Kidder Township rewrote its warehouse ordinance to increase environmental protections. The township’s largest commercial developer, Blue Ridge Real Estate (BBRE), says the amendment violates state law.
Residents fought the Carbon County township and Blue Ridge for months to advocate for stricter zoning rules against warehouses and truck terminals. The Board of Supervisors declared the ordinance on commercial and light industrial areas invalid on March 27 and held a public hearing on the drafted ordinance July 29.
If passed, the amendment is a huge win for LOVE Kidder Township, the organization that formed last year to protest overdevelopment.
Kidder Township’s current ordinance allows developers to build warehouses and truck terminals in commercial areas without special requirements. The new ordinance allows developers to only build warehouses and truck terminals in industrial areas.
Blue Ridge’s lawyer, Mike Malloy from Obermayer, blasted the ordinance at Monday’s hearing.
“When you’re looking at an…ordinance change that is this sweeping and this broad without analyzing the impact that this ordinance is going to make not just today, but economically speaking on the future of Kidder Township. You’re basically taking every single thing that you’re able to develop – almost every single thing – and you’re tearing it down,” said Malloy.
Blue Ridge built two warehouses in Kidder, one is completed, the other is in development. Township supervisors added stricter environmental regulations on warehouse size and riparian buffers, which are grassy and wooded areas that protect waterways from pollution.
In a letter sent to township supervisors on July 25, Malloy writes the proposed changes will “have the devastating impact of not only reducing the scope of its potential developments, but unconstitutionally rendering some of its properties entirely undevelopable.” That phrase was underlined in the original letter.
Besides economic effects, Malloy warned supervisors they could face severe financial consequences as a result of the “illegal” ordinance.
“Do you know what the effect’s going to be? 10 years from now, 20 years from now, when you can’t do a warehouse,” said Malloy. “...Are you prepared for the litigation that may come from that? Not from Blue Ridge, we’re not threatening you…but when you do such drastic steps, you open yourself up to that possibility.”
The township feared litigation from Blue Ridge in the past. At the March 27 meeting where supervisors declared parts of its zoning ordinance invalid, the board also voted to approve Blue Ridge’s preliminary application for its second warehouse and Kidder’s third. Supervisor Noel Torres told residents that the board would be sued if it didn’t pass the application, but he “foresee[s] some legal battles coming up with future projects.”
Malloy asked supervisors to table and rewrite the amendment, which he wrote in his letter is a “not so thinly veiled effort to entirely and illegally eliminate future warehouse and truck terminal development.” He argued that Blue Ridge built its warehouses along a central transportation line, State Route 940.
“The reality is development does belong in places. Warehouses do belong in certain places and, y’know, we think we develop them where they belong, near the highways, near the roads,” said Malloy. “Not every tree gets saved.”
But Board Chairman Raymond Gluck said Blue Ridge and other commercial developers have gone too far in Kidder Township. The amendment protects Kidder’s sensitive environmental areas.
“That gives the township more control over where they go. We basically have three fairly large warehouses either in or going in. And for a township this size, that’s probably a lot.”
The amendment will require developers to submit Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for any warehouse developments. EIS statements detail a project’s expected effect on the environment and ways to limit that impact.
Beth Hurley, LOVE Kidder’s founder, fought for months for this decision.
Blue Ridge got supervisors to waive its EIS for its first warehouse, according to Right-to-Know officer Chrissy Lindsey. The warehouse was built off of Black Creek, a high-quality stream according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Residents fear they will never know the extent of its toll on the environment. The second warehouse, owned by PNK P5, submitted a three-page EIS statement.
“That was a big success for us…and so now I think there’s a much more rigorous expectation around using an EIS for citing and approving projects like this.”
However, the board can still waive EIS documents, according to Gluck.
Monday’s meeting was a hearing on the amendment. The board voted to advertise the amendment before holding a meeting to vote. That meeting date has not been announced yet.
Residents will get to comment on Blue Ridge’s second warehouse at a DEP hearing on its stormwater ordinance on Aug. 29 at Jim Thorpe High School from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Residents who wish to testify at the hearing can email DEP spokesperson Colleen Connolly at coconnolly@pa.gov up until the day of the hearing.
For more information on the project, LOVE Kidder Township created a Google Drive with links to project documents. For Blue Ridge’s website, visit the following link.
