At a township council meeting Tuesday night, neighbors and local officials debated the "Herrs Farm" project, which calls for three large warehouses and hundreds of parking spaces on more than 100 acres along Baltimore Pike, currently home to corn fields.
"This will be the end of rural Nottingham as we know it," said Jose Reyes of West Nottingham Township.
Many residents say they are frustrated by a perceived lack of transparency surrounding the project, particularly the absence of information about what kind of business would occupy the warehouses.
"The impact to our community would just completely change it," said Rick Warner of Oxford.
Concerns raised during the meeting included increased industrial truck traffic, environmental effects, and public safety, especially for members of the local Amish community. Some residents also questioned the scale of the proposed buildings.
"I just don't think this is the right area for big warehouses like that," said Casey Bye of East Nottingham Township.
Joel Brown, the listing agent for Herr's, defended the project and the company's role in the process.
"I don't mind people having concerns about the warehouse," Brown said. "I don't understand why they think it's appropriate to tell lies about me, the Herr family, or the supervisors."
In response to residents' questions about who may occupy the proposed warehouses, Brown emphasized that no developer can lease a property until preliminary plan approval is granted.
"This plan has been going on for three years and it's nowhere near approval at this point," he said. "It's impossible for him to lease the property until he has, at the very least, preliminary approval. The people in this room have been told that by the developer numerous times."
Residents ultimately hope the plan is scrapped, but as it moves forward, they are skeptical about the process.
"It just seems like there's a lot of connections there that aren't really organic," Bye said. "I think there might be some things going on behind the scenes."
The only formal action taken at Tuesday's meeting was the township's acceptance of an extension request from the developer, Nottingham Ventures LLC. The proposal is scheduled to be reconsidered on Oct. 14.