Last meeting video –1/4/16 – reorganization.
Announcements & Presentations:
Dr. Harry R. Carter – Lower Macungie Twp. fire study. The study will be previewed tonight by the consultant. Having had the chance to read through it once, I wanted to share one paragraph. While the study identifies a number of growth related concerns – specifically unplanned growth west of Rt. 100 – The opening paragraph is something all residents should be extremely proud of:
Hearings & Approvals:
Mack Truck parking lot expansion – Specifically this plan is pretty basic. So I want to talk more in general.
The township is very proud to have the primary manufacturing facility for Mack Trucks. Although the news recently has been of layoffs, those who follow Mack closely (I have relatives who have worked for Mack over the years including my dad) know that the business has always been cyclical. The good news is this parking lot expansion signals continued investment in the Macungie Plant. And a renewed commitment to the Lehigh Valley. The layoffs are disappointing for many in the short term but investments in the facility are a great long term indicator. Hope is when the rebound comes and history tells us it will – the employment numbers will reach new record highs at the Macungie plant.
Ordinance amendment for East Texas – I posted this on my FB page earlier this week: “The question I’ve gotten the most is about the smooth-on parking lot. First understand today the parking lot is zoned for development under the current ordinance. Smooth on however doesn’t want to development the max # of units they are allowed to today. (that is a good thing!).
There is a sketch plan the township has seen. The plan proposes under 20 units + a daycare. That is less than what they could develop today ‘by-right”. Their intention isn’t to shoe-horn as many units as they could. Smooth-on is very conscientious as to what made sense for the neighborhood.
The other big benefit right now is that today the parking lot is over 70% impermeable surface. The plan actually reduces impermeable surface to under 35%. The reason is that the units would mostly be clustered around and facing a very large central green area.
The other part folks should understand is why Smooth-on wants to do this. The parking lot (and tunnel under Lower Mac Rd.) was built for Daytimers when it had 1000 employees working 3 shifts. At the time they needed all the new parking. Smooth-on today only has about 200 employees. And they don’t plan to grow much larger.
So Smooth-on wants to build some units but only for their employees only. The idea is that folks have the option of living right across the street from where they work. This actually reduces daily car trips into East Texas if employees lived out of town. And it will always be far less than what daytimers was at peak. Or what if could have been again if another larger company bought the property.
In my opinion smooth on has a neat old company town mentality. If anyone has any questions or would like to see the sketch plan let me know.”
Aside from ensuring any parking lot development is township serving, this exercise is primarily about preserving the character of the Village. We want to protect the villages unique sense of place. This is the oldest neighborhood in the township aside from maybe Wescosville.
Here is an article from the morning call
Here is a portion of the letter we rec’d from the LVPC. We also got positive letters from all our municipal neighbors who responded.
Rt. 100 study- Another critical presentation tonight is under the Engineers report. A few months ago we authorized a study of the Rt. 100 corridor. This is so we can better prepare for – and deal with past deviations from the comprehensive plan that occurred by the prior board – and also plan for future build or no build scenarios on certain sites. This demonstrates in alot of ways the costs of certain types of sprawling development. It also reinforces the need to targeted preservation whenever possible.
