The warehouse boom in Palmer Township, ten miles north of Pennsburg in Montgomery County, has its positive sides, but the effects it has had on the surrounding community are much more dire and should serve as a warning to the entire Lehigh Valley, writes Rudy Miller and Anthony Salamone for The Morning Call.

The quality of life of the people who live in the communities within and surrounding Palmer Township has been altered dramatically due to the growing number of warehouses.

“I can’t get out of my driveway,” said Hazel DeReamus, a widow and retiree who has lived on Main Street in Tatamy one mile north of Palmer Township for over half a century.

Her once quiet street now sees thousands of vehicles pass every day, including many tractor-trailers that are heading for the highway.

This has caused some, including elected officials, to question whether Palmer Township could have slowed down warehouse development or planned it more effectively. The ongoing debate is similar to those happening all over Lehigh Valley towns where developers are clamoring to add as many warehouses as possible to meet the demand.

“The problem with warehouse planning is they have not taken into account the insufficient infrastructure that surrounds these developments and the impact it is having on local communities,” said Greg Zebrwowski, former chair of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

But while communities that do allow such construction, like Palmer Township, rake in real estate tax revenue and earned income tax revenue from the landowners and the workers, critics claim that such benefits are outweighed by the numerous quality-of-life issues, including noise, traffic, the increased need to invest in police, emergency services, and road maintenance.

Recently, in a joint statement, Palmer Township supervisors stated that the township should have been controlling development instead of incentivizing it.

Read more about the warehouse boom and the positives and negatives that it brings to the community in The Morning Call.

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The U.S. is facing a warehouse shortage, with 1 billion square feet of new industrial space needed by 2025 to keep up with demand, according to commercial real estate services company JLL. More e-commerce activity and faster delivery is driving up demand and shifting local economies, like in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.

Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on MONTCO Today in May 2024.