- The state Department of Environmental Protection held two hearings regarding permit applications for proposed warehouses in Lowhill Township
- Resident concerns included a lack of public water and sewer and potential contamination of nearby bodies of water
- Representatives from both warehouse developers attended the hearings but declined requests for comment
HEIDELBERG TWP., Pa. — Residents of Lowhill Township and nearby municipalities have worked for more than a year to try to stop three proposed warehouses from being built.
And on Wednesday, the state got involved.
The state Department of Environmental Protection held two back-to-back public hearings on whether the department should grant permits to two of those warehouse plans.
“These regulations were adopted for good reason, and we are calling on the DEP to uphold these regulations fully and completely.”Lowhill Township supervisor Curtis Dietrich
About 50 people attended the hearings at Germansville Volunteer Fire Company in Heidelberg Township.
Seventeen provided public comment, including Lowhill Board of Supervisors member Curtis Dietrich, who said he was not speaking on behalf of the township.
“I have many concerns about the ability of the applicant to meet local and state regulations,” Dietrich said. “These regulations were adopted for good reason, and we are calling on the DEP to uphold these regulations fully and completely.”
Kim Weinberg, president of Northwestern Lehigh Residents for Smart Growth, said she collected signatures from residents on a petition to the DEP to hold the hearing.
DEP Regional Communications Manager Colleen Connolly said the department tries to hold hearings whenever the public requests them. The department recently held two hearings related to warehouses in Monroe County.
Representatives from both warehouse developers, Core5 Industrial Partners and CRG Services Management, attended the hearings, but neither group addressed the crowd. Both declined a request for comment.
Core5 Industrial Partners plans a 100,569-foot warehouse, the smallest of the three, on 21 acres at 7503 Kernsville Road, across from the Creative Kids School Age Center.
Core5 Industrial Partners has another warehouse plan on 43 acres at 2766 Route 100 that would be about 312,000 square feet. That plan was not discussed at either hearing.
CRG Services Management’s warehouse plan would be 299,880 square feet on 51 acres at 2951 Betz Court, just off of Kernsville Road.
The DEP permit
The two warehouse developers applied to the DEP for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit for discharge purposes, according to DEP media releases for both hearings.
Developers are required to get NPDES permits if anything from activities on the site would drain into bodies of water, as an effort to keep the water clean and safe.
Both applications propose discharging stormwater from construction activities into tributaries to Jordan Creek, which is “considered a high-quality cold-water fishery, and is subject to special protections,” the media releases read.
Connolly said that if the permits are denied, the developers can appeal the denial. If that appeal is denied, they can then resubmit an application if warranted.
'A serious travesty'
Resident comments covered a wide range of concerns, several of which were directly related to potential deficiencies in the developers’ permit applications.
Weinberg said the resident group had consulted with several experts before the hearing.
Several people, including Dietrich, mentioned that the township had rescinded an agreement with Lehigh County Authority to extend a water line in the area, but the permit applications still say there will be public water and sewer on the site.
Core5 Industrial Partners’ lawyer Frank D’Amore said previously that he did not think it was legal for the township to rescind the agreement.
Many residents expressed concerns that the warehouses would pollute the nearby waterways that lead into Jordan Creek. Resident Joann Mertz cited a recent study that found that four Lehigh Valley streams were contaminated by PFAS.
“With so many warehouses being built in our area in a relatively short time frame, it's impossible to really know the effects they will have on the tributaries’ wetlands wildlife."Lowhill resident Joann Mertz
Mertz also mentioned that the Lehigh River this year was included on a list of endangered rivers across the country, and that researchers have said the river is threatened by “poorly planned development” of warehouses and distribution centers.
“With so many warehouses being built in our area in a relatively short time frame, it's impossible to really know the effects they will have on the tributaries’ wetlands wildlife,” Mertz said.
One resident commented on how the warehouse plans could be improved with a green roof design. But Stephen Lear, vice chairman of Lowhill Planning Commission, said that would not be sufficient.
“I don't believe that even a green roof on these warehouses is going to be sufficient to cure the deficiencies that have been shared by our engineer,” Lear said.
Lear said he was speaking as a resident, not on behalf of the planning commission.
Weinberg gave the same comment about both warehouse plans.
“Please do not allow them to have a DEP permit to build these monstrosities in our township,” Weinberg said in her comment. “It would be a serious travesty that people would have to endure for generations to come.”
DEP in a few weeks will publish a document that will list all the comments and respond to each one individually, Connolly said.
Litigation over warehouses
CRG Services Management’s warehouse already was given "deemed approval," or approval by the court despite township supervisors’ denial of the plan.
The deemed approval followed CRG Service Management's appeal of the Lowhill Township supervisors’ decision to deny its plan. The developer argued in the appeal that the township did not follow the correct process in denying the warehouse plan.
Lowhill Supervisors Chairman Richard Hughes said the township plans to appeal the court’s decision.
In another case brought by the county District Attorney’s office, a judge ruled Supervisor Curtis Dietrich was improperly appointed to the board.
The township will appeal that decision as well, but if it stands, that means preliminary plans for Core5 Industrial Partners’ warehouse at 7503 Kernsville Road were rejected without a quorum.
The plan could then be deemed approved by the courts.
Dietrich soon was reappointed to the board, which does not affect whether the plan will be deemed approved or not.
Core5 Industrial Partners likely also will appeal the supervisors’ recent denial of a final land development plan for their warehouse at 2766 Route 100.
