Members of Hellertown’s planning commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of plans for a new public works facility at the site of the former Reinhard School at their Tuesday meeting. Plans for a public works facility at the site have been in the works since 2018, and have been met with criticism from some residents in the area.
The Hellertown Planning Commission met Tuesday night and approved updated plans for a new borough public works facility on the site of the former Reinhard School.
Plans for a public works facility at the site, which lies between Magnolia Road, Northampton Street, E. Saucon Street and Rentzheimer Drive, date back to at least 2018 and have been criticized by some nearby residents.
Residents opposed to the development even formed their own group and presented a petition challenging the facility’s placement in their neighborhood to Hellertown Borough Council in 2019. The group, calling themselves Concerned Neighbors of Reinhard Field, told council the facility would degrade the character of their residential neighborhood and lower property values.
“We also view with distress the prospect of the introduction of noise and traffic; the loss of a beloved, heavily used recreation space; and the degradation of the neighborhood’s long-established character,” the group’s 2019 petition said.
In response to community feedback, which was gauged over the course of four community meetings in 2019, borough engineer Bryan Smith of Barry Isett & Associates said plans for the proposed facility have been updated.
The new plans include a proposed 13,000 square-foot building, which will house 10 truck bays, as well as office space. The building will be heated and air-conditioned.
Plans from 2019 included two separate buildings on the property, the larger of which was a proposed 17,000 square-feet.
Updated plans for a new Hellertown public works facility were presented at Tuesday night’s planning commission meeting by borough engineer Bryan Smith of Barry Isett & Associates. The new plans (above) reflect changes made in response to concerns from community members.
The smaller building consumes less of the property’s green space; something residents and members of the planning commission both agreed was necessary. The ballfield on the eastern portion of the property will remain where it is, and part of Tuesday night’s conversation centered on a “pocket-park” that will be a future project for that portion of the site.
The public works facility will be accessible by entrances on E. Saucon Street and Magnolia Road.
Smith added that the updated plans include increased vegetation as a buffer between the proposed public works building and the neighborhood located across E. Saucon Street.
Borough officials also reconsidered the type of activities that would be performed at the public works site in response to concerns from residents that noisy diesel trucks would become commonplace in their neighborhood.
“During the four community meetings we had throughout 2019 we committed to the community that certain things would not be performed on this site,” said Hellertown Borough Council President Tom Rieger.
“As you can see, this new, revised plan does not have bays for garbage trucks. Those will stay where they are today,” Rieger said. “The salt bays and fuel tanks, those will stay where they are today.”
Rieger added that the new public works facility would primarily host activities that are currently performed at the existing public works building at the borough hall complex. Rieger and Smith said those duties largely include equipment storage and housing of small pickup trucks, plow trucks and salt trucks.
“There were certain things–multiple public meetings–where we took back and said those uses are more appropriate down at the Grist Mill (or) at the farm,” Rieger said, referring to other public works facility locations. “That’s why you see the reduction. It was basically a reprogramming of services based on community input.”
Also discussed was a review letter from Dewey Fire Company, which raised concerns over turning radii at the facility’s access points, as well as the proposed building’s sprinkler system.
“We’re going to ask the engineer of the project to run the state turning templates on it to make sure that it complies, so the access should be fine,” Smith said.
Smith added that the public works building will be outfitted with sprinklers, and that any concerns related to fire safety will be addressed in the code review when the building plans are submitted.
At the meeting, planning member Joe Pampanin questioned the amount of time it has taken the development proposal to move through the planning process.
“I have to say I’m disappointed that it’s all internal and we’re still this late in the process,” he said, adding that borough council would have hoped for construction to have begun by now.
Smith responded that the delays were primarily the result of complications brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the delays, Smith said the borough is seeking a preliminary/final waiver, which would waive the preliminary planning phase.
Smith added that if the planning commission failed to grant the waiver it would delay construction by approximately two months.
Ultimately, planners voted unanimously to approve the preliminary/final waiver.
The commission then voted unanimously to recommend approval of the plan contingent upon the applicant responding to concerns raised in the Dewey Fire Company review letter.
Planners also voted unanimously to approve a motion recommending a black/grey color scheme for the proposed building, as well as a motion requesting that borough council pursue a master plan for the remaining portion of the site; a move planners hope will expedite the planning process for the pocket-park on the eastern portion of the property.
Plans for the public works facility will next go in front of borough council for final approval.
There were no public comments made concerning the development plans at Tuesday’s meeting.
