LOWER NAZARETH TWP., Pa. — Lower Nazareth Township supervisors on Thursday heard plans for a new 450,000-square-foot warehouse as residents raised concerns about additional traffic from the project further straining already-clogged intersections and roads nearby.
- Lower Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors held a conditional use hearing Thursday night dealing with plans for a 450,000 square foot warehouse at 523 Nazareth Pike
- The hearing dealt with potential traffic impacts from the development
- Thursday's hearing was the fourth on the plans, with the next hearing set for October
Developer Northampton Farms, a subsidiary of Jaindl Land Development, is seeking approval for the project at 523 Nazareth Pike.
About four dozen residents filled the township municipal office Thursday to weigh in on the project.
The same developers want to build a second, 73,000-square-foot warehouse nearby at 4215 Lonat Drive. Conditional use hearings before township supervisors for the smaller project also are ongoing; the next meeting is scheduled for mid-September.
Long process still ahead
Earlier this year, supervisors approved a zoning amendment barring future warehouse projects in areas zoned for light industry. Northampton Farms submitted its two warehouse projects the day before before the township’s vote.
County officials, in particular Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, have been critical of building warehouses.
In his State of the County speech, McClure said Northampton County’s “people are done with warehouses,” and has made fighting warehouse construction a priority.
“We're going to be going on for the next we don't know how many months.”Lower Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors Chair James Pennington
The township planning commission in April unanimously recommended against approving the two warehouses. Because the projects require conditional use approval under township zoning codes, supervisors ultimately decide whether the project moves forward.
So far, the developer said it has not found a tenant for the site. Any potential tenant would have to go through a screening process with the owner to ensure compliance with zoning ordinances and other regulations.
The approval process already is in its fourth month before the board of supervisors, and it is set to drag on for months to come.
“We're going to be going on for the next we don't know how many months,” board Chairman James Pennington said.
Traffic
Thursday’s testimony dealt with plans to handle additional traffic generated by the facility, in a continuation of testimony from the developer’s traffic planning engineer, Brian Harmon, that began last month.
Hearings on other aspects of the plan are set to continue in early October.
According to meeting minutes, the planning commission said it voted down the project in part because of the “lack of a complete traffic study.”
Harman’s employer, The Pidcock Company, conducted studies assessing how the Nazareth Pike warehouse will affect traffic flow through the area.
It concluded the average trip through the corridor around the project will take one to three seconds longer, which he called a “minimal” impact.
Because the developer has not yet found a tenant for the property, the number of estimated traffic trips found by a study is unlikely to be exactly the same. However, when his company has conducted follow-up surveys in the past to check the accuracy of their projections, it found actual traffic was in line with its estimates or less impactful.Developer traffic planning engineer Brian Harmon
Many of the township residents in attendance — who could ask Harman questions but could not offer comments — called into question that finding.
They also questioned his projection that the project would generate 99 additional truck trips per day, and 531 daily trips in other vehicles.
Because the developer has not yet found a tenant for the property, Harman said, that number is unlikely to be exactly the same. However, he testified that when his company has conducted follow-up surveys in the past to check the accuracy of their projections, it found actual traffic was in line with its estimates or less impactful.
Harman also listed a number of possible restrictions the township could place on the project as part of their zoning authority. For example, it could place a cap on the number of car or truck trips allowed in a day, or require tracking of trips to show compliance.
He said the developer committed to conducting more traffic studies to measure compliance, if the plans ultimately become reality.
