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Residents of the Landreth Manor neighborhood in Bristol Borough and Bristol Township celebrated after a two-hour-long Bristol Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting Monday evening.
The zoners shot down a business owner’s request for variances for minimum distance from a residential district, setbacks from resource-protected land, and required off-street loading facilities for a proposed 10,000-square-foot warehouse on a 1.59-acre lot along North Wilson Avenue near the township’s border with the borough.
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The plan was to build the warehouse, which would not have a loading dock, and keep the existing stormwater basin.
Presently, the site is a grass lot with the existing basin.
Joseph Tepper, owner of M.E.R. Industrial Contractors, said the building he hoped to construct would mostly be used by his company to store parts and some equipment. On occasion, there would be some projects completed inside the structure.
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“They should not see, hear, or smell anything,” Tepper said of those on the outside. He added that the hours would be not be during nights or weekends.
M.E.R. Industrial Contractors has 10 employees – six in long-term contacts off site and four working on day-to-day contracts. Each employee gets a company truck and often go to jobs from home without stopping at the office.
Bryce McGuigan, the attorney representing M.E.R. Industrial Contractors, acknowledged the property has a “unique layout and orientation,” but the developer was willing to add more plantings as a buffer for homes that back up to the property.
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The was a previous plan to develop the site in the 1990s, but it never moved forward.
Residents raised concerns about potential flooding, truck traffic, crime, noise, and other disturbances.
However, McGuigan told residents the warehouse would have little impact on the surrounding areas.
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Heath Dumack, owner of Dumack Engineering, testified on behalf of M.E.R. Industrial Contractors that he felt the plan wouldn’t be detrimental to the surrounding area.
Testifying to the zoners, Dumack said the site could handle a bigger building, but 10,000 square feet was determined to be all that is needed. He also noted several of the variances were requested because of how the site is set up and how ordinances have changed in the years since it was established.
Nearby resident Linda Andrews said people have lived in the homes that back up to the property for years and she didn’t feel bad if M.E.R. Industrial Contractors wasn’t able to develop the site.
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If M.E.R. Industrial Contractors couldn’t follow the codes on the books with the plan and needed variances, then they shouldn’t have looked to developed the lot, resident Robert Tressler said.
Resident John Mundy asked the zoners not to support the plan.
Fred Ramirez, president and CEO of PanAmerican Health Clinics, which is located next door, opposed the variances and shared concerns a new facility could impact the nature of area, which is largely industrial and wooded along North Wilson Avenue.
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“I would hate to see the area deteriorate,” he said.
The site where the building was proposed is zoned industrial and was once part of the famed D. Landreth Seed Company facility.
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It was not clear if the property owner plans to appeal the zoning hearing board decision.
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