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New development planned for Racetrack Road

3 min read
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A recent zoning change to a 153-acre undeveloped commercial parcel in South Strabane Township next to Tanger Outlets is opening up new options for office space and retail development at the Racetrack Road site.

South Strabane officials agreed Tuesday to add “light manufacturing” and “business or professional offices” to C-3 districts in the township that paves the way for Ensinger Inc., a specialized plastics manufacturer in North Strabane, to relocate to the new site.

Steve Thomas, the principal chief executive officer for Chapman Properties that owns the 153 acres of land, is hopeful the relocation of Ensinger will allow the rest of the property to be developed within the next decade. Ensinger officials said in January they want to spend $30-$40 million to build a 250,000-square-foot building and expand its workforce.

“It will be an anchor to the site,” Thomas said of Ensinger’s proposed North American headquarters.

That development would propel Chapman to spend $10 million in infrastructure improvements to build new roads, connect utilities and perform site work. That would allow for office and retail developments in the future, Thomas said, although the scope and exact specifications of the work are still being discussed.

The office space would likely be built in the back side of the parcel while retail shops are planned for the frontage area along Racetrack Road.

He added the developer has “prospective clients” representatives have spoken to who might be interested in moving to the site, but he declined to name them.

“It’s premature to talk about specific developments, but the Ensinger development will launch us into facilitating the master plan,” Thomas said.

Even with the zoning updates, the Ensinger site plan has not been submitted yet and the company must still go through the approval process with the township. South Strabane Township Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Jack Keisling raised concerns about the amount of traffic that would come from the site with the Ensinger headquarters and future development.

However, Thomas and the developer’s Pittsburgh-based attorney, Dusty Kirk, noted that there is already a similar amount of traffic coming from Ensinger’s current headquarters at the Meadowlands Industrial Park across Racetrack Road in North Strabane Township. Thomas said the zoning changes are needed to finally develop a site that Chapman has owned since 1982 before acquiring more acreage there in 2006.

“It allows uses that, otherwise wouldn’t be allowed. We would’ve been hamstrung with the way the site was zoned and would have asked for conditional uses. This is a very important step for us.”

The zoning change passed 3 to 1 Tuesday night with supervisors Laynee Zipko, Ed Mazur and Dan Piatt voting in favor of the motion and Keisling voting against it.

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