’ challenge of the text amendment was in error and that it cost Upper Mount Bethel officials in research and administrative matters to work on the defense.

“The crux is what the supervisors did was legislation, and [residents] were trying to challenge legislation in court, and the court does not have authority to overrule legislation,” Nelson said.

The text amendment came at the request of Pektor, whose companies plan to turn more than 800 undeveloped acres in the township into a major commercial area called River Pointe Commerce Park. Pektor bought 725 acres in 2019 for $17 million for the project initially known as River Pointe Logistics, along River and Demi Roads, about 1.5 miles from Interstate 80.

Up to 15 buildings totaling 5.5 million square feet are planned at the site, which sits at the northeastern edge of Northampton County, and is within a day’s drive of one-third of the U.S. population, according to River Pointe.

In their lawsuit, the residents alleged that supervisors usurped the authority of the zoning hearing board in approving the changes without zoners’ review. Though they maintain they are not opposed to development, they also said the supervisors’ decision on the amendment failed to heed concerns expressed by the township planning commission, township engineer, environmental groups and the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

Pektor and River Pointe also filed a lawsuit in February against the six residents and their attorney claiming the lawsuit and appeal were frivolous. The suit was closed last month, according to Northampton County court records. It happened after the citizens dropped their appeal over the text amendment.

Friedman said while Pektor still has not begun construction, he has received final approval for a 420,000-square-foot spec building.

Most of Pektor’s proposal is on undeveloped land next to the Portland Industrial Park, which houses Ultra-Poly Corp., Lamtec Corp. and Air Liquide Advanced Materials Inc., while other plans by Pektor call for redeveloping the former Portland Generating Station electric plant along River Road.

Morning Call journalist Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.