ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A judge has approved Parkland School District and two North Whitehall Township area couples joining a legal appeal of plans for half-million-square-foot warehouse.
Those parties now will be able to call witnesses and make arguments of their own against the proposed development at Route 309 and Orefield Road, as is the case withthe original appellee, North Whitehall Township.
Lehigh County President Judge J. Brian Johnson made the ruling regarding Parkland, Samuel and Tammy Claudio, and Mark and Karen Kaintz after a four-hours hearing Tuesday.
Argument for the appeal is planned to begin at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 17 in county courthouse.
In the meantime, Johnson will decide whether a local smart-development nonprofit and two other self-representing residents may intervene in the case.
North Whitehall officials moved to deny project land development plans back in June, citing health and safety risks. The developer appealed that decision in July.
In September, Parkland School District filed a petition to intervene in support of North Whitehall.
'Big white elephant' of a warehouse
The proposed “Nexus 78” site at 3121 Route 309 sits about a half-mile north of Orefield Middle School.
The Claudios’ property abuts the land in question, while the Kaintzes live across Route 309 from where a driveway is planned for the facility.
TCNE North Whitehall II LLC, a subsidiary of developer Trammell Crow Co., proposes a 50-foot-tall, 501,405-square-foot warehouse on 71 acres — a use allowed by right in the township’s Light Industrial/Business Zoning District.
The developer, based in Dallas, Texas, has pitched or built numerous projects for the region, including warehouses in Whitehall and Bethlehem townships and Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII in Bethlehem.
North Whitehall area residents have sounded the alarm on inadequate area roadways and potential dangers to nearby schools to come if Nexus 78 goes through.
That notion continued through discussion Tuesday.
TCNE North Whitehall II LLC, a subsidiary of developer Trammell Crow Co., proposes a 50-foot-tall, 501,405-square-foot warehouse on 71 acres — a use allowed by right in the township’s Light Industrial/Business Zoning District.
North Whitehall Taxpayers for Smart Growth Inc. — a nonprofit that will “stand together to protect our township from the negative impacts of unchecked industrial expansion,” its Facebook page reads — could have a stake in the case pending the judge’s decision.
The nonprofit represents 247 residents of North Whitehall; 41 have sought proper legal standing in the case.
Karen Komlos, the group’s director, said she’s lived in her home with her husband since they bought it in 1979. It’s about 2.5 miles west of the “big white elephant” warehouse site.
“As long as I have lived there,” there’s been trouble with tractor-trailer traffic, Komlos said.
Traffic impacts at hand
When the project was proposed to be over 547,000 square feet — before it was downsized to about 501,000 — Lehigh Valley Planning Commission reported the warehouse’s daily trip generation included more than 900 vehicles, with more than 300 of those being large trucks.
In June, a traffic engineer working with the developer found that the level of delay at Route 309 and Orefield Road would not change after the warehouse opens and the state Transportation Department finishes improvements along Route 309.
The Nexus 78 proposal came with some “monumentally bad planning,” especially considering the school district facilities nearby, including its transportation hub, critics said.
The Nexus 78 proposal came with some “monumentally bad planning,” especially considering the school district facilities nearby, including its transportation hub.Jenny Krumrine, a self-represented North Whitehall resident now part of the Nexus 78 appeal
Jenny Krumrine, another self-represented resident, said her historic home built in 1811 sits just off Coplay Creek Road — an area she said is not cut out for tractor-trailers.
She said the Nexus 78 proposal came with some “monumentally bad planning,” especially considering the school district facilities nearby, including a transportation hub.
In June, Parkland School District Assistant Superintendent Timothy Chorones said the project “directly impacts the safe transport of children to and from school on a daily basis” and would affect thousands of schoolchildren if built.
'This is what I witness. This is what I see'
Kathy Sullivan lives in the Buck Run cul-de-sac off Coplay Creek Road, more than a mile from the proposed facility.
She and her husband have two sons who attend nearby schools, one at Parkland High and one at Orefield Middle School.
She said the new warehouse would devalue her home, cause air quality issues and increase nearby traffic.
“There’s no way that my property in close vicinity will not be affected."Kelly Sullivan, self-represented North Whitehall area resident now part of Nexus 78 appeal
“There’s no way that my property in close vicinity will not be affected,” said Sullivan, who’s representing herself in court and petitioning to intervene in the case.
She shared a number of personal photos showing tractor-trailers monopolizing and damaging the local roads.
“This is where I live. This is what I witness. This is what I see,” Sullivan said.
She said she has felt “awful vibrations” in the middle of the night from the nearby United Natural Foods Allentown Distribution Center about a mile and a half away — a facility that's set to close.
TCNE North Whitehall LLC is listed as the property owner, according to Lehigh County property records.
The organic grocery wholesaler in Schnecksville, at 1.3 million square feet, is more than twice the size of the proposed Nexus 78.
Sullivan also said she previously worked for the developer’s counsel and was fired “only because I opposed the project” — even though she said Trammell Crow wasn't her client and she held no confidential information related to the case.
There was no immediate response to an after-hours message LehighValleyNews.com sent to Fitzpatrick, Lentz and Bubba firm seeking comment.
'Abstract interests'
Attorney Frank D’Amore of FL&B, speaking on behalf of the developer, said the notion that Sullivan’s property would be affected by the new warehouse was “speculation.”
D’Amore said concerns surrounding what was mentioned by opposing parties, such as truck traffic and air quality, were “nothing more than the abstract interests of everybody else.”
“Despite public opposition to a project, a Township is obligated to exercise good faith in its review and consideration of land development plans, which was not done in this instance."Catherine Durso, of Fitzpatrick, Lentz & Bubba, representing the Nexus 78 developer
He said those, and others of the sort, could be enforced through township ordinances.
Catherine Durso, attorney for the developer, previously described North Whitehall’s land development denial as “arbitrary, capricious and against the weight of the evidence.”
“Despite public opposition to a project, a Township is obligated to exercise good faith in its review and consideration of land development plans, which was not done in this instance,” Durso said.
