Communities Dealing with Changes: Warehouse and Industrial Development in the Lehigh Valley

Most PA planners are well aware of the warehousing boom in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern PA. Data collected by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) via their land development, subdivision, and stormwater plan reviews highlights that warehouse growth is showing no signs of stopping in the two-county region (Lehigh and Northampton counties). And with the continuing effects of the Pandemic on the online and on-demand economy, developers continue to look for and identify opportunities across the region.

Since 2015, over 26.7 million square feet of new warehouse space has been approved by local governments in the region. According to the LVPC, the Lehigh Valley is on track to see a nearly 50% increase in total warehouse square footage with the region being located within a single truck driver shift serving over 100 million potential customers (Source: https://lvpc.org/lvpc-lvts-activities.html).

The pace at which warehouse development is taking place has and will continue to affect the Lehigh Valley’s traffic volumes, number of employees, transit needs, emergency management services demand, and tax revenues. Communities in the Lehigh Valley are working closely with LVPC to understand these effects on their municipalities and how to manage the changes they are seeing from the large increase in warehouse development.

Explore these building trends in more detail on the LVPC’s BuildLV page that tracks all current land development and subdivision plans in the two-county region.