“Friends’ position statement on “Allen Organ” mixed use ordinance

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Board of Commissioners,

Friends for Protection of Lower Macungie Township has the following position statement regarding the proposed mixed use ordinance which the planning commission has recently recommended (unanimously) that the BOC not adopt. 

Throughout the review process, “best practices” were compromised by the developer proposing the ordinance. It became clear that this proposal was being fashioned as one specifically tailored to one this particular project. (AllenOrgan) The planning commission cited this as just one of many reasons why this ordinance should not be moved forward at this time.

The ordinance in its proposed form allows the developer to build the township’s highest residential density. Higher density can work in mixed use. However this proposal lacks the necessary qualities that counterbalance higher density and minimize the negatives such as traffic, lower quality of life and affects on the school district. (enrollment)

The ordinance should encourage or incentivize:

  • Meaningful integration of the residential and commercial zones
  • Pedestrian scale design as a comprehensive feature throughout a project
  • Incentives for a range of housing and commercial types in one neighborhood
  • Incentives for interconnected nodes and complete streets
  • Incentives for integration of open space and other public areas
  • Commercial uses that are compatible with residential uses in close proximity (24 hour operations should be considered restricted for example)
  • Additional home occupation uses allowed by right to encourage live-work uses
  • Transferable development rights – For ex. for increased density.

 We ask the Board of Commissioners (BOC) to accept the planning commission’s recommendation and to not move this ordinance forward. The Township is about to undertake a comprehensive ‘smart growth implementation plan’. We feel if the BOC chooses to move this ordinance forward, despite planning commission objection and resident concerns, the community will miss a critical opportunity to weigh in via the Urban Research and Development Corporations (URDC) plan.

Respectfully,
Friends LMT Steering Committee

Ron Beitler Kathryn Dixon Anthony Rodale
Ann Friedenheim  Sandy Beldon Percy Dougherty
Bob Rust Mark Spengler Rob Hamill
Jane Fretz Leah Papp             Scott Bieber