The June 14 meeting of the Lower Macungie Planning Commission included three projects. A fourth project, Brookside Meadows Apartments was taken off the agenda at the applicant’s request. There was also a discussion about a few zone change requests made.

The first project discussed was the Wawa drive-thru modification of approved plan at the Trexler Business Center. Planning Director Nathan Jones said he was satisfied with the landscaping plan and no significant planning issues remain.

Township Engineer Brian Cicak asked about accessibility for delivery trucks on the property. The three people representing the project were Bud Newton, of Newton Engineering, Mike Spiegel, from Wawa and Catherine Durso, from Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba.

Newton said deliveries would be made shortly before or after business hours and not use larger than Wheel Base 50 trucks. There was a discussion about signage to keep customers from attempting to order on foot.

Spiegel talked about trash receptacles on the property. He had concerns about the idea of adding trash receptacles off the property. Spiegel agreed to have a discussion with the Movie Tavern about adding receptacles on the neighboring lot the Movie Tavern would be responsible for maintaining.

The planning commission made a motion to recommend approval of the modification of approved plan. The motion was approved unanimously.

The second project discussed was Woodmont Phase II, located at the Allen Organ showroom on Route 100. The project consists of eight banks of town homes consisting of 12 to 15 units.

The property would have pedestrian connectivity to the new Weis Market and would also have two mixed use buildings with commercial uses on the ground floor and apartments above.

Cicak talked about stormwater management and curbing along Route 100. The property was represented by Steve Varneckas, of Woodmont Properties along with Durso and Mark Bahnick, of Vancleef Engineering.

Bahnick discussed the parking design for the project. There was a conversation about connecting stormwater and sewer to Route 100.

Bahnick said they were not proposing to have curbing along Route 100. He explained there was a lot of stormwater coming from former phases of this project which would end up in a swale along the front of the property. He said adding curbing along Route 100 would negatively affect the stormwater management.

The planning commission agreed curbing might affect the swale and Bahnick asked for a waiver on the curbing. There was also a discussion about a drop-off and loading area for the multiuse buildings.

The planning commission noted there are a lot of sidewalks and pedestrian accessibility within the property. There was a discussion about having additional access to the walking trail along Route 100 for certain parts of the property. The discussion was tabled until the next meeting.

Another project discussed was 5502 and 5518 Hamilton Blvd. The property was the former home of Body Elite that has a single family structure and was going to be an exercise studio. The new use for the property would be a dental office.

Jones suggested moving the building closer to the street and adding a street wall or fence. He proposed upgrading the proposed class B buffer to a class C buffer.

Newtown was also the engineer on this project and was joined by the applicant Dr. Jose Gil. There was a discussion about adding some landscaping between the building and the street. The discussion was tabled until the next meeting.

Editor’s Note: An additional meeting story will be in the June 29 edition of The Press.