Site plan showing the Clemens Food Group complex in Hatfield Township, with a proposed new parking lot at center, a driveway leading to Forty Foot Road at lower right, the current Lowe’s hardware store at upper right, and the company’s main meat processing plant at top. (Image by Urwiler & Walter Civil Engineers and Surveyors, courtesy of Hatfield Township)
175 new parking spaces would bring site over 2,000 total
The biggest business in Hatfield is making plans to add some extra parking.
Township officials saw a preview this month of a project by Clemens Food Group to add 175 parking spaces to its complex on Forty Foot Road.
“The new 175-car parking area, is adding on to the current 1,880 parking spaces which include cars, truck cabs and trailers, throughout the entire complex,” said engineer Scott Camburn.
Clemens Food Group, the parent company of brands including Hatfield Quality Meats, has been located on Forty Foot Road in Hatfield for more than a century, and in 2021 welcomed then-Gov. Tom Wolf to its campus to announce $2.5 million state funding for a $235 million major expansion project, that added roughly 90 new jobs to the 2,600 employees the company had in the county.
During the commissioners meeting on March 12, Camburn gave details on the company’s latest project, showing the complex located just west of Forty Foot Road, the primary employee entrance off of Clemens Road, the secondary entrance off of Forty Foot, an onsite wastewater pre-treatment plant under construction at the south side of their complex, and the new parking area.
Then-Governor Tom Wolf, at the podium, speaks outside the Clemens Food Group headquarters in Hatfield Township about how state grants contributed to the company’s “Hatfield North” expansion on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. From left to right are Clemens Food CEO Craig Edsill, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, Wolf, Clemens President Brad Clemens, state Rep. Steve Malagari, state Sen. Maria Collett, Hatfield Commissioner Deb Zimmerman, and Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steven Hunsberger.“This will add 175, which will put us slightly over 2,000 vehicle parking spaces in the total complex,” Camburn said
Commissioner Bob Rodgers asked if the added parking was needed due to more employees on the site, and the engineer said that was part of the reason.
“It’s a logistical need. Their main human resources entry for their workers is at this location — logistically, placing parking at other locations throughout the facility just does not work, to get the people into the spot they need to be in, to come in through the front door. But yes, they are expanding internally,” he said.
The company has proposed three underground detention basins below the new parking area, the engineer added, alongside an existing basin that stores water for the new wastewater pretreatment facility on the complex. Landscaping will also be added around the new parking, and four new lights are proposed, two on the perimeter and two inside the new lot.
“Employees will enter through the Forty Foot Road entrance, and this will service no tractor-trailers. It’s employee only, they can traverse through the aisles, there’s an aisle going out so they can make a loop” around the complex, he said.
The Clemens Food Group headquarters is in Hatfield Township. (Photo via Facebook: Clemens Food Group)Commissioner Gerry Andris asked how much impervious cover the new lot would add, and the engineer said the total site disturbance was about 1.9 acres, with the paved area totaling roughly 1.6 to 1.7 acres. Board President Tom Zipfel said since the project is within a self-contained area, the vetting and approvals were “pretty straightforward stuff;” township engineer Bryan McAdam added that only four waivers were requested, and “this is about as straightforward as it gets.”
“It’s all private property, we’re in receipt of the various township municipal professional review letters, they are all will-comply items,” Camburn said, and the township’s planning commission has vetted and voted ahead the plans and related waivers.
Review letters and full plans are included in the board’s meeting materials packet for March 12, and those plans will be up for full board approval when that board next meets on March 26, Zipfel said.
That meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the township administration building, 1950 School Road. For more information visit www.Hatfield.org.
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