Emmaus council approves warehouse after two years

Emmaus council members signed off on plans for a small warehouse or industrial building in the Emmaus Commerce Center on Broad Street.Council’s 5-2 decision to grant developer Geirge Reitz conditional approval on Monday comes more than two years after the first plans for the project were drawn up. The process stalled for about a year and a half while the developer and engineers tried to come up with a way to deal with stormwater on the site.The proposed 12,000-square-foot building would sit on the top of a hill. Engineers were concerned that the building could cause flooding in the area, but ultimately the developer decided to turn some pavement into grass, solving the issue.Planning commissioners didn’t vote on whether to recommend the project before council members got to it. They didn’t have a quorum when the project came up at their last meeting, but the borough was on a deadline to give the developer an answer, officials said. The borough’s engineer didn’t flag any issues with the project.Supporters of the motion said they felt like they didn’t have a choice but to approve it because they had no legal basis to deny it. If the deadline passed, the project would be deemed approved even without a vote, the borough solicitor said.Council members John Hart and Chris DeFrain voted against the project.“It’s been two years, our planning commission didn’t get the final look. They’re the experts not me,” DeFrain said. “Everything we deal with here is stormwater, stormwater, stormwater. I feel this is being rushed through here.”
Source: Morningcall