By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

Weisenberg Township supervisors have approved funds for the preservation of Mangold Farm, in accordance with a resolution passed in August.

At their Aug. 9 meeting, the board had agreed to set a per-acre cap of up to $200, if the appraised value of the land exceeded Lehigh County’s cap of $6,000 per acre, up to an aggregate limit of up to $10,000 per submission.

Township Administrator Brian Carl said the township was contacted by Donna Wright from the Lehigh County Farmland Preservation Office about the Mangold Farm, which he said was largely located in Lowhill Township, but had some acreage in Weisenberg.

Carl said the farm’s 26.11 acres of farmland are on the preservation list for next year, and were appraised at a cost of $6,550 per acre.

He noted that at the $200 per acre limit, the total cost would be $5,222 and, at their Oct. 11 meeting, supervisors approved a resolution to commit to that amount, which will be paid next spring.

For other land development items, supervisors approved a reduction in the letter of credit for the Gateway Ridge development in the amount of $13,995.55, along with an 18-month maintenance agreement and a waiver to not plant three trees in an area that already has existing trees.

The three trees will instead be given to the township and planted in a township park.

Furthermore, a lot line adjustment for resident Geraldine Gehringer was also approved 2-0 by Supervisors Anthony Werley and Richard Bleiler.

Chairwoman Linda Gorgas abstained from voting or making comments due to being one of the parties involved in the lot-line adjustment.

A resolution to put a 25 mph speed limit on Wertman Road, as part of the Morgan Hills subdivision project, was also approved.

In other business, Carl told the board the township had received a letter from the Radon Division of the Department of Environmental Protection, asking for a list of residents in order to send them a letter offering a free radon detection kit.

After a short discussion, supervisors agreed to put together a spreadsheet of residents to send to the DEP, noting such kits could be useful in the area.

Shawn Millan, public outreach coordinator for state Sen. Pat Browne, R-16th, who was observing the meeting, informed the board the state Senate is working on making changes to the state right-to-know laws.

Millan said legislators were “trying to prevent the commercialization of these right-to-know requests” while still maintaining government accountability and transparency.

He noted that companies or vendors were using right-to-know requests as a way to get building permits or other resident information to potentially find customers, and said that these requests were time-consuming for municipalities and had them “do the legwork” for commercial entities.

Millan said the legislature is looking to set a fee which vendors will have to pay when making a right-to-know request.

He also told the board the legislature is still seeking projects for Penn-DOT multimodal funding.

He asked Weisenberg Township to contact them if they have any potential projects.

Next, supervisors rejected a new offer of $7,000 for the township’s 1995 International dump truck, as Werley noted the price was below the truck’s reserve price of $7,500.

Carl said the truck’s sale at a higher price had been awarded last month, but that sale had fallen through.

The board agreed to wait a month then rebid the truck.

Supervisors approved a three-year paving equipment bid to Kuhns and Anthony Paving for work on several of the township’s trails, and also approved hiring a new road crew employee.

In the fire department report, Chief Matt Krapf reported there had been 17 calls in September, and 159 calls for the year to date.

He reported that body work had started for the department’s new pumper tanker, and he would be flying out to manufacturer Rosenbauer’s South Dakota facility in late October to do a mid-inspection on the vehicle, with Rosenbauer providing the trip for free.

Krapf also said the fire company’s final hoagie sale for the year will run until Oct. 26 with a delivery date of Nov. 4, and also said the fire department had discussed the possibility of trying to acquire a small amount of land behind its station from the business which owns the property.

He said the department has always maintained this land, and company members would like to see if they can reach out to the owner about possibly donating the property in question.

The next board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 8.