Lowe’s to Ask Plainfield to Approve New Store
By Tom Coombe, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Jul. 18–Lowe’s wants to build a new store in Plainfield Township.
The home improvement retailer is scheduled to go before the township’s Zoning Hearing Board this evening to ask for a variance that would allow it to build the store — along with four other retail businesses — on about 27 acres between Jacobsburg Road and Route 33.
The land sits just outside of Wind Gap, along Plainfield’s border with Bushkill Township. A tiny portion of the property extends into Bushkill.
According to board secretary Joyce Lambert, the land is part of the township’s highway interchange district, meaning that Lowe’s does not need a zoning change. However, the company needs several variances because its plan doesn’t conform to numerous regulations in the zoning ordinance.
In plans submitted to the township, Lowe’s asks for permission to build more signs and fewer parking spaces on its property than what’s allowed by the township, as well as clearance to have a wider access drive than the zoning ordinance ordinarily permits.
Lowe’s also needs permission to build three outdoor storage areas, and permission to have a larger area of impervious cover on the property than Plainfield allows.
The plans list a company called Plainfield Plaza Inc., of Guttenberg, N.J., as the owner of the property. The appeal was filed by attorney Michael Gavin of West Chester, Chester County. Gavin could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
This is the second time Lowe’s has tried to build in the township. One of the company’s stores was to be part of the Marketplace at Plainfield, a large, Wal-Mart-anchored commercial development along Route 512 north of Wind Gap. The developer behind that project, National Realty and Development Corp. of Purchase, N.Y., withdrew its plans earlier this year.
It’s also the second time this year that a major project has been slated for this section of Plainfield. In February, Four Winds Concrete of Center Valley applied for variances in order to build its plant on 10 acres along Jacobsburg Road near the Lowe’s property. The board rejected the application.
—–
To see more of The Morning Call, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mcall.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
LOW,