Bethel Twp. zoning board rejects farmer’s request for a lumber business variance

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A Bethel Township farmer was denied a variance for the operation of a lumber distribution business on his property by an unanimous vote of the township zoning hearing board on May 22.

Dale Weiler, of the 300 block of Union Road, had applied for the variance after a complaint was filed with the township’s zoning officer Jackie Hollenbach. The boardroom was packed with many of Weiler’s neighbors, most of whom opposed the already-established lumber business due to heavy volumes of traffic coming to his property and local road safety.

“We had received a complaint mainly about the trucks coming out and the sounds and the turning movements of the trucks, at which point it had been brought to our attention that there was the sale of lumber,” Hollenbach said. “And while I normally wouldn’t consider that need for a variance, they’re also bringing lumber in. So it’s also like a lumber distribution of other materials, not just stuff that they’re chopping down and selling on their farm lot. So the need was either that it had to cease or they had to seek a variance for the use that they’re intending to do there.”

That means Weiler is receiving, selling, and distributing lumber beyond what he is cutting on the property, which is a violation of the township ordinance. 

LebTown asked for the portion of the ordinance in question to be read into the record.

Zoning hearing board member Richard Rabuck read that permitted uses on agricultural land are “tree farming, pasturing, truck gardening, horticulture, nursery, vineyards, aviaries, non-commercial greenhouses, commercial greenhouses, hatcheries.”

Other uses include parks, recreation-zoned areas, camps, churches, cemeteries, solar energy devices, and roadside stands for the sale of homegrown and homemade products.

Hollenbach said she wanted to be fully transparent and informed the audience that the township’s zoning ordinances are being revised and include a proposal to encourage various agricultural uses within the predominantly zoned agricultural municipality. When a vote on the proposal may happen is unknown at this time.

Weiler told the zoning board members it was his desire to sell lumber there when asked why he was seeking the variance. He noted several times throughout the hearing that another desire is to earn enough income to keep the land in agriculture, adding he doesn’t want to see the farm be developed.

“We are not planning, I’m not meaning to go against the township on this at all. I guess my theory was that we’re not going to change. We’re talking about a change of variance there. I don’t know what that all requires, but I want to leave the farm as agriculture,” Weiler said. “We want to pass that on to our children eventually, turn that over and be able to continue just farming there. We would move the lumber maybe somewhere else once they would take over.”

Weiler said his children would take control of the farm in two to three years, and he and his wife would build elsewhere. He noted numerous times that he wants to be a good neighbor and is willing to accommodate his neighbors’ concerns. 

He testified when asked by Hollenbach that there are about six feed trucks delivering to his 14-year-old poultry operation for every lumber truck that comes to his property. He did note, however, that the lumber inventory for his one-year-old lumber business picked up significantly since the start of 2025.

Weiler increased his inventory quicker than expected and started using a second building for storage after the Trump administration announced plans to increase tariffs on foreign lumber, which it did, according to published reports, on March 6.

Some residents said Union and Beagle roads are dangerous, including the intersection, while others noted the volume of vehicles coming to and leaving his farm.

Local resident Pete Teasdale aired several concerns.

“We’re talking about a business here that’s not just delivering one truck a week and things of that nature. When it’s being advertised as Lebanon County’s cheap lumber. And they’re advertising for anybody in the county to come there. So that could be a daily 20, 30, 40 cars driving down a lane and dust and constant – you know what I mean?” Teasdale said. (The Weiler’s website states their products are “the most affordable lumber around.”)

“My concern is, you know, when you’re talking about a lumber yard, is this just a storage facility or is this going to become a sawmill?” Teasdale asked. “I mean, what are we going to do here? This can, you know, turn into a greater thing, you know, because who is going to limit how much lumber?”

Teasdale also enquired if noise and traffic studies are being conducted. “Who’s doing all that? That’s my concern because it’s being advertised right now as a business. It has a website,” he added.

Teasdale said theirs is a quiet neighborhood, and there is a one-way, dead-end street that trucks go down and over a bridge, which may not be equipped to handle the weight of the vehicles crossing it. He said he’s seen trucks back up onto Union Road, where there’s a hump, which is dangerous for vehicles approaching from another direction. 

Hollenbach asked Teasdale if he is complaining about chicken or lumber trucks, since the zoning hearing board can’t impede Weiler’s existing poultry operation. Teasdale said he’s seen lumber trucks using the local roads, and later noted he does not want a lumber business near his property.

Weiler said truck drivers coming to his property have been told not to use that bridge, and he offered to pay for warning signs to inform drivers to avoid the bridge. Teasdale responded there’s nothing to keep them from using the bridge anyway.

Weiler clarified and Teasdale agreed that the lumber operation isn’t near Teasdale’s property. Teasdale offered to purchase 10 acres from Weiler to create a buffer zone between Weiler’s farm and his neighbors. Weiler did not respond to the offer. 

