Community Corner

Neighbors Upset at Proposed Healthcare Overlay District

Salisbury residents who live next to Lehigh Valley Hospital fear a proposed new healthcare overlay zone will destroy their quality of life.

Salisbury Township residents who live behind are still upset with the because they say it will becoming a sprawling commercial development that will destroy the quality of life in their neighborhood.

The Planning Commission, which is updating the township's zoning ordinance, has been considering adding a new healthcare and transitional overlay district surrounding LVH. The purpose of the district would be to create a campus of healthcare facilities, including those for education and research, for patients, staff, students and visitors.

"As currently proposed, there will be substantial and material changes that will drastically reduce the quality of life and property values of the taxpayers in the abutting R2 zone," said Adele Clemmer, a former Planning Commission member who lives behind the hospital on Sunset Avenue. 

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"This is a commercial development, not the expansion of a hospital," said Clemmer, who presented a detailed analysis to commissioners at their July 10 meeting.

Clemmer cited potential development such as a pharmacy and bank with drive-through service, convenience stores and restaurants such as an Applebee's or McDonald's that could be permitted only 500 feet from the neighborhood. The hospital has said it would restrict commercial development closer to Cedar Crest Boulevard and I-78.

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Clemmer said the plan does not sufficiently protect residents from electronic or digital signs with flashing messages, such as the Lehigh Valley Health Network logo near I-78  that "now shines into our bedroom windows." 

Commissioner Stephen McKitish said he did not support the idea of a drive-through pharmacy or bank. "The difficulty is we're trying to anticipate what this thing is going to look like in 10 to 15 years and we just don't know. And the more that we allow without having the level of review on our part relative to neighbor input, just potentially opens the door for things we find less than acceptable."

Clemmer's husband, Charles, complained the commissioners were not taking residents' complaints seriously and were only considering recommendations from the township's consultant, Urban Research & Development Corporation, and the hospital.

Township Manager Randy Soriano asked the board how they planned to address written comments made by Township Engineer David Tettemer, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and Lower Macungie Township. 

In a May 29 letter to the board, Tettemer made numerous suggestions and recommended the commissioners review "in detail the scope of the proposed ordinance" and the hospital's developer provide information that shows sufficient traffic capacity along Cedar Crest Boulevard and Fish Hatchery Road.

Several commissioners said they had only recently received the comments and would need to review them.

 


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