Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners, at its Feb. 7 workshop meeting, discussed a Whitehall Mall subdivision and a sidewalk deferment along 2001 MacArthur Road.

Whitehall Mall is selling a portion of land to Raymour & Flanigan, which has a store on the property already.

At issue is a requested deferral of the required installation of 400 feet of sidewalk along the frontage.

Alex Tweedie, an engineer with Land Corp Engineering Consultants and engineer for Raymour & Flanigan, said the applicant wants to defer the sidewalk requirement until the Whitehall Mall land development plans are ready.

Tweedie also said since MacArthur Road is a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation roadway, they will need a lot of time to get permits and the proposed sidewalk up to code.

Several commissioners said they believe now is the time to put the sidewalks in, rather than later when all the nearby work is done.

Commissioners also mentioned the lack of sidewalk creates a connectivity issue.

No decision was made on the matter at the meeting, since it was a workshop meeting.

In other business, the board discussed the purchase of a 2022 Ford F350 4x4 truck for approximately $88,500.

The vehicle will be used for fire inspections, while the current vehicle in use will be used as a backup to transport firefighters as needed. The new vehicle will also hold a small amount of water that would allow the fire chief to respond to emergencies as necessary.

Another topic of discussion was the McDonald’s located at the intersection of MacArthur and Mechanicsville roads. It was said people block the intersection to the McDonald’s and vehicles can be struck trying to make a left out of the parking lot onto Mechanicsville Road.

PennDOT’s suggestion is to narrow the three lanes approaching MacArthur Road, which would make the westbound lanes wider and create a “runaround area” between both lanes of traffic.

The commissioners will meet next 7 p.m. Feb. 14 via Webex. Log-in instructions can be found on the township’s website, whitehalltownship.org. There will be a conditional use hearing for a Third Street property, as well as a discussion of a proposed zoning amendment, at this meeting.