PepsiCo and Dairy Farmers of America ask Lower Allen to vacate 480-foot segment of Gettysburg Road

Ryan Conley, a PepsiCo representative for the North American Coffee Partnership, and Richard Buzalka, plant director at Dairy Farmers of America, presented a petition on Sept. 22 asking the Lower Allen Township Board of Commissioners to vacate about 480 feet of Gettysburg Road adjacent to the DFA Mechanicsburg facility.

Conley said the petitioners seek the vacation to allow the owners to assume snow and maintenance responsibilities and to better manage truck traffic into loading areas behind the plant. "This year, 2025, that site is gonna be tasked or is tasked with 21,000,000 cases of product coming out of there," Conley said, describing the facility’s role in the ready-to-drink coffee supply chain.

Buzalka, who identified himself as the plant director for Dairy Farmers of America, described the Mechanicsburg operation’s production capacity and local employment. "We do about 1,500,000 bottles a day out of that plant," he said, noting the site’s long history and expansions and characterizing it as a key manufacturing partner for the North American Coffee Partnership.

Solicitor Stephen Minor told the board the vacation process is permissible under the First Class Township Code and confirmed the petition appears proper because the owning entities control properties on both sides of the roadway. He also noted the application reserves easements for stormwater infrastructure and township authority access, which must be maintained even if the road is vacated.

Commissioners asked technical questions about ownership and public access. When one member asked which entity would accept ownership of the vacated parcel, Buzalka said Dairy Farmers of America would accept it. Commissioner Malone asked whether the vacated segment would become gated; Conley said there were no immediate plans to gate the roadway but did not rule out future changes.

A commissioner also asked whether the separated section of Gettysburg Road would need renaming after vacation; Minor said renaming can be done later by petition of owners or public actors and that the township had no immediate plan to rename the remaining roadway segments.

The public comment period produced no speakers. The board closed the public hearing without taking a vote; the commissioners will later consider Ordinance 2025-O5 to complete the road vacation.

Details from the petition and presentations included the petitioners' description of a roughly 480-foot stretch of Gettysburg Road being proposed for vacation; reservation of easements for stormwater and township access; an estimate from Conley that the Mechanicsburg site will handle about 21,000,000 cases in 2025; and Buzalka’s statement of roughly 200 employees and a daily output near 1,500,000 bottles. The board recorded that the hearing had been advertised and that proof of publication would be placed in township records.

Next steps: the commissioners will review the record and determine whether to enact Ordinance 2025-O5; no formal action or vote was recorded at the hearing.