On Thursday night, the Tilden Township District Hearing Committee and approximately 40 residents reviewed the proposed plans for a 481,000-foot warehouse and distribution center.

The 32.7-acre property at 462 Lowland Road is owned by Steve C. and Sylvia DeCosta, who plan to sell it to the Lovett Industrial developer in Texas.

Lovett needs a difference in building coverage because the land area exceeds the maximum size of the township property by 25%.

Then the developer also plans to build a 100,000-foot "speed bay" building, which will increase the coverage rate to 34%.

Speed ​​bay is an indoor loading and unloading area used to transport materials from trucks to racking systems.

Developers also need a height difference. The indoor ceiling height is 40 feet, and the total building height is 49 feet. Townships only allow 35 feet in total.

The testimony on Thursday lasted more than three hours.

The board of directors listened to the opinions of developer representatives, engineers, real estate leasing agents and traffic engineers.

Two lawyers for some residents of Lowland Road also questioned them, asking why the project could not be scaled down.

Lovett officials stated that they developed Class A facilities only to attract large retailers such as Amazon, Big lots, Lowe's and Dollar General, which all carry consumer-grade products and require such facilities.

Lovett’s people say the plan includes beautiful facilities, and the building’s facade has been landscaped to prevent interference with neighbors and indoor bays to reduce impact.

Annmarie Vigilante, a traffic engineer at Langen Engineering, said that the developer will make road improvements and readjust the intersection of Highway 61 and Lowland Road to restrict turns.

Vigilante said that preliminary calculations show that a truck has the least trip every 4 to 6 minutes during peak hours, and that the developer is not obliged to make road improvements.

Development officials pointed out that this is an early stage of a long-term process that requires state and local approvals, including close cooperation with PennDOT, and there are many obstacles that have not yet been overcome.

The testimony was suspended at 10:30 pm, and the hearing will continue on Thursday, December 9th at 7 pm

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