July 22, 2025
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
A proposed 350,400-square-foot building in Northampton Borough will be reviewed Thursday by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.
The big building would be at 799 Smith Lane, down a so-called flagstaff type entrance. The site is near Northampton Area High School and Route 329. As of Tuesday, exactly what it would be was a mystery.
“Is it a warehouse, light manufacturing” Sunny Ghai of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission asked during a meeting. “It’s unclear.”
I’d put my money on it being a warehouse, though perhaps by another name. That’s just a guess, based on the specifications.
Atlas Industrial is the company behind the project. The LVPC’s Comprehensive Planning Committee went over the proposal and concerns about it at a meeting today (Tuesday).
From the meeting agenda:
The application proposes constructing a 350,400-square-foot industrial building with 307 parking spaces including loading dock and trailer storage spaces at 799 Smith Lane
(Parcel Identification Number L4 12 5B-1). The 38-acre parcel features existing
industrial properties that will be demolished. The project proposal features 210
passenger vehicle parking spaces, 51 dock spaces for truck loading, and 46 tractor
trailer parking spaces.
So, 210 parking spaces, 51 docks and 46 spaces for tractor trailers. If that’s not a warehouse, it’s something that will generate a lot of traffic and near Northampton’s high school and middle school, and set near residential neighborhoods.
Having a lot of trucks near the high school raised a concern from LVPC Chairman Chris Amato: “We’re dealing with a lot of very inexperienced drivers.”
The full LVPC will review the plan at 7 p.m. Thursday. Here is a link to the agenda, which includes the link for a webcast.
The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission is in most cases an advisory body. Final land use decisions in the case of the Atlas Project will be made by Northampton Borough.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 