Bethel Twp. delays required sidewalk until Esther’s property is re-developed

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Bethel Township Planning Commission members unanimously voted on Tuesday to defer a portion of a required sidewalk along Route 22 near Esther’s Restaurant until a later date.

Alex Kinsey, engineer with Steckbeck Engineering & Surveying Inc., requested on behalf of Bell & Evans to defer construction of a sidewalk in front of Esther’s Restaurant – a property owned by the poultry producer – along Route 22 until that site is developed.

Bethel Township engineer Matthew Mack said the company previously agreed to construct a walking path along Route 22 from the area of Legionaire Drive to Esther’s Restaurant, but is now seeking to delay the area in front of the eating establishment.  

“Remember they have frontage on Blue Mountain Road and 22. They’re doing the sidewalk pathway along 22. But we’re going to defer the pathway sidewalk along Blue Mountain (Road) until Esther’s is developed,” said Mack.

Commission chair Bev Martell agreed with Mack’s comment, adding “until the company decides how they want to develop the lot where Esther’s Restaurant currently sits.” 

The Esther’s lot is adjacent to the company’s Plant 2. After the meeting, township officials told LebTown that while they do not currently know what the company plans to do with the land on which Esther’s Restaurant sits, they have been told that Bell & Evans is planning to relocate the eatery to another location.

“Eventually, they’re gonna redevelop that into something they never told us what, but when that is developed the walkway that they’re putting in in front of Plant 2 would be extended along Esther’s and then turned up north on Blue Mountain Road,” said Mack after the meeting, adding that development of that location will require a separate land development plan. “And then there’s a piece of Plant 2 that’s owned north of Esther’s. They would continue that (sidewalk) up to the edge of that. But the plan is not to get rid of Esther’s, but to relocate it.”

Kinzey reminded commissioners that the company will not construct a sidewalk, as normally required by township ordinance, at the company’s planned transportation center. At a prior planning commission meeting and then at the June township supervisors meeting, both boards voted to waive that requirement in lieu of a fee to construct a sidewalk elsewhere in the municipality.

“So just to reiterate that clearly, there’s just not going to be any sidewalk in the transportation center. At all, either side (of the highway),” Kinzey said. “That’s what we agreed upon last time and that’s what the board agreed to as well.” 

In a separate item, the planning commission agreed to Bell & Evans installing lights along the path at their plant along Chestnut Hill Road instead of along Route 22, which is already well lit.

“It’s only on the warehouse frontage with those lights going on, just so we’re clear. We wouldn’t be proposing any new lights along the (Route 22) pathway.” Kinzey said.  “That was derived from us going out after the meeting last time and just driving through. You can immediately notice. You’re like, everything’s nice and bright down by the intersection, and then you go to the warehouse and it’s dark.”

When asked, Kinzey said the lights will be on 20-foot poles and that the cost is $1,500 per fixture to purchase and install them.

On an unrelated item for Bell & Evans, it was stated that planned traffic improvement design plans for the Chestnut Hill and Blue Mountain road intersections are still pending.

Concerning Paul Nolt’s agricultural operation, which includes the proposed construction of a new chicken house, it was noted that the engineer’s review letter had been sent to Nolt and that most of the comments are pretty minor. Nolt is seeking to finalize the preliminary/final land development plan for his proposed chicken house.

Conditional plan approval was given based on several stipulations.

“Conditional approval as long as everything on the (review) letter is met and escrow is in place,” Martel said. “This is conditioned upon the June 16, 2025, Mack Engineering review and that all (improvements) and the escrow is in place prior to having the conservation district pre-construction meeting.”

Planning commission members unanimously voted to approve the request. 

In other business, the commission voted unanimously to:

• Provide a time extension request to Sept. 30 for the Dew-Mist Farm’s preliminary/final subdivision and land development plan.
• Grant a time extension until Sept. 12 for the final minor subdivision plan for the County of Lebanon’s Communication Tower to be sited at Mill and Fredericksburg roads on land being subdivided and provided by Bell & Evans to county government.

The next meeting of the Bethel Township Planning Commission will be on July 22 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 3015 S. Pine Grove St., Fredericksburg.