Werner Enterprises moved the driveway of its proposed truck training facility, lowered it one story and scaled it back to appease angry neighbors.
But a skeptical overflow crowd of about 100 people still panned the proposal on Tuesday.
The Palmer Township planning commission put off making a recommendation pending the results of a traffic study. They’ll give it another look April 11.
Werner Enterprises has proposed a 6,700-square-foot facility to train inexperienced drivers how to maintain tractor trailers. Employees will no longer learn to drive trucks at the site and a driving course was removed, according to Werner Vice President Randy Kraft.
That means the facility will only be two stories instead of three. It also means fewer employees, around 40. The address is at 1460 Tatamy Road but the entrance was moved to Newlins Mill Road to keep it away from the Villages at Mill Race and Tatamy Hunt developments.
“We’re a good corporate citizen and we’re good neighbors,” Kraft said.
The meeting was moved from the Palmer Township municipal building to the community center to handle the expected crowd. Neighbors took exception to plans to move trailers in and out of the site as drivers come and leave to train. They won’t unload anything but will bring full trailers through the site frequently.
“Do you know what that sounds like to me? A terminal. Not a training facility,” said township supervisor Ann-Marie Panella. She and the four other township supervisors will have the final say on the facility after the planning commission makes a recommendation.
Other neighbors worried about noise, traffic and property values. Kraft said about 35 trucks a day would pass through the site, far fewer than if it had been developed as warehouses. But that didn’t appease neighbor Charlie Young, who said the township needs to do something about all the 18 wheelers.
“It’s terrible and we’re just being inundated with trucks,” he said.
Neighbor Greg Lapham is convinced he’ll hear the mechanics working on the trucks despite eight-foot-high tree-topped berms around the truck facility perimeter.
“You will be interrupting our sleep, Werner. That’s a health issue,” he said.
Werner attorney Joe Fitzpatrick said training facilities are permitted by right in that area of the township. He said 75 percent of the site is for training and 25 percent is for maintenance. He said Werner needs conditional use approval for only the maintenance portion, although the township zoning officer doesn’t agree with him.
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Werner presented only a sketch plan Tuesday. If and when they get the conditional use approval, they’ll return with detailed plans.
The parking lot has room for 200 tractors and trailers, but Werner won’t use nearly that many, Kraft said.
Neighbor Eddie Calderone has been among the most vocal critics of the plan. He circulated fliers, set up Facebook pages to mobilize neighbors and wore a “No Werner in Palmer” t-shirt to the meeting.
But even he acknowledged Werner made important concessions Tuesday.
“If we didn’t speak up, this would have been a disaster,” he said.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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