Actually you aren’t supposed to call them warehouses. They are “distribution centers.” Kidder Township has approved two of them, and two are in the works, including one that necessitated the clear-cutting of a large area of trees.
The official website for Kidder Township says it has “beautifully wooded terrain” and mentions the Poconos, ski slopes, and golf courses. Not a word about “distribution centers.”
We can’t really blame Kidder officials, however. Under Pennsylvania land use laws, every local government must zone for every possible use unless it would be physically impossible. So, for example, a small township simply might not have the space to host an airport. The code also says that local governments have final decision-making authority. So even if I live in the Lehigh River watershed, I can’t speak to the possibility that the impervious surfaces on the warehouse roofs in Kidder might impact the Lehigh.
Local governments are given only 90 days to review a plan. When a company is proposing to build a giant building and does not know who will be contracting to use the building or what the traffic will be or what emergency services will be needed, the 90-day limit is simply not enough. The state municipal planning code notes that if the municipality doesn’t act in the 90- day period, that “shall be a deemed approval of the application as presented.”
So, you end up with haphazard development, powerless local government, a lack of regional planning, environmental disasters, and giant distribution centers in a wooded and relatively pristine area.
In the movie “Chinatown” Jake, after seeing terrible things, is told, “Forget it...it’s Chinatown.” Here we say, when terrible things happen, “Forget it...it’s Pennsylvania.”
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