By Sarit laschinsky

Special to The Press

During the Jan. 11 Weisenberg supervisors’ virtual meeting, one of the main topics of discussion was a preliminary approval and waiver request for a seventh building in the West Hills Business Center.

Chris Fencel with Hillwood Investment Properties and Chris Dellinger with Herbert, Rowland and Grubic Engineering said the building, along Golden Key and Seipstown roads, would be a 105,000-square-foot distribution facility with truck and car parking, as well as stormwater management facilities.

The building would tap into existing utilities - including septic system and water mains - which serve West Hills Court.

Fencel said a traffic study had been completed, and a Highway Occupancy Permit had been approved.

Additionally, Dellinger said as part of the project, a farmer’s pond at the bottom of the hill would be removed and replaced with a stream and new riparian forest buffer.

He said the Department of Environmental Protection recommended the removal as farm ponds are not great for the environment or water resources.

Dellinger added the DEP would work with the developer to restore a natural stream channel.

Furthermore, he said the project would propose some widening to West Hills Court and the intersection at Kistler Court to accommodate truck traffic.

Fencel said the applicant was requesting two waivers, the first from plan scaling requirements.

The other is for a driveway connection, as the building would not directly connect to its frontage streets, but instead has direct access to the cul-de-sac at North Kistler Court courtesy of a utility easement granted by surrounding properties.

He said the request for approval was for a preliminary land development plan and the applicant would need to come back with a final plan in the future.

In addition, he noted, Barry Isett and Associates had submitted a letter listing mostly minor “cleanup” items which would need to be dealt with.

Township engineer Stan Wojciechowski said one of his major concerns had been the pond removal due to the possibility for downstream flooding, but in the most recent submission, the applicant had included studies showing there would be no such issue.

The board voted to approve both waivers, and granted preliminary plan approval conditional on approval of Barry Isett and Associates’ comments.

In other business, the township approved a one-year renewal on a license to operate a junkyard for Peters Automotive at 3080 Golden Key Road, as well as a resolution to pay the recurring monthly bills for the township’s vendors throughout 2021.

Township Administrator Brian Carl made note of the dates for the township’s electronics recycling events, which are scheduled for April 10 and Oct. 2 at the Weisenberg Volunteer Fire Department from 9 a.m.-noon or until the trucks are full.

During the public comment section supervisors welcomed Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, who said he was virtually attending municipal meetings throughout the county.

He spoke quickly about the county CARES Act funds which were distributed to Weisenberg’s first responders.

“We’re working through this virus, and hopefully we’ll get out of this as soon as possible,” Armstrong said.

Carl and the supervisors thanked him for the aid to the township and fire department.

In the fire report, Fire Chief Matt Krapf reported the department had responded to three calls so far in January and had 21 calls for service last month.

The year-end total for 2020 was 202 calls.

Krapf also said that Tanker 5121 continues to have transmission issues but is in service and operational with repairs covered under warranty.

He also said the 5121 New Truck Committee is going through the change order process and awaiting clarification on several items.

In addition, the department is applying for federal and state grants, which will be used to offset some of the costs for fitting out the new 5121 tanker pumper.

Furthermore, Krapf reported December 2020 was a busy one for the station with a total of six building fires, as well as a seventh in January.

He commended the crew for doing a good job and coming home safely.

He also thanked Armstrong for the COVID-19 grant funding, noting that the funds had been used to order new turnout gear for front-line firefighters, and also to restock and purchase COVID-related supplies.

Finally, Krapf reported the fire department has a new vice president - Justin Oswald.

For the Environmental Advisory Committee report, chairman Martin Rakaczewski said the EAC had helped erect signage near one of the township’s farms.

He thanked Carl and road crew members for their hard work.

Rakaczewski said the landowners were supportive of the EAC’s mission and had reported prior speeding issues but he said since the signs were put up local residents have seen traffic slow down in the area.

In the Roadmaster’s report, Anthony Werley said Valley Road has reopened after the completion of the culvert replacement project.

In his engineer report, Wojciechowski said he was working with Carl to address more efficient processing of erosion and sedimentation permits, and had also identified areas where the submission requirements for SALDO revisions could be modified to also increase efficiency and reduce the number of waiver requests.

He could have his recommendations and additional information submitted to the board for their February meeting, as well as to the township planning commission for review.

In the treasurer’s report, real estate Tax Collector Jeff Strauss provided supervisors with list of unpaid real estate taxes for last year, and said the number was “the lowest it’s ever been” with only 31 unpaid properties.

Supervisors then approved a motion to have the list of unpaid tax properties turned over to Portnoff Law Associates.

Lastly, in the secretary/administrator’s report Carl said the township had successfully preserved another farm along Ross Valley Road at the end of 2020, which brings the total acreage of preserved land in Weisenberg to 4379.01 acres.

The next supervisors’ meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 8.