E. ALLEN TWP., Pa. – The East Allen Township Zoning Hearing Board denied a zoning variance and determination request for a warehouse distribution facility plan Thursday night at the administration building.
The original proposal called for demolishing three existing buildings and constructing a 584,200-square-foot cross-dock warehouse for 226 employees at 7230 Beth Bath Pike. The proposal included 226 parking spaces, 113 trailer loading docks, and 155 trailer parking spaces.
The applicant, Ridgeline Property Group, offered a revised plan before the Aug. 21 zoning hearing board meeting which reduced the warehouse’s size to 478,400 square feet. This proposal included 222 parking spaces, 113 trailer loading docks, and 156 trailer parking spaces.
However, the 90-minute hearing that night featured confusion and chaos with zoners uncertain about the plan they were reviewing and their legal duties to determine the Conservation District boundary line. After consultation among various attorneys, the applicant’s counsel, James Preston, agreed to withdraw the plan and resubmit, bringing everyone to Thursday night’s hearing.
The board denied the hearing following a more than a three-hour hearing. It provided no reason for the rejection.
The property is in the General Industrial and Conservation districts, and has been used for steel fabrication since 1966. The three buildings consist of a steel fabrication building, a blasting and painting building and an office building. Prior to 1966, the land was utilized for agricultural purposes.
Ridgeline contested the zoning officer’s April 15, 2024, preliminary opinion letter on the plan, and sought three variances from the board, spurring Thursday night’s formal hearing. The various requests were based on the premise the zoning ordinance “inflicts unnecessary hardship upon the appellant.”
The first requested parking and impervious surface to be permitted within the Conservation District portion of the project area. In his application, Preston said there are other permitted uses within the CD which require parking and impervious surfaces to be constructed. He noted there is no proposed building area within the CD, and that it’s the applicant’s understanding the proposed parking and impervious surfaces is a required use to support the proposed warehouse. This, Preston said, is no different than the parking and impervious surfaces that would accompany another permitted use in the CD.
The second would have moved the Conservation District boundary to be 250 feet from the top of the Monocacy Creek bank. Preston requested the zoning hearing board determine the exact location of the Conservation District boundary, which was the direction given by Shawn Leidy, the township’s former zoning and code enforcement officer, in his April 15, 2024, review letter.
A sketch of the warehouse proposed for 7320 Beth Bath Pike in East Allen Township, as presented Oct. 16, 2025.
The final variance would determine driveway width in accordance with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation regulations, which is currently estimated at 62 feet. The attorney argued the driveway width is a function of the PennDOT low-volume driveway width and associated curb radii that are required for tractor trailers to safely and adequately enter and exit the site to meet PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit requirements.
The township contested the relief request, arguing through legal counsel the applicant created did not prove the hardship could not remedied through other means.
Members of the public who spoke Thursday night cited how the proposed warehouse would negatively impact the township’s life quality.