Cornwall Planning and Zoning forwards final PRL, Rexmont Road plans to council

VaselineJuly 9, 2024

0 7 minutes read

Cornwall Planning and Zoning forwards final PRL, Rexmont Road plans to council

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

The Cornwall Planning and Zoning Commission last Monday unanimously agreed to forward the final plans for the PRL Industries manufacturing plant and the Rexmont Road subdivision to the borough council for approval.

The PRL manufacturing plant, which had three waivers approved at last month’s council meeting, was approved conditional on the receipt of required documents and completion of administrative edits.

PRL Subdivision Plan

The 104-acre PRL site lies between Boyd Street and Horseshoe Pike, with an extended access drive onto Boyd.

The PRL site will be located within a sliver towards the corner of the general industrial triangle, pictured above.

The plan includes a 75,000-square-foot building with a maximum height of 45 feet, an adjacent 6,120 square feet of office space, and 61 parking spaces.

The site will manufacture submarine parts, mostly generating flatbed truck traffic (with a maximum of three visits a day), said developers.

The development was fast-tracked due to PRL’s time crunch to increase production of submarine parts, which led to the January passage of an ordinance allowing manufacturing in general industrial (GI).

PRL hopes to have construction completed by early 2025.

The plan can be viewed in full below.

Council approved several waivers for the plan at its June meeting.

Read more: Cornwall Borough Council approves PRL waivers

Cornwall Community Fire Chief Mark Miller voiced concerns with the PRL plans at the commission’s June meeting. The 75,000-square-foot building includes neither sprinklers nor a water source for firefighters in case of emergency.

However, the borough’s ordinances do not require these fire safety measures for this type of development. Chairman Ray Fratini said that while he shares these concerns, he legally cannot hold up passage of the plan due to concerns not rooted in code.

He said that this concern falls under the purview of the Commonwealth Code, which will also review the plan prior to construction.

The Rexmont Road subdivision plan, totaling 131 homes over three phases, was also passed to council for approval conditional on outstanding agreements.

Rexmont Road Subdivision Plan

The site of Cornwall Properties’ planned subdivision sits by the intersection of Rexmont Road and Iron Valley Drive. It lies 80 percent in residential low-density and 20 percent in conservation recreation.

The plan consists of 131 single-family detached homes, to be constructed over three phases.

The plan can be viewed in full below.

While access road Iron Valley Drive is privately owned both by Cornwall Properties (north) and the Iron Valley Homeowner’s Association (south), homeowners in the subdivision have the right to use the southern portion of Iron Valley Drive for access, Cornwall Properties representative Mike Swank said.

However, much to the disappointment of some council members and commission members, the roadway will not be usable by the general public.

The entities concluded talks with the conclusion that the HOA will place a gate along its portion of the road, which subdivision homeowners will have key-fobs to access.

Council approved several waivers for the plan in April but rejected others. Edits to the plan have been completed, including slight changes to phases.

Read more: Cornwall council approves and rejects several waivers for Cornwall Properties

Fratini said that while he believes the development will be bad for Cornwall, particularly in traffic generated onto smaller roads, the commission has no choice but to move forward the plan as all requirements have been met.

He noted that the borough could end up in legal trouble for rejecting a plan a developer has the legal right to proceed with. While he voiced his belief that the plan is not responsible development, he said that the commission had already held up the plan long enough.

“I don’t want to legally hold up this man any longer,” said Fratini. “He’s had to jump through enough hoops.”

In case you missed it… Background on this story

In July 2022, Byler Holdings requested a zoning amendment from the borough allowing them to build an 800,000-square-foot warehouse in their general industrial (GI) tract.

The alternative, they said, was for them to use their limited industrial (LI) tract to construct warehouses with a combined square footage of around 700,000.

Read more: Cornwall Borough Council hears concept plans from Byler Holdings, one including a nearly 800,000-square-foot warehouse (2022)

This plan drew significant concern from many Cornwall residents, with opposition to warehousing on the site largely due to the traffic and noise.

A community group Cornwall United 4 Responsible Development, headed by Jeremy Zimmerman, soon emerged in opposition to warehousing on the site.

Council formed an ad hoc committee made up of members of the community, council, and Planning and Zoning Commission to work with Byler Holdings on developing conditions for zoning changes (similar as was done for H&K, the previous owner of the property) or otherwise working with the developer to find a mutually agreeable solution.

