This area next to Route 10 in New Morgan is planned to be developed into a 5.5 million-square-foot industrial park. Glen Morgan Lake is in the background. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)
New Morgan Borough Council is considering zoning changes to accommodate plans for a 5.5 million-square-foot industrial park that would take up close to half of the borough.
The changes propose establishing an overlay district that would facilitate large-scale warehouse development on roughly 1,200 acres between Route 10 and Interstate 176.
The land is equitably owned by Panattoni Development Company, Newport Beach, Calif., an international real estate developer specializing in industrial real estate.
At a meeting Monday, Panattoni representatives addressed concerns about the zoning changes and plans for the land from residents of New Morgan and other municipalities bordering the Panattoni plot.
The zoning amendment
The changes, proposed in May by Panattoni, include altering and expanding the rules involving the township’s planned residential zoning district to suit the company’s goals for the land.
The amendments would shift the language of the zoning rules to permit a greater density and variety of non-residential development in the borough.
According to a summary from Panattoni, the amendments include:
• Eliminating requirements for the density ratio of residential to nonresidential uses on lots over 100 acres.
• Exempting industrial uses from some open space, landscaping and setback requirements, as well as design standards meant to create a neighborhood feel.
• Allowing for flexibility in stormwater design and management.
• Permitting council to approve insubstantial revisions to tentative plans without a hearing.
• Permitting the borough engineer to approve minor or insubstantial revisions to the approved final plans under certain conditions.
• Permitting submission, review and approval of final plans concurrently with the tentative plan.
Project plans
The plans — which have yet to be formally reviewed by New Morgan — call for construction of nine buildings, ranging in size from 151,000 square feet to 894,000 square feet.
Construction is slated to take place in four phases over a decade, with phase one including four buildings totaling more than 2.65 million square feet.
Ian McDonald, partner with Panattoni, said construction on the first building, which borders Morgantown Road on the east side of the plot, could start this fall if the company secures plan approval in a timely manner.
In a May letter to the township requesting the zoning amendment, Panattoni representatives said the overlay makes good planning sense because it aligns with the borough comprehensive plan’s goals of encouraging industrial development and maximizing employment opportunities for Berks County residents.
The Southern Berks Industrial Park could bring several thousand manufacturing jobs to New Morgan once finished, McDonald said at a previous meeting.
The letter goes on to characterize the zoning amendment as a response to the recent boom in e-commerce.
“Customers, including borough residents, want their orders to be delivered to their homes as quick as possible,” the letter says. “To meet these increasing demands, businesses are establishing varied sizes of logistics centers in appropriate areas.”
Concerns over development
At the meeting Monday, Daniel Nugent, a resident of Robeson Township, which borders the Panattoni plot, said he was concerned that some of the proposed zoning changes would give the borough less oversight over the development.
He said allowing larger proportions of nonresidential development could negatively impact property values in the area, and he questioned the proposed exemptions to requirements dealing with fencing and wall heights and setback distances.
Nugent also questioned allowing the borough engineer to approve revisions to the final plans without public review.
The zoning amendment permits the engineer to approve minor or insubstantial revisions if they are “if they are consistent with the purpose and intent of the approved final plan and if they will not substantially negatively affect the public health, safety, or welfare of the residents.”
“The idea is to allow the council and the public to understand what changes would be made, especially to final plans,” Nugent said. “(Under the new zoning), having to decide what would be substantially negatively affecting (the public) would come down to a limited number of people versus getting that public input.”
McDonald said the goal of the zoning changes was to give developers the flexibility to adapt to a variety of tenants.
“We call it spec to suit,” McDonald said. “A lot of times, a tenant will come in and say, ‘No, I’d rather do a little bit more parking over here, and landscaping on that backside, or a patio for employees.’”
He said those kinds of alterations are what is meant by minor and insubstantial changes.
“To go through a whole presentation or 90-day process to make that kind of change, I think that’s unreasonable,” McDonald said. “It (that kind of change) isn’t a negative impact.”
He said the reason developers preferred to work within a modified version of the town planned residential zoning district was to grant that additional leeway.
“If we want one edge of the building a little lower, or if they (tenants) want a driving ramp on the side of the building, we want to be able to do that,” McDonald said. “The interesting thing about the zoning district is it affords us that flexibility. That’s why we’re here.”
Others asked whether the development would include a visual and sound barrier to limit the view of the warehouse.
McDonald said that due to the layout and grading of the land, the warehouses would be naturally obscured from view in many cases, and that sound-blocking trees and berms would be maintained whenever possible.
McDonald noted his company aimed to work alongside residents and accommodate their requests.
“We try to be good neighbors,” McDonald said. “We’re not out here to make your life a living hell.”
Additional concerns included the potential effect of development on wildlife, such as bald eagles, bog turtles, and trout in the Hay Creek waterway.
“We’ve designed the project to avoid all wetland impacts, all stream impacts,” McDonald said. “Our stormwater is going to be designed to the standards required by the state.”
He said the plan aims to improve current conditions in the area by preventing contaminated runoff from leaking into groundwater.
Nugent said he remained wary of the plans’ potential impact on property values and quality of life near the development.
“Adding all that truck traffic and noise, I just don’t know if I’m on board with them (developers) saying we’re going to do whatever we can to mitigate effects on the area,” Nugent said.
He said he wasn’t aware of the possibility of an industrial park being built nearby when he moved into his home nearly 1 1/2 years ago.
“This is where we wanted to stay forever,” he said. “I don’t know if people are going to stick around if they go and dig everything up.”
Hearing scheduled
Following the discussion, borough council voted unanimously to schedule the hearing on approving the zoning changes for July 10, when council will meet next.
The Twin Valley School Board voted in December to designate the Panattoni land as eligible for a state Low Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act, or LERTA, tax exemption.
The LERTA zone will offer property owners 100% tax exemption through the first two years after construction, with the percentage decreasing by 5% every two years, until after the 10th year, when the tax exemption expires.
New Morgan’s population was 54 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The borough was established in 1988, after sole property owner Raymond Carr petitioned the Berks County Court to form a new borough out of parts of the former Bethlehem Steel mine in Caernarvon and Robeson townships.