Lowhill changes zoning to restrict warehouse development
With developers determined to push three major warehouse proposals through Lowhill Township even after being denied by officials, the Board of Supervisors on Thursday unanimously voted for a zoning change that would help prevent arguments about what developers can build in the future.
The zoning ordinance amendment added clarification so the phrase “storage buildings” will no longer be misunderstood as the ordinance permitting warehouses. The phrasing instead would be “self-storage facility or unit.”
“That initial interpretation is not consistent with the present thinking regarding the definition of a ‘storage building’ because these are very large warehouse distribution centers,” supervisor Curtis Dietrich said, adding that developers used the initial interpretation to push warehouse projects forward.
Lowhill is the latest municipality to amend its zoning laws in a continuing battle against warehouse development.
Earlier this year Lower Nazareth Township adopted an ordinance that would ban future construction of warehouses in its light industrial campus zoning district. Both Lehigh and Lower Macungie townships also made changes in recent years.
The smallest of the aforementioned
warehouses in Lowhill, at 100,569 square feet, is proposed to be built on nearly 22 acres at 7503 Kernsville Road and developed by Core5 Industrial Partners, which also has industrial properties in Berks and Monroe counties.
About a one-half mile up Kernsville Road, the second-biggest warehouse would sit on 52 acres at 2951 Betz Court and take up
299,800 square feet. The land is owned by township supervisor vice chair George Wessner Jr., and the developer is CRG Acquisition LLC.
Of the three warehouses, the biggest would be just over 312,000 square feet on 43 acres at 2766 Route 100, south of the traffic light at Kernsville Road. Core5 Industrial Partners is also the developer after buying from Texas-based
Trammell Crow Co.
The township previously rejected all three proposals, and all three have since gone to court to appeal the decisions. Lowhill is working to appeal Lehigh County Judge Thomas Caffrey’s decision to approve the Betz Court proposal from last month, according to Dietrich, while the other two are still waiting for days in court.
Dietrich said the township will also fix other ordinances that are “woefully out of date” so as to keep up with new developments, using the example of how there is no ordinance for regulating a solar farm.
The meeting was sparsely attended by residents and no major discussion occurred for the zoning change.