Warehouse denials in Silver Spring, Dillsburg a sign of a changing tide?

SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WHTM) — There was a time where it seemed every proposed warehouse in the Midstate was built, regardless of community support or opposition.

That time has come and gone.

Earlier this year, leaders in the Dillsburg area nixed one plan, and now this week, the same happened in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County.

Though, concerns remain.

Nearly-unanimous applause in Silver Spring Township when supervisors voted unanimously against the Trindle Spring Trade Center, a result that once seemed unlikely.

“We were told this is a done deal,” Denise Bailor, who lives in the neighborhood, told abc27 News. “A warehouse that would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

It would’ve gone along Texaco Road.

“This is happening all over Pennsylvania and in other states,” Bailor saidd “There were small coalitions throughout the neighborhood that kind of started working in their own sections and then we all started working together.”

“We have children that stand out to catch the bus,” Bailor said. “This is a residential road, not a main road.”

Still, residents in plenty of other places have tried but failed to block warehouses using similar arguments.

“When the board was getting ready to vote, it was very, very hard to tell which direction they were going to turn,” Bailor said. “We were so happy that the township stood up for the residents.”

But no to this warehouse doesn’t mean no to any warehouse. Now, neighbors want supervisors to rezone the land amid signs nationally that economic forces could slow warehouse construction even when legal ones don’t. The Wall Street Journal last week noted a slowdown in warehouse construction because existing warehouses are no longer full.

Though, “we are definitely going to remain vigilant,” Bailor said.

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That’s because the developer has 30 days to appeal the decision. It hasn’t said if it will do that, but has said it wants to provide new jobs and be a good neighbor.

The neighbors continue raising money for their legal fund.

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