ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The process to pave the way for a $3.5 billion pharmaceutical plant in Upper Macungie Township officially got underway this week.
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Comprehensive Committee on Tuesday reviewed Eli Lilly’s plans to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility before the full body weighed in Thursday night.
The LVPC’s review letter credits the project for “reinforc[ing] the Lehigh Valley’s long-standing role as a manufacturing center” and says it will help attract other major investments.Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
The LVPC’s review letter credits the project for “reinforc[ing] the Lehigh Valley’s long-standing role as a manufacturing center” and says it will help attract other major investments.
But the review also highlights potential issues with the preliminary plan submitted by Lilly.
The corporation —- one of the most valuable companies in the world — is proposing to build a facility that covers almost 800,000 square feet on Main Street/Old U.S. 22.
Lilly has committed to investing $3.5 billion in the project to build a new facility, which is set to produce the company’s best-selling obesity drug, Zepbound, and a new class of similar medications, if approved by regulators.
Zoning change mooted
The project is expected to create about 2,000 jobs during construction, with 850 people expected to work at the facility once it’s fully up and running in 2031.
But a projected increase in traffic from thousands of new vehicles visiting the plant each day will require “maintenance and refinement” of local roads, according to the LVPC’s review.
Lilly is proposing to relocate a portion of Main Street to form a four-way intersection with Glenlivet Drive, and LVPC officials are urging the company to deter employees and trucks from Main Street.Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
Lilly is proposing to relocate a portion of Main Street to form a four-way intersection with Glenlivet Drive, and LVPC officials are urging the company to deter employees and trucks from Main Street.
The lot targeted for development sits across Interstate 78 from Nestle’s distribution center.
The agricultural land features “extensive” surface depressions known as karsts, as well as a surface mine, according to the LVPC.
Those should be tested before any development to limit environmental impacts and “protect the health, safety and welfare of the public,” the LVPC’s review says.
The LVPC voted Thursday to send its review letter to the corporation.
Zoning change mooted
And back in Upper Macungie Township, officials could amend the zoning code to enable Lilly’s project.
Lilly wants to build an automated system to power the facility’s product storage and retrieval. That system is expected to streamline operations and save hundreds of thousands of trips by employees each year, according to the company.
But the township’s ordinances do not regulate automated storage and retrieval systems.
Its board of supervisors is weighing a zoning change to add those systems to the code and cap their heights at 120 feet within industrial zones.
That amendment could be considered and approved at Upper Macungie Township Zoning Hearing Board’s meeting Thursday.
