By MICHAEL HIRSCH

Special to The Press

The first resident to speak at the Feb. 2 South Whitehall commissioners’ meeting was Irwin Stanley.

He was concerned about additional traffic lights proposed for Mauch Chunk Road because of the Jeras development.

“If we start adding traffic lights because of new developments, it’s just going to make our life worse as far as a lot of traffic,” Stanley told the board.

He is concerned trucks coming and going to warehouses are now not stopping. He said by making the trucks stop twice will be worse.

Commissioner Diane Kelly said these comments will be addressed, but right now this is just speculation.

A sketch plan was reviewed in the past.

The next resident to speak was Amy Fells, who was online.

She spoke about construction behind her home on Penn’s Crossing.

Fells said she recently learned there is an ordinance that bans outdoor construction on Sundays.

She said she reported the noise and construction to Monica Hodges and they both had contact with the police who reportedly told construction workers they had to leave.

Fells said workers began around 8:15 a.m. on one Sunday.

She is disturbed that after having been notified, they were not allowed to work on Sunday, they proceeded to do so.

“I contacted Tom Harper, (township code enforcement manager) who came to my house to look and take pictures.

“He contacted the contractor, but it took three times, visiting and taking pictures before there was an improvement.

“Some of the trash is still out there. The bottom line is we’ve been dealing with years and years of disruption due to the construction behind us and there is a long way to go before it’s finished.

“Our quality of life should be taken into consideration.”

Hodges commented on the situation.

“I do believe we need to revisit this ordinance and discuss it,” Hodges said. “We must keep in mind our residents here.

“They deserve a good quality of life. We have a lot more building yet to be done on the horizon and we need to be considerate of our residents and their holidays.

“I don’t think it is too much to revisit and look at times and start times.”