The July 13 meeting of the Lower Macungie Planning Commission reviewed three development projects: Guardian Storage, Buckeye Macungie Terminal Solar Project and a residential subdivision at 3510 Macungie Road.

There was a fourth project, Suburban Self-Serve Car Wash, which asked to be removed from the agenda.

The Guardian Storage development was represented by Catherine Durso, of Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba. The property would include a three-story storage structure.

Township Engineer Bryan McAdam talked about the widening of Cedarbrook Road.

The approval of the final plan involved a number of waivers regarding landscaping, road width and road right-of-way. The recommended approval of the final plan passed unanimously.

The second applicant was a sketch plan review for 3510 Macungie Road residential subdivision.

The project had come before the planning commission previously as flagship lots with shared driveways. The current plan has 42 townhouses with six homes having access on to Indian Creek Road and the other townhouses having access onto Macungie Road.

The subdivision was represented by Erich Schock, of Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba along with Rese Rosenthal and Blake France from F & R Macungie, LLC. There was a discussion about possible curb cuts on Macungie Road. The development would have a walking path to connect to an existing township-owned park to the rear of the property.

Lower Macungie Township Planning Director Nathan Jones wants to preserve the tree line on the edge of the property. Commissioners had some concerns about density on the property. The suggestion was made twin homes may be a better fit in the neighborhood than town homes. There was talk about buffering the northern edge of the property.

There were three options the planning commissioners wanted to consider.

The first option involved increasing the size of the town homes and limiting the number of them. The other two options were to build twins rather than town homes or to cut back to 26 town homes and remove the units on the right side of the property, which are closer to neighboring properties.

Mark Lichtenwalner, a resident who owns farmland neighboring the property, had some concerns about the density of the project and the increased traffic it would create. Steve Palmer, another resident, asked why the property can’t have nice single-family homes.

The final project discussed was Buckeye Macungie Terminal Solar Project. The project involved installing solar arrays on a pair of Buckeye Pipeline’s properties. The planning commission said the plan qualifies as a use and for land development.

Schock was also the attorney for the Buckeye Pipeline property. There was a discussion about fencing, ground cover and access for emergency vehicles and landscaping on the property.

Schock discussed the issue of the project consisting of more than one of Buckeye Pipeline’s properties. He continued, saying there were issues with setbacks and minimum lot size and that he might have to go to the township’s zoning hearing board.

Schock said the power generated does not run the Buckeye facility, but gets returned to the grid. He also talked about the safety of the solar array transformers.

The recommendation to approve the conditional use plan passed unanimously.

The next planning commission meeting will be Aug. 10. Usually the planning commission meets the second Tuesday of every month and occasionally there is a meeting on the third Tuesday of the month. There will be no workshop meeting in July.

All meetings begin 7 p.m. and the planning commission meetings will be in person with an online option and a video recording uploaded to the Township’s YouTube channel after the fact.