- The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission issued recommendations Thursday on a massive influx of major development projects
- Among the projects are the 5.5 million square foot River Pointe Logistics industrial park in Upper Mt. Bethel Twp., Bethlehem Landfill's proposed expansion in Lower Saucon Twp. and 2 million square feet of other warehouse and industrial development across the Valley
- Planners issued review letters critical of the largest planned projects
HANOVER TWP., Pa. — The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission worked through a tsunami of plans for major developments in the region, including the 5.87 million-square-foot River Pointe industrial park in Upper Mt. Bethel Twp., the pending expansion of Bethlehem Landfill and nearly 2 million square feet of other warehouse and industrial buildings.
“We have received not only an unprecedented number of reviews, but some of the most complicated land developments the commission has ever seen,” LVPC Chairman Stephen Glickman said.
“Typically, the LVPC receives one to two or three land uses of regional significance per month… This month, we are reviewing 18.”
Most of the plans reviewed were for warehouses or other large industrial uses, totaling millions of square feet.
River Pointe
The commission voted Thursday to issue review letters criticizing plans for River Pointe Logistics, an industrial park set to include 5.87 million square feet of industrial buildings on roughly 800 acres in Upper Mt. Bethel Twp.
The commission’s review found that plans for the complex do not align with regional land development goals and policies, citing inadequate highway infrastructure that could create a financial burden on taxpayers.
Developer Lou Pektor’s current plans call for most of the complex to house a mix of manufacturing, services and warehousing; a quarter of the site is slated for high-cube fulfillment center warehousing.
Once the site is fully built out and occupied, planners estimate it will generate more than 19,000 car trips and 3,700 truck trips on a typical weekday.
In the letter, LVPC planners raised concerns that roads around the site, which were “not built to withstand high traffic volumes or heavy industrial vehicles,” cannot accommodate the expected additional traffic.
According to planners, additional traffic and wear to roads and bridges resulting from River Pointe could increase expenses for the township and other local governments, leaving taxpayers to make up the difference.
“The potential for this development to pay for itself now or into the future is questionable,” the letter reads.
Members of the commission wrestled Thursday with the implications of a vote by the township earlier this month to approve merging three buildings into a single 1.52 million square foot building. The plans reviewed by LVPC, however, reflect the previous plans, with three smaller structures.
The site’s developer, Lou Pektor, said the township had only granted conditional use approval to a hypothetical concept for a building that size, “so we at least had the ability to market it as a possibility of being a 1.52-million-square-foot footprint.”
He said he doesn’t have a specific use — or size — for the structure in mind. “It's by no means an approved site that we can go out and sell as 1.5 million [square feet]. It's not even close to being processed at this point,” he said.
“It does beg the question, though — why don't we have the most current set of plans?”LVPC Executive Director Becky Bradley
“It does beg the question, though — why don't we have the most current set of plans?” LVPC Executive Director Becky Bradley said. “And that opens up a legal question as well,” considering municipalities must wait for an opinion from the LVPC before acting on most matters of planning and land development.
The letter adopted Thursday also includes a rare rebuke saying that during the same meeting where Upper Mt. Bethel Twp. supervisors weighed in on the larger building, lawyers representing the developers shared “misinformation” about the deadline for LVPC to review projects, claiming it had already passed.
Only one member of the commission, former Upper Mt. Bethel Twp. Manager Ed Nelson, voted against issuing the critical letter.
“A lot of the recommendations that were expressed here today, many of them have already been discussed and negotiated with the developer,” he said.
Township Supervisor David Friedman, speaking during public comment, supported the LVPC’s recommendations but expects it to fall on deaf ears.
“Unfortunately, what happens after these comments are made is that they're underutilized, to say the least. The attitudes, I think, of many people in the township on these commissions and boards are that they're purely [recommendations], and they don't need to be followed as a result,” he said.
Bethlehem Landfill
The commission also adopted a letter critical of a planned 86-acre expansion to Bethlehem Landfill in Lower Saucon, expected to add about 20 years to its useful lifespan.
The larger footprint, if approved, is not expected to change how much trash the landfill accepts per day, or the amount of traffic it generates.
LVPC planners “strongly discouraged” the landfill’s growth and found that expansion “conflicts with” regional land use goals and policies, along with those of the township.
The review letter said that most of the land slated to become landfill was part of a “character-defining area” of the Valley and qualifies as a high priority for preservation because of its woodlands, steep slopes, location along the Lehigh River and other features.
Plans for expansion have drawn fierce opposition from township residents who live near the site. LVPC reviewed plans for the expansion originally put forward last year.
However, when a Northampton County judge threw out zoning changes underpinning the whole project, the development approval process started over, and landfill representatives submitted a new plan. The LVPC needed to make a new recommendation on the new proposal.
Bethlehem Township and St. Luke’s Hospital Anderson Campus have joined ongoing legislation opposing the expansion; Northampton County has expressed support for the lawsuits and may seek a role in proceedings going forward.
“When one of the region's largest employers has to take legal actions for the benefit of the health and welfare of our citizens, that throws up some red flags for me,” said Planning Commission Vice Chairman Chris Amato, referring to St. Luke’s.
The commission also voted Thursday to issue a recommendation on a planned TopGolf driving range, part of a larger 58.8-acre planned development by the Jaindl Co. in Lower Macungie Twp. called Lehigh Valley Town Center.
Planners raised a concern that because of the layout of the driving range, golf balls that escape the facility’s giant net could end up near highways, posing a safety hazard.
Additionally, aside from the River Pointe complex, the LVPC reviewed and issued recommendations on an additional nearly two million square feet of proposed warehouse, manufacturing and industrial space.
Jay Bradley contributed to the report.
