Over 100 apartments, warehouse expansion approved for Upper Macungie

More than 100 apartments and a nearly 300,000-square-foot warehouse expansion received final land development approval from the Upper Macungie Township Board of Supervisors during its meeting Wednesday.

The apartment complex, D.R. Horton’s Twin Ponds project , would consist of 132 apartments and a day care facility at 8739 Hamilton Blvd., as well as a new proposed road called Lily Lane.

Board Chair Jeff Fleischaker and Supervisor James Brunell voted in favor of the project while Vice Chair Sunny Ghai voted against it.

Ghai expressed multiple concerns for Twin Ponds, including the risk of noise pollution toward the apartments from trucks on Hamilton Boulevard, and requested solutions such as a berm to block noise.

“I feel there’s an opportunity here for you to be proactive on this development so that you don’t have those complaints from your residents later,” he told developers.

Ghai also took issue with the developers’ requested waiver against building a sidewalk along Hamilton Boulevard, especially because the township adopted the Vision Zero Action Plan , which calls for improving local connectivity for pedestrians.

Brunell disagreed with those concerns, explaining that most of the trucks would be on the nearby bypass, that the Vision Zero plan isn’t complete yet, and that such a sidewalk wouldn’t necessarily have enough warning or traffic-calming measures to protect pedestrians from oncoming drivers.

“I can’t, with good conscience, say that they have to put a sidewalk there, Sunny,” he said.

Fleischaker had his own concerns as well, particularly for what would happen to residents if the day care facility were to close. The developers said that was a necessary risk and that national franchises have expressed interest in the facility.

“We can’t kick out 132 families,” Fleischaker said.

The supervisors unanimously approved a roughly 326,000-square-foot expansion to Americold’s roughly 268,500-square-foot storage facility at 7150 Ambassador Drive. There was little discussion amongst officials over the project, and township engineer David Alban said there were no major issues.

In other news, the board also approved creating a steering committee in which township officials and firefighters could discuss how to address problems with local fire service, particularly the lack of volunteers.

Fleischaker became the supervisors’ liaison for that committee.