I agree with many residents here in Eastern Lebanon County when I say that we take pride in our simple country life. Yet, politicians who have been elected to protect the interests of constituents are pushing projects that would jeopardize what we hold dear.
At the Jackson Township meeting back in March 2025, developers shared their plan for a 140-acre warehouse project on 50 South Ramona Road. At this meeting, township supervisors and staff voiced significant concerns, echoing the thoughts of many residents.
The reasons to oppose the warehouse project were clear: the historical significance of the Union Canal and the Tulpehocken stream; the environmental and scenic impact construction would permanently have on the landscape; disruption of the natural ecosystem; loss of prime farmland; proximity to Jackson Elementary School; preservation of our community character and quality of life; and much more.
Warehouses bring increased traffic, noise, pollution, and industrial congestion, all of which will impact the rural character of Jackson Township. The benefits of this project do not outweigh the risks.
In July 2025, I received a call from Gary Deck of Deck Airport asking for help to get signatures for a petition to stop the warehouse project. He explained that he had been contacted by Dan Bost, the District Director for Senator Chris Gebhard’s office, who wanted to coordinate a meeting with representatives from Leeds Equities Group, the New York-based warehouse developer.
At this meeting, the developers shared a proposal for Deck’s property, which interferes with the current flight path from the runway at Deck Airport. It was then that I realized that another safety hazard would be the flight path. Several years ago, a plane crashed shortly after taking off, and it was in the area where the proposed warehouses would be.
Shortly after, I asked Senator Chris Gebhard if he was aware of the warehouse proposal in Jackson Township. He said that he was not. I then told him that it seems his staff brought the developer in to talk to Deck Airport, to which he then said that his office does get contacted to set up meetings with constituents.
Later that day, several concerned citizens, including myself, spoke in opposition to the warehouse project at the Jackson Township meeting. The Township Supervisors denied an appeal from Leeds Equities Group regarding their proposal. The developer then filed an appeal with the Court of Common Pleas to challenge the adoption of a previous, related ordinance and various procedural aspects of the decision.
It is concerning that this out-of-state company does not care that the residents of Jackson Township don’t want more warehouses in our community.
More concerning is knowing that our State Senate office would set up meetings with constituents on behalf of out-of-state developers.
After multiple attempts to meet with Dan Bost and getting no responses, I was finally able to discuss this issue with him when I stopped by the Senate’s Lebanon office. On Friday, July 25th, 2025, I stopped by the Lebanon office around 11am and inquired as to whether Mr. Bost was there. He indeed was, and I asked if we could talk and he ushered us into a conference room. Once situated inside, I asked him why he hadn’t responded back to me. He said, “Because the Senator already told you what happened.” I replied, “The Senator at first said he didn’t know anything about it. Then he said that you all do make meetings happen. So now I’m asking you about what happened.” He said that he just brought the engineer. I said, “And that’s it?” Mr. Bost said, “That’s it, and I have nothing else to say.” I responded, “Ok, fine.” and left the office. Later that morning at 11:40 a.m., Mr. Bost began texting me, “The developer needed a meeting with the Airport. I set up the meeting with Clyde and Gary. The developer asked for additional things for us to help with, and we told them that at this point they needed to go to the supervisors and present their plan. That’s all that happened. All documented on my email.”
There’s no record of the Deck Airport meeting in the township meeting minutes, and, by all accounts, it appears the township supervisors never knew that the Senate office would be setting up such a meeting. How many other meetings have Senator Gebhard’s office arranged in our county without our local elected officials knowing?
Recently, the data center proposal in South Annville reminded me of our fight to keep the warehouse proposal out of Jackson Township. I do not know the logistics behind the data proposal, but it concerns me that Senator Gebhard has voted on two occasions in favor of data centers and against local control on how these developers come into local communities. Senator Gebhard voted in favor of HB952 shortly after he got into office in 2021 to expand tax carve outs for data centers. Recently, Gebhard voted in favor of SB939 in February 2026. This bill eliminates local control for data centers and creates a new office for Governor Shapiro to fast track, permitting all without the say from local municipalities. As a local elected official myself, I do not want to see big governments having so much power over our local communities. As a Conservative Republican, it’s egregious to me that a Republican Senator would vote to give big government more control. However, what transpired last year with the Senate office facilitating meetings with out of state warehouse developers all without the knowledge of our township supervisors has shown that our current State Senator wants to expand big government and take away our local control.
As we go to the voting booth on Tuesday, May 19th, I urge all Republicans to say yes to the candidate that is for limited government and no to Chris Gebhard’s big government advocacy.
