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Representatives for a proposed warehouse facility at 50 S. Ramona Road attended the Jackson Township Board of Supervisors meeting on March 3 to share their sketch plan, which shows three possible lots that a future buyer could use as distribution facilities.
Supervisors and township staff shared their concerns, ranging from warehouse development in a rural and agricultural area to increased truck traffic and road congestion at nearby intersections or around the railroad tracks.
The plot is about 104 acres and would be split into three lots of 13.97, 32.4, and 43.23 acres. The land is zoned industrial.
“I really just don’t think there’s a big appetite for warehousing, specifically in this area,” supervisor Thomas Houtz said. “If that was manufacturing or retail, great, but I’m not a fan of warehousing in that area.”
The presenters said they don’t currently have tenants for the lots, but they’re looking to make it attractive to manufacturing by including space for loading docks and trailer parking and being right by the train tracks.
Zoning officer Donald Gettle voiced concerns about traffic safety with horse and buggy travel and a nearby intersection.
“With your Ramona Road and your King Street, all year long, those roads are used by the Amish horse and buggies. Also, in the spring and fall, those roads are used very heavily by the agricultural district,” Gettle said. “We need to bring our nature of our people that are going through there, the consideration of the Amish and our farmers because both of those are going to slow the traffic down tremendously — plus safety hazards.”
Road foreman Tim Hibshman added that the section of Ramona Road “isn’t built for the volume of heavy truck traffic.”
Houtz also said he has heard concerns from the nearby Jackson Elementary School, which sits just east of lot one. He said the superintendent has expressed worries about children’s safety — both with increased traffic in the area and a parking lot with unknown adults facing the school.
Representatives said they revised the plan for plot one to put employee parking in the rear of the building and add a fence. He told the board to expect further changes as the process moves along, depending on the plot’s end-user, market conditions, site conditions, additional feedback, and township requirements.
No members of the public attending the meeting shared any questions or concerns, but Houtz said he expects more feedback as word gets out. He expects traffic concerns and a loss of high-quality agricultural land to be at the forefront of resident concerns.
“We’re driving around old cow paths here that just got paved over, but we want to see what the traffic study looks like,” he said after the meeting. “Things will come out as the development process goes along. I think we will hear more as all this gets out. People are not happy with the warehousing that is already existing out on I-78, and quite frankly, has that situation already tapped the employment market for the warehouses?”
If the project checks all of the required boxes, then supervisors will have to allow the project to move forward.
However, Houtz said they are looking into their industrial zoning requirements. They’re learning if other developed areas in the township can count toward industrial land. He said the research is not just because of these proposed warehouses.
“We’ve asked a lot of legal questions,” he said. “There’s some dispute as to whether or not we need to have this much land zoned industrial. We are still having those discussions legally to find out what we can do.”
The developers said this is a very preliminary plan. It is meant to show ideas for what they could move forward with, and it’s still subject to change as they gather additional information about the area.
“We’ll comply with all the stormwater management regulations, work with the engineer and with the conservation district, too, to provide a compliant plan,” Jose Lazo with BL Companies told the board.
Wheatland Woods update
The board also heard updates regarding the Wheatland Woods project. At the last meeting, the board directed engineer Stephen Sherk to figure out how it could be phased, with the township covering the costs of the first phase and then resubmitting a Greenways, Trails, and Recreation Program grant application for the second.
The township has been rejected for this grant twice, but Houtz said chances could be better if they start taking action.
Read More: Jackson Township moves forward on paving walking paths in public parks
“I lean on what [Sherk] says because he writes so many of these things, but he thinks that our chances will increase simply because it’ll be a lower grant amount that we would be requesting,” he said. “It would also show that we put some meat in the game.”
Phase one would include clearing the land, a basin retrofit, a walking trail, and the redoing of the parking lot and entrance. Phase two would include a basketball court and ADA access to it, landscaping around the site, and anything else the township decides to include.
Houtz said the township will be able to pay for the remainder of the project even if they don’t receive the grant. It currently has around $200,000 set aside for its entirety.
The engineering team will put together a cost estimate for phase one. The grant application for the second phase is due May 31.
In other business, supervisors unanimously voted to pass Ordinance 2-2025: Amend Zoning Map — 501 W. Washington Ave., which will rezone about 2.83 acres from low-density residential to commercial.
The 11.8-acre property was previously split into low-density residential and commercial zones, and this change is just to ensure the property is consistently zoned so the owners can move forward with their “commercial interests.” There aren’t any specific plans at this time.
Jackson Township supervisors will meet next at 60 N. Ramona Road on March 17 at 7:30 p.m.
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