Hollenbach stated that the board could, within reason, apply conditions that may help offset concerns if board members were to grant the variance. It was asked if there was any other access road to Weiler’s farm, but Hollenbach said none were found to exist.

Ken Snyder, who said he was speaking on behalf of his mother Betty Snyder whose house is at the end of the Weiler’s farm lane, said he has a problem with all the traffic going to his farm.

Snyder, who lives in Avon, said he installed a camera that captured between 26 and 78 vehicles on some days earlier in the week. He didn’t say where the camera was located.

“Thirty-six cars went in and out of that place today,” Snyder said. “I mean no disrespect to Dale or his wife or anything, however, you know we do like to have, I mean, mom has a pool out there and stuff. We like to enjoy that during the summer. Now when there’s traffic coming in and out of there, you know, I’m sorry. You know, that’s, to me, unacceptable. But that’s just my opinion and I’m speaking for my mother, so you know.” 

Weiler offered to lay macadam on his lane near her property to reduce the dust getting into her pool. Neither Snyder nor his mother responded. 

Betty Snyder later said she is unable to enjoy her property given the volume of vehicles coming in and out of Weiler’s property.

“I can’t even be out in my yard in the summertime. I like to plant flowers and (use) my pool. All this dust that comes up and the kids are running around in the yard, Who knows what can happen if the kids run out? You never know,” she said. “But then as you come out the driveway, these pickup trucks have gigantic trailers. They’re trying to make the turn left to go back onto Union and right to go on Union and people are coming over that knobby hill and it’s just a concern. There’s going to be a really bad accident there someday.”

Rabuck asked Hollenbach to clarify for the board the various permitted agricultural uses and the impact from traffic visiting the Weiler farm under those circumstances.

“If Dale was going to offer for sale flowers that he grew or chickens, eggs, even if it was lumber that he grew on his property, cut down himself – would his current setup allow for that, and could you see that same amount of traffic minus the trucks delivering?” he asked.

Hollenbach said it was “kind of a yes,” adding that she didn’t know if there would be the same volume of trucks without lumber being delivered. “The amount of traffic probably would be reduced if it was just lumber from his lot,” she said. 

Hollenbach answered affirmatively when asked by Rabuck if a greenhouse would have the same volume of traffic as a lumber distribution center. 

“Yeah, I’d say a greenhouse could have as far as the regular vehicular traffic probably about the same thing. I mean, we have greenhouses in our area and we probably get, you know, 40 to 50 people a day visiting them,” Hollenbach said.

Weiler responded to several questions from board solicitor Michael J. Gombar Jr. about his operations. Weiler repeated that he wants to be a good neighbor and is willing to address all concerns to satisfy his neighbors. 

He added, however, that he can’t be profitable just selling poultry.

“With our poultry, it’s just not enough. There’s times when we’re extremely busy and I don’t know how many poultry farmers are here that would understand this, but there’s times when we’re busy, where we need the help, and there’s times when we just don’t have, and work for everybody to keep them there,” he said. “And that’s kind of why we’re doing this. We’re looking to eventually, we would like to eventually move it off, and I want to have happy neighbors. Life is too short to make people upset and I am not about that at all.”

Stan Czajkowski, of Beagle Road, said he’s opposed to the volume of lumber trucks and other vehicles coming to the farm to purchase products. He offered to broker a deal between Weiler and a neighboring farmer to put a roadway through the adjoining property.

Weiler refused the offer, saying he doesn’t want to ask his neighbor to give up his farmland for a new road through his property. Weiler noted he prefers to keep farmland as farmland. 

Additional testimony was provided by several other neighbors, all of whom opposed the traffic for the lumber business and the safety of motorists using Union and Beagle roads. The hearing ran for over an hour.

Rabuck made a motion, seconded by zoning board chairman Gary Lentz, to deny the variance request.

“Obviously I’m torn because I can understand and appreciate the intent to do this – the intent to preserve the farm for the family, and I think that’s an important and commendable activity, but I think there’s a lot of other opportunities within the ordinance without a variance,” Rabuck said. He encouraged Weiler to “look at an alternative use for additional income that is already set out within the ordinance.”

“I concur with Richard,” Lentz said. “I am also a farmer. I feel for you. I think it was a good idea, but there’s a location and a place for everything and probably this is not the location for this business. So for that reason, I would vote to deny it.” 

Wesley Harding Jr., of Union Road, made no comment during the meeting concerning his vote. LebTown asked him after the meeting if he should have abstained from voting since he lives along the same roadway. Harding, whose residence is more than a mile from the Weiler farm, said he didn’t believe there was a conflict of interest.

After the vote, Weiler was informed he had to cease and desist operating the lumber business and that he would have an opportunity to appeal the decision. Hollenbach enquired about his inventory, and the board amended the decision to give Weiler 60 days to liquidate his existing stock.

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