Do new warehouses help the Lehigh Valley?

The Lehigh Valley has experienced an increase in construction of huge warehouses, also known as fulfillment centers. Proponents assert they provide jobs for local residents who don’t have college degrees. Opponents claim the warehouses eat up open space and add to the area’s traffic congestion. Should townships make it harder, through zoning regulations, to build warehouses?

Both of these will do more for the beauty of our suburbs than another ugly, big box warehouse (sorry, “fulfillment center”).

Charlie Versaggi Allentown

here in the Lehigh Valley? Ones that require low skills and also pay little? At the same time, ones that also devour our open spaces and clog our roads?

My answer to these questions are the same as her answers. No.

Kyle Gabovitz Bethlehem

Yes, warehouses snap up open space; 13 of the largest warehouses in the Lehigh Valley are more than 1 million square feet, with some approaching 2 million. Because buildings use more energy than either the industrial or transportation sectors, townships must insist that new warehouses meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. LEED-certified buildings use 25% less energy, have 34% lower carbon dioxide emissions and consume 11% less water (not to mention diverting waste from landfills).

All new large-scale developments, including housing, should be required to meet LEED standards.

Townships should also insist that existing warehouses attempt to meet LEED standards.

And, yes, warehouses provide jobs for those who lack higher education. However, many of these workers are being replaced by robots, ultimately leaving them with even fewer employment opportunities.

While the pay for an Amazon warehouse worker is about $100 a day, the company’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, earns $215 million a day. As seen in the recent Amazon brouhaha, cities sometimes provide tax incentives to attract warehouses and tout the number of projected jobs they will provide.

But there is seldom a post-hoc analysis of what long-term benefits accrued to the townships or their employees in terms of environmental and human costs. Such an accounting needs to take place.

Jill Hirt Upper Saucon Township

MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO The Amazon warehouses in Upper Macungie Township. Critics worry similar developments are taking more and more open space in the Lehigh Valley, adding to traffic congestion in the area and providing few benefits.