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The Cornwall Borough Council approved the final plans for the PRL and Rexmont Road subdivisions at its meeting Monday.
Both plans were approved unanimously, conditional on the receipt of completed documents. Neither plan had any remaining design-related comments to be addressed, and both were recommended for approval last week by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Read more: Cornwall Planning and Zoning forwards final PRL, Rexmont Road plans to council
Construction on the 75,000-square-foot PRL plant is expected to begin this fall, Byler Holdings representative Mike Swank said.
PRL Subdivision Plan
The 104-acre PRL site lies between Boyd Street and Horseshoe Pike, with an extended access drive onto Boyd.
The plan includes a 75,000-square-foot building with a maximum height of 45 feet, an adjoined 6,120 square feet of office space, and 61 parking spaces.
The site will manufacture submarine parts, mostly generating flatbed truck traffic (with a max of three visits a day), said developers.
The development was fast-tracked due to PRL’s time crunch to up production of submarine parts, which led to the January passage of an ordinance allowing manufacturing in general industrial (GI). PRL hopes to have construction completed by early 2025.
The plan can be viewed in full below.
Phase one of the three-phase and 131-home Rexmont Road subdivision is expected to begin spring of next year, Swank said.
Rexmont Road Subdivision Plan
The site of Cornwall Properties’ planned subdivision sits by the intersection of Rexmont Road and Iron Valley Drive. It lies 80 percent in residential low-density and 20 percent in conservation recreation.
The plan consists of 131 single-family detached homes, to be constructed over three phases.
The plan can be viewed in full below.
While access road Iron Valley Drive is privately owned both by Cornwall Properties (north) and the Iron Valley Homeowner’s Association (south), homeowners in the subdivision have the right to use the southern portion of Iron Valley Drive for access, Cornwall Properties representative Mike Swank said.
However, much to the disappointment of some council members and commission members, the roadway will not be open to the general public. The HOA will place a gate along its portion of the road, which subdivision homeowners will have key-fobs to access.
Both plans were approved without extensive discussion or the opportunity to public comment.
Both uses are guaranteed by right under the current zoning, so approval is contingent primarily on a developer receiving and responding to comments from the borough engineer, which has been ongoing for several months for both projects.
Read More:
- Byler Holdings, Cornwall engineer still reviewing comments on subdivision plan (March)
- Cornwall Planning & Zoning considers Cornwall Properties subdivision waivers (April)
- Cornwall Borough Planning Commission receives PRL Industries subdivision plans (May)
- Cornwall P&Z recommends waivers for PRL subdivision
- Cornwall Planning and Zoning forwards final PRL, Rexmont Road plans to council
Jeremy Zimmerman of community group Cornwall United 4 Responsible Development said that he is glad PRL, which was fast-tracked due to the need to increase submarine part production, was able to come to an agreement with Byler Holdings and the community. However, he urged for thorough consideration for future developments.
“We hope additional projects are thought about and nothing’s rushed,” Zimmerman said, going on to explain that he and other members of the community continue to be involved in the negotiation of the Lake Resort Community Text Amendment.
The planning commission is still in discussions with Byler Holdings regarding the Lake Resort Community Text Amendment, which was proposed by Byler Holdings to allow mixed use development around Miners Lake.
This amendment is being paired with an amendment proposed by Cornwall United moving warehousing as a permitted use from limited industrial (LI) to general industrial (GI).
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 asked 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, 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 said at the time that if the 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 then 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.
Both the PRL plan and the Rexmont Road subdivision are now before the council for approval.
Council pro tem Bruce Conrad also announced Monday that the borough has been in discussion with the owners of the 198-acre Freeman Estate to consider its acquisition.
The estate, zoned agricultural, contains 19th-century buildings including an old stable. Conrad said his hope is, if the land can be purchased, to restore the stables and generate revenue from the property.
Down the line, he said, the borough could develop other revenue-generating operations on the property, including woodworking, ironworking, or other historical, educational and agricultural uses of the land.
Julie Bowman has also been involved in talks of this project, and she emphasized that the goal would be cost transparency and a focus on ensuring stable income from any development.
At this point, he said, it is just an idea. However, the board unanimously agreed to permit Conrad and councilman Tom Burton, who was also involved in the idea’s development, to hold four public meetings over the course of this summer and early fall to gauge the public’s opinion on the potential project.
The meeting dates have not yet been announced.
In other news, the council:
- Learned that Reynolds Ferrante, who volunteered and worked for the borough to assist in grant acquisition following an extensive career in the field, recently died. “He looked at [his work in Cornwall] as his final legacy,” said Conrad, expressing how much he enjoyed working with Ferrante and how valuable his contributions to Cornwall were.
- Heard a request from Alden Place for traffic enforcement along Alden Way, a private roadway. The council directed the solicitor to look into the issue more to see what can be done.
- Unanimously agreed to begin work moving stone, donated by Byler Holdings, to create an emergency access between Spring Hill Acres and Camp Rocky Creek. The overseer of the now-defunct HOA told council he would be open to gifting the land to the borough, which is under consideration.
- Expressed willingness to rezone 125 Burd Coleman Road to residential institutional to match adjoining land, if purchased by Cornwall Manor.
- Heard that the audio/visual system will be on the agenda for next month, with a cost estimate of $41,000.
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