Despite Neighbors' Disapproval, Planners Approve Proposed Warehouse

The reconvened Monday night to resolve issues brought up at its February meeting about a revised final land development plan for -- the Greenfield Industrial Park.

The commissioners previously had to table the matter in order to consult with Gary Asteak, the township’s attorney, after several residents strongly spoke out against the industrial park.

Neighbors of the proposed warehouse, which will be located near the intersection of Hanoverville Road and Keystone Drive, were concerned about an increase in noise and traffic, glaring parking lot lights, excessive diesel fuel fumes, diminishing residential property values and littering.

Since the plans changed -- instead of building three separate warehouses, the developer is suggesting just one warehouse -- commissioners and neighbors wondered if final land development approval could be reversed or, at the very least, tweaked.

The answer: no.

“The use is still the same," said Lori Seese, the township’s zoning administrator. "We have no sunset on conditional use approvals.”

Seese explained that the residents' issues were brought to Asteak, but he said they were not enough to halt approval.

Greenfield Builders Inc., based in Indianapolis, Ind., has had these plans in the works since 2005.

Al Kortze, the township's engineer, explained that the land development plans changed from three buildings to a single, 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse. The original square footage was 1.2 million, he said.

The Planning Commission agreed to approve the plan, but offered a few recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.

Among the recommendations, Commissioner Ronald Siedlecki said the developer should be required to not only test the wells on the property, but also the nearby lake, which is used by for swimming, scuba diving and snorkeling.

Ron Madison, a senior project manager with the Lancaster-based Rettew Associates, protested the extra testing, saying it wasn’t required by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“There’s a lake beside where your facility would be," Siedlecki said. "If the wells have to be monitored, then the lake should be too.”

Linda Crook, the chairwoman of the Planning Commission, said, “This is only a recommending party, so we want it on the record for the supervisors.”

The commission also asked that the township engineer's recommendations and clarifications be followed.

Siedlecki wondered what the company plans to do to discourage littering. The township has a problem, he said, with drivers sweeping rubbish out of their trailers and on to the ground at , the soon-to-be neighbor of the Greenfield Industrial Park.

"It is illegal behavior,” Madison said. “As good of an engineer as I am, I can’t design to prevent illegal behavior.”

Madison added that there will be an area for drivers to clean out their trailers between shipments, work on their rigs and take care of any other business.

Madison said most warehouses do not have littering problems.

“C&S is the exception to the rule,” he said. “It’s not the norm.”