Jaindl Development: Lower Mac Residents File Supreme Court Appeal

"The Appellants," -- as they have come to be known -- the Lower Macungie Township residents who will be directly affected by the original Spring Creek development plan, and whose names are on the lawsuit against the Lower Macungie Township Commissioners, have taken their legal action to the next level.

Donald Miles, the group's attorney, filed an appeal Monday with the state Supreme Court even after David Jaindl came up with a "Plan B" last week.

The appellants' move could take Jaindl's revised plan -- which would have assured less development -- off the table since a condition of the plan was that the appellants would not pursue legal action.

Some are not convinced Jaindl's revised plan is better, however.

"While Jaindl’s new proposal somewhat reduces his plans for commercial and residential development, it actually increases his plan for development of industrial warehouses," Miles said in a release.

"Residents opposing the rezoning believe the intense truck traffic on rural roads that would be generated by millions of square feet of industrial uses is the most-detrimental part of Jaindl’s plans," he said.

The appellants include Gerald and Karen Kronk, Peter H. Kells, Ronald and Constance Moyer and Joseph and Kimberly Castagna.

The citizens' group Friends for the Protection of Lower Macungie Township, which have been supporters of the appellants, has put some distance between the two.

"Whatever financial support the appellants receive is their business which includes Friends," is the official comment on the Friends' financial suppport of the appellants, as indicated in an email from Friends' member Jane Fretz.

“The appellants have decided to move forward with the Supreme Court appeal independently of the ‘Friends for the Protection of LMT’ organization," it said.

"We [the Friends group] continue to support overturning the 2010 industrial, commercial and high density residential zoning and Memorandum of Understanding the township commissioners forged with developer David Jaindl, without sufficient public input, which are not in the best interest of Lower Macungie Township," it said.

The appellants as yet have not asked the Friends for financial support for the Supreme Court Appeal, Fretz said.

The state Supreme Court receives many requests for cases to be heard, Miles is confident this case will be heard.

"The Supreme Court agrees to hear only a fraction of the appeals they receive but they often agree to hear cases with issues "of first impression," that is, on which the Supreme Court has never ruled," he said in an email.

"The Supreme Court has never ruled on this issue, so we are confident they will hear the appeal. They generally take at least three months to decide whether to hear an appeal," Miles said.