Hanover Township to Discuss Airport Zoning District at Meeting Tuesday

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Hanover Township’s Board of Supervisors will discuss zoning near the airport at their Tuesday meeting.

Last year, a plan to put up 10 buildings on land off Airport Road failed, but the zoning of that land in the Airport Flightpath Highway Business District or AFHBD, is up for discussion again.

The acreage is prime land near Lehigh Valley International Airport and Route 22, and something is going to be built there.

According to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, the AFHBD district is an “employment district,” with uses such as “offices, laboratories, light industries, and certain other manufacturing and related activities anticipated” that are “free from hazards of fire, offensive noise, vibration, air pollution, odors, glare, water pollution, traffic congestion, or any other objectionable side effects … ” that bring employment and “strengthen the Township’s tax base.”

Read the whole thing here.

Any development is going to add to traffic, and the area is already congested, but developers are not held responsible for existing conditions.

In this case, Majestic Corp., based in Los Angeles, proposed what it called a “flex center” for the land. The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, operator of the regional airport, owns the land.

Residents rallied against it, but the land can be developed and the township’s best bet is to try to shape that development. Development is coming, one way or other.

Among residents’ objections: noise, pollution from trucks, “light pollution,” safety and traffic.

Last year’s decision was only temporary. Prime acreage in the heart of a growing region is going to be built upon.

The land is not going to be used as a petting zoo or frisbee golf course or bird sanctuary. It is mostly farmland now, but in a very valuable location.

The Hanover Township (Northampton County) Board of Supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the municipal building, 3630 Jacksonville Road.

Here is the agenda, which is subject to change. Also listed for Tuesday: waste and recycling fees, and pool fees.