U. MACUNGIE TWP., Pa.- A proposal for an all-encompassing veterans health center in Lehigh County is making its way through the local review process.
Plans for the new outpatient clinic at 935 Blue Barn Road in Upper Macungie Township were announced in July by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The land is currently mostly undeveloped. It’s bordered by Crackersport Road to the south, and agricultural land to the north and east.
The township’s planning commission is scheduled to review a sketch plan for the proposal on Wednesday.
The new facility will replace both the existing Allentown VA Clinic at 3110 Hamilton Blvd. and the Cedar Crest Boulevard VA Clinic inside the Roma Corporate Center. Both clinics are outside Allentown in South Whitehall Township.
Plans call for a nearly 82,000-square-foot outpatient clinic on a 15.84-acre lot. Six hundred parking spaces and stormwater management facilities are included in the proposal.
The clinic will offer primary care, mental health, specialty care and ancillary services all under one roof, in support of the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center.
It will essentially double the size of the current Allentown-area VA clinic locations, a VA spokesperson told 69 News.
Last year, the Hamilton Boulevard clinic had 54,798 visits, and the Cedar Crest Boulevard clinic had 17,101 visits, the spokesperson said.
Construction on the new facility is expected to wrap by early 2029, with the first veteran receiving services later that summer.
The 20-year, $151.6 million lease for the clinic was signed in accordance with the PACT Act, which aims to expand veterans’ access to health care and specialized facilities.
The Upper Macungie Township Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at the UMT Community Lifestyle Center at 340 Grange Road.