Plans move forward for cold storage, tray pack poultry facilities in Fredericksburg

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Bethel Township Planning Commission on Tuesday, Sept. 16, approved a preliminary/final land development plan from Bell & Evans for a cold storage and packing facilities at 241 Blue Mountain Road.

As part of the plan submission, Alex Kinzey, an engineer with Steckbeck Engineering and Surveying Inc., was asked by township engineer Matthew Mack to provide a project overview for the 454,700-square-foot cold storage facility and 208,000-square-foot tray packing building on 64 acres. 

Potential traffic on Blue Mountain Road has been a township concern, but Kinzey reiterated that traffic flow will be contained between its existing Plant 3 to the west and the new facilities to the east, meaning the driveway entrance located at Blue Mountain Road will only be used in case of an emergency.

“We plan on taking all traffic in and out of our existing entrances at the Plant 3 property. There will be no (vehicle) entrance over there, which is for emergency purposes and will be gated off so we do not plan on sending any traffic out to the east whatsoever,” Kinzey said. “It’s going to use the same rules as we have now. So we hope that simplifies things for everyone.”

Kinzey added that the eastern end of an existing employee parking lot at Plant 3 will be utilized for traffic flow between the existing plant, which is also where company headquarters are located, and the new facilities.

Read More: Bell & Evans gets green light for Bethel Twp. processing and packaging facility

“The intent is to come off of the small parking lot existing here already. We’re gonna come off of there with a new access drive for team members. We’re gonna continue to keep the two (roads) to the team and truck traffic separate. So this (area) will become the team member access drive which takes you to the parking lot for the proposed cold storage warehouse,” Kinzey said. “And then that would continue on through to the proposed tray pack facility to the east.”

Kinzey explained truck traffic flow between the existing and future sites.

“For trucks, there is going to be an access drive between Plant 3 and (future) Plant 4, so we’re going to simply extend off the end of that there, and rearrange the stormwater we had proposed. … We’re doing that with this plan. We had a good meeting with DEP before we started this whole design to make sure they’re on board with all that as we try to keep the permitting relatively simple,” added Kinzey, who previously said the company already has plans approved for future Plant 4, which will be located on the south side of Plant 3.

Kinzey noted a portion of the traffic flow plan is interesting.

“We’re gonna cross over our truck’s driveway, it’s gonna cross over the Plant 4 team member driveway. So we actually are going to drop the elevation of the team member access drive to Plant 4, and we’re building up and going over with a bridge to go over so the two can operate completely independently and keep the safety factor in there that we want,” he said. “So the trucks would simply drive across and we have full maneuvering to all the docks.”

Mike Bracrella, chief operating officer of Bell & Evans, told commissioners that a traffic study will reveal that off-site vehicles will be reduced once the cold storage facility is open for business.

“You’ll see in the traffic study, there will be a lot of reductions in truck traffic between Plant 3 and Plant 2 and vice versa. And a lot less trucks from the cold storage and elsewhere coming in and going out,” he said.

That’s because current operations are moving products between existing facilities that are at different locations. The proposed cold storage/tray pack facilities are adjacent to existing Plant 3 and future Plant 4. 

“We’re using a fair amount of offsite freezer. I think it’s six or seven loads a day that we’re shoveling the offsite freezer (at Plant 2). So I think about 25 percent of this building will be an automated ASRS crane freezer system. I don’t remember how many pallet positions it is, but the bulk of it is refrigerated storage,” Bracrella said. “So right now between Plant 3 and Plant 2, we’re doing all of our cross-docking functions in Plant 2 right now. So everything will get consolidated under one roof.”

Bracrella said it is the intention of company officials to “break ground on that warehouse (cold storage facility) the minute we’re through the permitting process,” which he said should be next spring and the tray packing facility being constructed three to four years down the road.  

After Kinzey noted that there is no proposal for any additional improvements to Blue Mountain Road, township supervisor and planning commissioner Bruce Light asked about traffic, especially from future employees. 

“The warehouse is really a consolidation of a lot of other operations. … About 15 (employees) is the adder. We’re bringing a lot of team members from the Plant 3 operations and the Plant 2 operations will move there. It’s very automated,” Bracrella said. “But the tray pack facility, when that’ll be, you know, we’re almost at 800 (employees) now at Plant 2, so that’s where that got in 10 years, and so this will be very similar to that.”

During a question-and-answer session, Kinzey said that half of the proposed cold storage facility would be built beginning this March with the other half not being constructed for at least the next 10 years.

Kinzey also gave an overview of the stormwater management design since there are existing wetlands on the 241 Blue Mountain Road property. 

He noted construction will remain at least 50 feet away from them and that the current land development plans are in compliance with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection rules to ensure that there’s not excessive runoff into them, meaning the company plans to erect stormwater basins and take other steps to meet the state agency’s regulations. 

Concerning setbacks, Kinzey said plans call for 150-foot setbacks, which he said are three times the township’s required setbacks of 50 feet. He also noted that while efforts will be made to minimize seeing the new plants from the highway, he added that they still will be somewhat visible. 

Following the presentation, the board decided to table six waiver/modification requests concerning this project but did unanimously and formally vote to accept the plan’s submission, which was received by township officials on Aug. 20. 

Other board actions

In other business, the planning commission unanimously voted to: 

• Accept Seth and Janet Oberholtzer’s minor subdivision plan.
• Grant a time extension to Jan. 18 for the Michelle Grumbine agricultural operation. 
• Provide a time extension for Jeff Brubaker’s minor subdivision and land development plan until Dec. 12.
• Approve a time extension request to Nov. 21 for the Lebanon 22 Solar projects. 
• Recommend a time extension request to Oct. 10 for the final minor subdivision plan for the County of Lebanon Tower site. 
• Accept a time extension request until Dec. 30 for a preliminary/final subdivision and land development plan for Dew-Mist Farms. In a related matter, they tabled seven waiver/modification requests for this project until the updated plan is submitted.
• Send to the supervisors a time extension request for Nov. 14 for the preliminary/final land development plan/sewage planning extension for the planned transportation center for Bell & Evans on Fredericksburg Road. 

Concerning a non-voting matter, commission members presented chairman Bev Martel with a card thanking and recognizing her for 20 years of service.

The position will have to be filled by township supervisors, whose Sept. 11 meeting was postponed until Sept. 18 due to scheduling conflicts. It’s unclear if a new chairman will be announced at that meeting although acceptance of her resignation is an agenda item listed under new business.

The Bethel Township Planning Commission meets the third Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Bethel Township municipal building, 3015 S. Pine Grove St., Fredericksburg.