In the end, no amount of controversy could deter the warehouses proposed for the old Air Products headquarters, which received unanimous final approval after a Upper Macungie Township Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday.
The Air Products project, located at 7201 Hamilton Blvd., calls for three warehouses on 61 acres of the 235-acre property the company left when it built new headquarters in 2021 on Mill Creek Road, about a mile away.
The warehouses, which would total 2.6 million square feet, received preliminary approval from the supervisors in February and a favorable recommendation from the planning commission in May.
The biggest building would be 1.23 million square feet and stand along the west side of the property. The second building would be 926,250 square feet, and the smallest is 435,600 square feet.
The logistics company Prologis was originally meant to own the warehouses, but as of Thursday, there is no confirmed contract or agreement for the warehouses’ user.
Residents previously voiced their concerns regarding the construction, chief among them increased tractor-trailer traffic, storm runoff and noise.
While the project ultimately went through, contention amongst officials pervaded Thursday’s meeting at times.
Upon reaching the end of the agenda, fellow supervisors criticized Chair Sunny Ghai for questions he had for the applicant Thursday on the cusp of the project being approved, including who the warehouse user would be.
Vice Chair Kathy Rader calling the meeting’s handling “shameful,” particularly when Ghai inquired about a letter from the СŷƵ Planning Commission dating back to April of last year.
“I don’t know why you came up with all these questions tonight, and a letter that’s 14 months old,” she said. “It just blows me away that we are so well-briefed, probably more so than most municipalities, and yet … I don’t know, Sunny.”
“That’s your opinion, and given the regional importance of this project, I felt like I wanted to ask a couple more questions, and that’s my prerogative,” Ghai replied.
Aside from a resident who asked to be recognized as an objector to the development, there was no citizen comment.
