LVPC reviews Slate Belt landfills, landfill expansion, new Allentown school | Lehigh Valley Regional News

The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission reviewed a proposed warehouse project Thursday night.

The project involves the construction of two warehouses totaling 640,400 square feet at 905 Pennsylvania Ave. in Plainfield Township and Wind Gap Borough. The site is currently undeveloped and contains existing woodland.

LVPC previously reviewed an application for the site. This proposal offered 786,000 square feet and 308,000 square feet of warehouse buildings and a 19,520 square foot office and shop.

In Thursday’s incarnation, the larger of the two buildings was reduced by about half to 385,400 square feet, while the smaller facility was reduced by about 17 percent from 308,000 square feet to 255,000 square feet.

The site is directly south of Blue Mountain, also known as Kittatinny Ridge, and is along the main Route 512 corridor and located less than one-third of a mile south of a northbound entrance ramp to Route 33. This said, the LVPC report. said many roads in the neighborhood were not built for the heavier vehicle traffic the development would generate.

The applicant submitted a traffic impact assessment study on May 24, 2021. However, the LVPC requested that the developer submit an updated TIA to address any updates or changes.

The organization’s reports acknowledge that the project site is properly located for traffic traveling north on Route 33, but vehicles traveling south — or traveling from south to north to the site — will most likely travel through Wind Gap via Route 512, or what is known as the South. Broadway in the neighborhood. A southbound on-ramp to Route 33 is accessible only if traveling south on Route 512 or North Broadway.

With this in mind, a driver wishing to travel south on Route 33 will travel through the neighborhood to the interchange. This, the LVPC said, will have a “significant impact on the neighborhood,” and further discussions with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation should be cultivated and include the township, the neighborhood and the developer.

While the developer’s plan includes tractor-trailer parking, the LVPC “strongly recommends” that the developer provide tractor-trailer parking areas to expand truck parking options and facilities. These spaces should include sufficient facilities such as driver facilities and electrification of truck parking spaces.

The LVPC also strongly recommended maintaining the slope and covering the existing trees on the northernmost section of the property.

Grand Central Depot

LVPC reviewed a proposed amendment involving sanitary storage facilities.

The proposal, submitted by Waste Management as the private applicant, proposed amending the Plainfield community zoning ordinance and zoning map regarding the Grand Central Landfill as it nears the end of its life cycle.

The application proposes to amend the township’s zoning map by rezoning 18 parcels on the east side of Pen Argyl Road from the Farm and Forest Zoning District to Solid Waste Processing and Disposal. The area to be rezoned is bounded by Pen Argyl Road to the west, Delabole Road to the south, Bocce Club Road to the north and the railway right of way to the east.

The total area to be rezoned is 211 acres, with a total of 325 acres of land to be acquired by Waste Management to include landfill. A further breakdown shows that 81 acres would be used for waste disposal, 52 acres for support uses and 192 acres would serve as buffers and wetlands.

In its report, the LVPC noted that because the existing landfill is nearing capacity, the rezoning would allow existing operations to continue. If the area is rezoned, significant adverse effects on the community are unlikely. This is due to the proximity of the expansion area to existing operations. The most substantial impact would be on the land itself, the LVPC report said.

Commission members debated the report for a significant amount of time Thursday night, but ultimately approved the report with some changes.

Northridge School Building

The commission reviewed a proposed school building offered by an urban school district.

The project, offered by the Allentown School District, involves purchasing real estate and constructing a proposed kindergarten through eighth-grade building on the site of the former Allentown State Hospital, located at 1600 Hanover Ave.

In September, ASD and City Center Investment Corp. have announced plans for a two-story, 203,400-square-foot academy as part of the proposed Northridge project. The building is slated for a 16.7-acre site in the Northridge project that would be acquired by ASD from City Center.

The school would be located at Hanover Avenue and the future corner of Northridge Drive. Northridge Drive is slated to be the main road to the complex.

Construction on the building will likely begin in the fall of 2025, according to district officials at the Oct. 10 committee meetings.

The project is estimated at 115 million dollars.