- Upper Macungie Planning Commission will discuss a new plan for a manufacturing facility at 110 State Route 100
- A 150,000-square-foot warehouse has been proposed at the same site
- The township is negotiating an agreement related to that warehouse plan, but there are no public details about it
UPPER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — The site of the controversial warehouse plan along Route 100 may instead host a manufacturing facility.
The township Zoning Hearing Board is currently deliberating a plan for a 150,000-square-foot warehouse at 110 PA Route 100.
Now, the Upper Macungie Planning Commission is slated to review a new plan for a manufacturing facility at the same location, according to its agenda.
The Upper Macungie Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the township municipal building. The meeting will also be streamed on YouTube.
The proposed manufacturing facility at the site would be 150,400 square feet, about the same size as the proposed warehouse. It is unlikely both the warehouse and manufacturing facility could exist on the same lot.
Developers can propose separate plans for the same plot of land at the same time, though that does not usually happen because it is expensive to create a land use plan.Assistant Township Manager & Director of Community Development Kalman Sostarecz
Assistant Township Manager & Director of Community Development Kalman Sostarecz said developers can propose separate plans for the same plot of land at the same time, though that does not usually happen because it is expensive to create a land use plan.
In the case of two proposed plans on the same lot, if the second plan is approved, it would nullify the first.
Sostarecz said the original warehouse plan has “nothing to do” with the new plan for a manufacturing facility.
Nearing a compromise on warehouse
The lot at 110 PA Route 100 is in the township’s Light Industrial zoning district. Some types of manufacturing are permitted “by right” in that district, meaning a land owner has the right to use the land for that purpose.
Conversely, warehousing is permitted by “special exception” in that district, meaning it needs to be approved by the township Zoning Hearing Board, a quasi-judicial body.
When a warehouse is allowed by “special exception,” that means it is an allowed use as long as the property owner proves the warehouses will not harm the township any more than another warehouse plan, Sostarecz said previously.
Representatives from Prologis, the property's owner, asked the township Zoning Hearing Board to appeal township staff's determination that the original warehouse plan is not allowed under its laws.
Both Upper Macungie Township and Star Hospitality Group Inc., owners of Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Allentown West next to the property, were objectors during the hearings.
But at the Upper Macungie Zoning Hearing Board meeting Wednesday, representatives from all sides said they were nearing a compromise. They plan to agree to conditions of approval for the project instead of having the Zoning Hearing Board rule on it.
None of the parties revealed any details about the potential compromise.
