Rendering of property design for FR Newlins Logistics Park LLC warehouses. Four warehouses are being proposed to be built in two phases.Courtesy of Palmer Township

Faced with residents’ complaints, Palmer Township’s board of supervisors agreed Tuesday to postpone a decision on a warehouse and distribution complex.

The board of supervisors was surprised to learn at least three homes abut the developer’s 66.4-acre lots on Tatamy Road.

“My concern is the noise and the light pollution,” homeowner Anthony Makoski said. “I have my wife and my 13-year-old son who has autism and my concern is the berm and the noise and what I am going to be dealing with when this is next to us.”

Makoski, Kevin Gray and Jan Gittings of 1354, 1350 and 1334 Tatamy Road, respectively, appeared before the board Tuesday.

The board and the attorney for the developer agreed to postpone the hearing until Sept. 12, while engineers figure out how to address new issues raised by the residents.

FR Newlins Logistics Park, LLC plans to construct four, mixed-use warehouse and distribution buildings ranging from 150,000 to 210,000 square feet and approximately 40-feet high on three lots in Palmer Township’s Planned Office and Industrial Park district.

The project could generate nearly 469 daily trips by trucks and 946 trips by cars through nearby roads, according to Anne-Marie Vigilante, traffic engineer for the project.

The residents said they were overlooked by the developer and the township ordinance, which requires warehouses not abut residentially zoned areas. Makoski said he was never approached by the developer about the project.

The township zoning ordinance doesn’t allow warehouses to border residentially-zoned areas, but does allow warehouses to border residences in industrial zones, said attorney Gregory Davis, who represented the developer.

Cindy Carman Kramer, director of community development for Palmer, said the three residents’ lots are located within the planned office/industrial park district.

“The residents who spoke are within the Planned Office/Industrial Park district,” she said.

Shaun Haas, lead engineer for the project and project manager for Langan Engineering, said the developer proposed building a three-foot or four-foot berm at the property lines or planting trees and bushes approximately four-feet tall. A berm is a raised shelf or slope of land used to create barriers and noise or light reduction.

“When we spoke with Mr. Gray, we agreed that a four-foot berm would be sufficient,” he said.

“Three to four feet really is nothing,” Michael Brett, vice chairman for the board said.

“Anything less than 12 feet is unacceptable,” Supervisor Joseph Armato added.

Haas said the plan was also designed to limit parking lot traffic on the south corner of the properties to car traffic only against the building, but the board was unswayed. He said he would look into raising the berm near the property line, but he would have to coordinate with UGI, which has an easement in the area first. The easement could limit the options for construction on the stretch.

“We could certainly create a berm (in the UGI easement) and create a screening and raise the berm and add a few more trees, if that would help this conversation,” he said.

In light of an upcoming vote on new zoning laws proposed by the township, Jeffrey Young, board chairman, also requested the developer proactively adjust its design to reflect the specification set in the new ordinance.

The new ordinance would require a minimum of 40 feet between the proposed lot and the existing properties and installing plants at least four-feet high. The new ordinance requires that within three years the plants must provide at least six feet of year-round buffering, according to documents provided by Kramer.

The developer must keep 5% of its property as open space, and the board asked that this open space be used to create a strong barrier between the two properties. The board acknowledged doing so could require significant design changes to the original plan.

“In this case with the open space, we’re not necessarily looking for recreation space. We’re looking for space for buffering and compliance with our direction of environmental sustainability and things of that nature,” Brett said.

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