A trucking company project that pitted Upper Macungie Township against its Zoning Hearing Board in Lehigh County Court is dead, but the court case continues.
The owner of the land where Old Dominion Freight Lines Inc. wanted to build what it called a distribution warehouse — but opponents claimed would be a far-busier trucking terminal — has let his agreement of sale with Old Dominion lapse and doesn’t plan to renew it, an attorney close to the negotiations said.
The trucking company and the property owner, Jim Gentile, did not respond to requests for comment. But Ronald Corkery, a Whitehall Township attorney who represents Upper Macungie resident and project opponent Sunny Ghai, confirmed Gentile had withdrawn from the project.
Old Dominion, based in Thomasville, N.C., had proposed building a 43,840-square-foot facility on 14 acres at 6975 Ambassador Drive.
In November, it sought an interpretation of zoning law to determine whether the use was permitted on the property, which is in a light-industrial district.
Old Dominion argued that the project was allowed because it was a distribution warehouse, defined as a facility where freight is loaded from large trucks onto smaller trucks for distribution. Trucking terminals, by contrast, involve goods being loaded from one large truck to another, and aren’t permitted in light-industrial zones.
The Zoning Hearing Board agreed with Old Dominion. Supervisors didn’t, and took the zoners to Lehigh County Court, where arguments were made before Judge Edward Reibman on April 1.
The case centered on what constitutes large trucks and smaller trucks, which are not defined in the ordinance.
The ordinance itself says what should happen in cases where words aren’t defined. They should be considered as having their “plain and ordinary meaning” based on a standard reference dictionary.
But the township said the zoning board failed to do that, instead accepting Old Dominion’s own definitions.
Those definitions: a tractor-trailer is an “overland” truck with a weight capacity of 80,000 pounds that hauls a 53-foot trailer or two 28-foot trailers.
A smaller truck — even one with a tractor and trailer — is one that can carry up 35,000 pounds that is typically used to make deliveries within 50 miles, according to Old Dominion.
Supervisors are revising the ordinance to fix the ambiguity. But the change wouldn’t retroactively apply to the property — assuming a new developer came in before the revised ordinance took effect — so the township wants the court case to continue to establish precedent.
Reibman had not issued a decision as of Wednesday.
Upper Macungie is home to many giant warehouses and other operations that draw enormous amounts of truck traffic, especially at Route 100 and Interstate 78, so projects that will likely lead to more traffic tend to generate vigorous response from residents.
Corkery said Gentile was sympathetic once the scope of the resistance to the project became clear.
“He understood the residents were unhappy having [a facility] that size,” he said, adding that Gentile apparently doesn’t have any immediate plans for the land.
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