Thursday, April 15, 2010

LNT Supervisors Deny Shopping Center

According to an article in the Express-Times, it appears that Lower Nazareth Supervisors refused to hear a second presentation for a retail shopping center (read the article here).

The location is zoned light industrial and since this would be a shopping center it would require a variance. Since the Supervisors refused to vote or consider it further, the land-owner’s attorney said they’d be back with a proposal that fits the zoning within 60 days. I’m guessing another warehouse.

Posted via email from Ross Nunamaker

5 comments:

Low Naz Scott said...

Isn't the Giant near the race track Lower Nazareth or is that the borough? That's complex has vacancies, down the road the Sears/Kmart strip is half full and there are a few empties across the street between the other Giant and Walmart.

Not sure how they came up with the thinking that more retail space is needed in the area.

The Newburg Inn intersection is a complete disaster at times and needs an expensive facelift. $500K certainly won't get it done.

Can't say I'm too thrilled to hear about more warehouses either... but it does seem to be the township's specialty.

RossRN said...

Sears/Kmart is Bethlehem Township as is across the street.

The Giant near the track is Lower Nazareth.

Personally, I wouldn't mind the land remaining vacant, but if it is going to be developed, I'd imagine the property value will be higher with a retail complex than a warehouse and neither will put more kids in the schools.

SueBDynamo said...

I doubt that road could handle the traffic. IDK that another supermarket and home improvement store (When both are nearby already) would improve our lives any.

These developers need more imagination.

How about some creative thinking to bring good jobs to the area rather than more options for minimum wage?

NazoRanter said...

The retail would have been nice, but the real loss here is the office building, not to mention the number of jobs that would be available.

Yes, some would have been minimum wage, but there would be a large number of good paying jobs. And potentially pulling some businesses into the area would have been good as well.

All of these things would have pulled large amounts of tax revenues into LNT, unlike a truck terminal.

Base on what was proposed, it would have been a nice location to walk and shop, something that doesn't exist in our area now.

We as an area seem to be adverse to growth. We can dot the land with more and more houses, but nobody seems to notice the lack of services, and the numbers that continue to fold under economic strain.

NOC is probably right, we will end up with another truck terminal, Newburg Road and 191 will only get worse, an the residents of the township won't see a single benefit from it other than more truck traffic.

Low Naz Scott said...

I'm fine with leaving it vacant too.

I am positive if a retail center was placed there, I would frequent it simply out of convenience.

I just wonder though what the rest of the market would say. You have a mega retail area @ 33/248, plus centers @ 22/191 and @ 191/248.

The traffic at the Newburg Inn intersection would concern me the most. Agree having more trucks coming through wouldn't help the issue.

I like Sue's line of thinking (medical/health care maybe?), and wasn't aware of the office building portion of the project that Ranter mentions.