The Lower Macungie Planning Commission meeting Jan. 12 involved the Woodmont property and ABE Doors redevelopment.

The meeting was held virtually via Zoom.

The meeting began with some reorganization.

Thomas Beil was elected chairperson while John Hammer was elected vice chairperson. Al Perez was elected secretary.

The first project discussed was the Woodmont property. Allen Organ Company sold a portion of its property split between the new Weis market development and Woodmont. Attorney Kate Durso of Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba represented the development. Durso said the development would be an apartment complex with a streetscape and park area along Route 100.

Stephen Santola was the representative from the Woodmont property. Santola talked about the popularity of carriage apartments in other properties in the area. He also talked about the amenities and pool planned for the property. Santola said he wanted to put a park scape in along Route 100 rather than additional commercial properties.

Mark Bahnick of Van Cleef Engineering was also part of the Woodmont project. Bahnick said there would be two points of access on the property.

Commissioner Tim Pickle asked about the traffic flow on the property.

Township engineer Bryan McAdam said the majority of the open land along Route 100 would need to be used for stormwater management.

Beil said the property should be a mixed use development rather than a completely residential use in a commercial district. The planning commission was concerned about the precedent of a high density residential property in a commercial zone, which is not allowed in the zoning ordinance.

The other property discussed during the meeting was the ABE Doors redevelopment project. The west side of the property would consist of a car wash and vacuum spaces while the east side of the property would include restaurants and other commercial properties. There would also be an outdoor eating area.

The rear border of the property would have a raised buffer to protect the nearby neighborhood from light and noise pollution. McAdam said the landscaping and berm do a good job keeping light and noise from surrounding houses. Despite this, McAdam was concerned stormwater might accumulate on neighboring properties.

The project was represented by Jason Buchta.

Buchta said he met with an arborist to make sure the plan would not disturb any of the existing sycamore trees on the property. There also was a discussion about the walking path in the front of the property.

Buchta talked about cutting swales in the berm to allow for water drainage. The planning commissioners said revisions to the plan still need to get approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Perez expressed concerns about the number of vacuum parking spaces and traffic circulation.

The commissioners are still waiting on the arborist report.

The commission decided to table the discussion until the next meeting.

The next Lower Macungie Township Planning Commission meeting will be a workshop Jan. 19.

Usually the commission meets the second Tuesday of every month and occasionally there is a workshop meeting on the third Tuesday of the month.

Workshops begin 6 p.m. while regular meetings begin 7 p.m. and currently all planning commission meetings will be held via Zoom with a video recording uploaded to the township’s YouTube channel after the fact.