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The Cornwall Borough Council plans to direct the Planning and Zoning Commission and engineer to consider merging the Cornwall United 4 Responsible Development citizens’ text amendment and the Byler Holdings Lake Resort Community text amendment.
The proposed citizens’ amendment removes public warehousing as a permitted use for the limited industrial (LI) district and adds it as a permitted conditional use for the general commercial (GC) district.
Read More:
- Cornwall Borough Council refers citizen’s text amendment to ad hoc committee
- Cornwall planning board seeks public comment on ‘Lake Resort’ amendment
- Cornwall council unanimously adopts adopts Byler manufacturing amendment
The proposed Lake Resort Community amendment, meanwhile, modifies the LI district to include “lake resort communities,” lake-adjacent mixed-use developments with their own set of limitations.
The reasoning for combining the amendments, councilman Tony Fitzgibbons said, is that Byler Holdings previously stated that if manufacturing uses were allowed in general industrial (GI), as was done in January, they would not consider warehousing in its LI tract.
The council also reviewed Lebanon County Planning’s comments on the citizens’ amendment, which primarily commented that it needs updated definitions.
“Public warehousing” is not clearly defined in the amendment, nor is it in the borough’s zoning ordinance.
The council unanimously agreed in its Monday meeting to direct solicitor Josele Cleary to review the amendment and update its language.
Also concerning Byler Holdings, the council discussed enforcement of the H&K conditions, 52 conditions on previous landowner H&K’s usage of the land adjacent to the lake.
Cleary said that the conditions may or may not be enforceable depending what is proposed and how similar those uses are in impact to that of the H&K project.
“There is no answer today because there’s no proposal today,” said Cleary.
In other news, council:
- Notified the public that PennDOT informed the borough that it will not consider a brake retarder prohibition on Route 322.
- Unanimously accepted the resignation of officer Robert Peebles and agreed to advertise for a full-time officer.
- Unanimously agreed to offer conditional employment to Miguel Cruz as a full-time officer.
- Unanimously agreed to place a 2005 F-350 on Municibid.
- Unanimously agreed to advertise for the 2024 paving projects, Douglas Fir and Douglas Fir Cove.
- Unanimously agreed to direct the engineer to contact PennDOT concerning placing signage restricting truck traffic on Boyd Street on Route 322.
- Directed the engineer to assess the condition of curbing and the wall on Rexmont Road.
- Unanimously approved reports and minutes.
In case you missed it… Background on this story
In July 2022, Byler Holdings requested a zoning amendment from the borough allowing them to build an 800,000-square-foot warehouse in their general industrial (GI) tract.
The alternative, they said, was for them to use their limited industrial (LI) tract to construct warehouses with a combined square footage of around 700,000.
This plan drew significant concern from many Cornwall residents, with opposition to warehousing on the site largely due to the traffic and noise.
A community group Cornwall United 4 Responsible Development, headed by Jeremy Zimmerman, soon emerged in opposition to warehousing on the site.
Council formed an ad hoc committee made up of members of the community, council, and Planning and Zoning Commission to work with Byler Holdings on developing conditions for zoning changes (similar as was done for H&K, the previous owner of the property) or otherwise working with the developer to find a mutually agreeable solution.
Read More: Cornwall Borough Council forms ad hoc committee to work with Byler Holdings
Ad hoc discussions did not go far, as they did not have a clear direction and Byler had not submitted plans for the property. Meetings were paused until further directives were given.
Byler Holdings sent the borough a letter withdrawing its request for an amendment due to community outcry, Swank said. The developer reversed this request later, after members of the community appeared equally opposed to the plan for smaller warehouses in the LI tract.
In September 2023, Byler Holdings came before council to ask if council was willing to consider the amendment submitted the year before. In an informal roll call, the majority of council members indicated willingness to consider it.
Read More: Cornwall Borough Council to consider Byler text amendment
Council and Byler Holdings agreed to resume meetings of the ad hoc committee to work out conditions. However, Byler Holdings later requested that council hold off on scheduling meetings until an internal decision was made.
At around the same time, Cornwall United came forward with a zoning text amendment of their own which would remove “public warehousing” as an LI permitted use and add it as a general commercial permitted conditional use.
Read More: Cornwall Borough Council refers citizen’s text amendment to ad hoc committee
This amendment was referred to the ad hoc committee, and has since been referred to P&Z for evaluation and recommendations.
In November, Byler’s attorney Mike Swank returned to council to submit a new zoning amendment, one that would morph into the ordinance adopted Tuesday.
Read More: Cornwall to consider Byler zoning amendment, expects January decision
The proposed amendment would allow manufacturing uses in Cornwall GI zones, with Byler’s property containing the only GI plot in the borough.
Swank expressed at that time that if this amendment was passed, Byler Holdings would retract its previous zoning amendment request.
However, council had to move quickly, as Byler hoped to rent to Cornwall-based submarine part-manufacturer PRL Industries, who was on a tight timeline.
PRL Industries plans to enter a 20-year minimum lease for around 10 acres of the 104-acre tract, which Swank said also has about 60 undevelopable acres. Traffic would mostly be limited to one flatbed truck entering and exiting a few times a day, PRL director of sales and marketing Tim Lewis said.
As the U.S. is in the process of greatly expanding its submarine production, PRL is under a tight timeline as one of the top parts producers in the country to up its production.
Council agreed to expedite the process, sending the amendment to P&Z and Lebanon County Planning with the goal to hold a hearing and choose to adopt or not adopt the amendment in January. P&Z discussed details of the amendment and made some changes before referring it back to council.
Read More: Planning commission advances zoning change fast-tracked for PRL Industries
Council unanimously agreed to schedule a public hearing for the amendment at its reorganization meeting Jan. 2, where it would then be adopted with changes.
Read More: Cornwall Borough Council schedules public hearing for Byler amendment
Byler Holdings has also submitted a plan for residential development in residential low-density and conservation recreation. The plan includes 131 single-family detached homes, constructed over three phases.
The borough has provided comments to Byler Holdings surrounding the developement, which it has not yet responded to.
Byler Holdings also submitted the Lake Resort Community text amendment to the borough for review. As of now, no action has been taken on this amendment.
Read more: Cornwall planning board seeks public comment on ‘Lake Resort’ amendment
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated what type of employment Miguel Cruz was offered. He was offered full-time employment with the borough’s police force. We sincerely regret the error.
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