Lower Nazareth approves Bottom Dollar Food store for new shopping center

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Van Cleef Engineering Associates of Bethlehem and representatives from a new discount grocery store, Bottom Dollar Food, came before Lower Nazareth Township supervisors Wednesday night to seek approval for what officials are calling "a small shopping center" that straddles the township-Nazareth borough boundary.

Supervisors granted approval pending discussions with Nazareth officials to iron out any differences in the two municipalities' interpretations of their ordinances. The food chain currently has stores in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. The closest location to The Lehigh Valley is in Laurel, Md.

Lower Nazareth Commons, which will also host six as-yet unidentified small specialty shops, will be located across Route 248 from the Essroc Cement Co. silos on Route 248. The original commercial development plan was approved in 2004, according to Eric Gibson, director of development for DHD Ventures, which is designing and building the center.

Because the plot is located half in Nazareth and half in Lower Nazareth Township, approvals had to be obtained from both municipalities' governing bodies. Lower Nazareth supervisors had few questions for the developers, but did ask for assurances that there will be no sidewalk sales outside the future stores and that parking spots at the four acre site must stay within parameters set by township ordinances.

They received those assurances.

On its website, Bottom Dollar Food trumpets its values, saying "We have everything you would expect from a grocery store – only a whole lot cheaper."

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2010/08/bottom_dollar_food_store_will.html