Read more: Cornwall Borough Council forms ad hoc committee to work with Byler Holdings

Ad hoc discussions did not go far, as they did not have a clear direction and Byler had not submitted plans for the property. Meetings were paused until further directives were given.

Byler Holdings sent the borough a letter withdrawing its request for an amendment due to community outcry, Swank said. The developer reversed this request later, after members of the community appeared equally opposed to the plan for smaller warehouses in the LI tract.

In September 2023, Byler Holdings asked if the council was willing to consider the amendment submitted the year before. In an informal roll call, the majority of council members indicated willingness to consider it.

Read more: Cornwall Borough Council to consider Byler text amendment

Council and Byler Holdings agreed to resume meetings of the ad hoc committee to work out conditions. However, Byler Holdings later requested that the council hold off on scheduling meetings until an internal decision was made.

At around the same time, Cornwall United came forward with a zoning text amendment of their own which would remove “public warehousing” as an LI permitted use and add it as a general commercial permitted conditional use.

Read more: Cornwall Borough Council refers citizen’s text amendment to ad hoc committee

This amendment was referred to the ad hoc committee, and has since been referred to P&Z for evaluation and recommendations.

In November, Byler’s attorney Mike Swank returned to council to submit a new zoning amendment, one that would morph into the ordinance adopted Tuesday.

Read more: Cornwall to consider Byler zoning amendment, expects January decision

The proposed amendment would allow manufacturing uses in Cornwall GI zones, with Byler’s property containing the only GI plot in the borough.

Swank said at the time that if the amendment was passed, Byler Holdings would retract its previous zoning amendment request. However, the council had to move quickly, as Byler hoped to rent to Cornwall-based submarine part-manufacturer PRL Industries, who was on a tight timeline.

PRL Industries plans to enter a 20-year minimum lease for around 10 acres of the 104-acre tract, which Swank said also has about 60 undevelopable acres. Traffic would mostly be limited to one flatbed truck entering and exiting a few times a day, PRL director of sales and marketing Tim Lewis said.

As the US is in the process of greatly expanding its submarine production, PRL is under a tight timeline as one of the top parts producers in the country to increase its production.

Council agreed to expedite the process, sending the amendment to P&Z and Lebanon County Planning with the goal to hold a hearing and choose to adopt or not adopt the amendment in January. P&Z discussed details of the amendment and made some changes before referring it back to council.

Read more: Planning commission advances zoning change fast-tracked for PRL Industries

Council unanimously agreed to schedule a public hearing for the amendment at its reorganization meeting Jan. 2, where it would then be adopted with changes.

Read more: Cornwall Borough Council schedules public hearing for Byler amendment

Byler Holdings then submitted a plan for residential development in residential low-density and conservation recreation. The plan includes 131 single-family detached homes, constructed over three phases.

Both the PRL plan and the Rexmont Road subdivision are now before the council for approval.

Much of Monday’s meeting was spent discussing an ongoing back-and-forth between the commission and council regarding an ordinance prohibiting trailers in front yards in residential forest properties.

Several months ago, the commission was asked to define “major,” as the ordinance prohibits major trailers from being stored in front yards but does not define the term.

The commission returned with several definitions, but these have been rejected by the council, which has directed the commission to continue examining the ordinance and the definition.

The commission agreed to send a modification to the ordinance not allowing (in the front yard) any trailers within 50 feet of the road, no RVs, tractor trailers, or boats, a max of 14 feet closed and 18 feet open trailers, and no trailers with advertising to the council for review.

Fratini voiced concerns that some council members had an agenda of removing the ordinance altogether and may not approve any modification to it. He asked councilman Tom Keefer, who was in attendance, his opinion.

Keefer said the suggested change was “full of s***,” going on to say that a resident with 30 acres of property should not be prevented from parking an RV in their front yard.

“You’ve got the wrong attitude for being a council member,” said Fratini in response to Keefer’s comments. “You gotta protect the people,” to which Keefer replied “I’m protecting myself.”

The suggested change will be reviewed by the council, but Fratini said he does not want to continue suggesting changes if they will be rejected no matter what.

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VaselineJuly 9, 2024

0 7 minutes read

Vaseline

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