BY SUSAN BRYANT

sbryant@tnonline.com

Weisenberg supervisors’ March 11 meeting began with a discussion of the township community center project.

The first item was a land development waiver request.

Township Manager Brian Carl said the planning commission, on Feb. 29, recommended approval of the request.

“We are looking to the board for a waiver from section 104, subsection A of our SALDO, limiting the need for us to go through land development, since we are designing our own building,” he stated. “We are still required to do a county water review and PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit.

“We told the planning commission we would continue to put it on as an agenda item every month and give them a progress report.”

Supervisors approved the waiver for the land development submission.

The board also discussed advertising the design and build bid for the community center.

“As previously discussed, we are trying to expedite the process of the community center since we received a donation for the construction,” Carl said.

“The building will be a basic open pole framed structure with basic mechanicals.

“I propose to bid it as a design build in order to expedite the process and save money.”

The motion to advertise for design and build bids was passed by the board.

Under new business, Kylie Adams-Weiss, assistant VP, Affiliated Chambers and director of Marketing and Design for the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, spoke to the board about the Chamber and its services to the community.

“I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself as one of your local chamber liaisons and to share with you some of the important initiatives the Chamber has for the residents of Weisenberg Township, as well as additional municipalities that make up the Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber footprint,” she said. “It is our goal to stimulate the economy and approve the quality of life here in the Lehigh Valley.

“We often partner with municipalities like yours to elevate initiatives you already have in place or to bring new initiatives to the township, all while supporting local businesses and shining the spotlight even brighter on the community.

“We appreciate your support and are always open to discussing other ways that we can partner with you in the future.

“We are proud to have Weisenberg Township as a Chamber member and we want to make sure that you as a board also are aware of what that exactly means and what those entails.”

She also explained that Chamber membership gives them and each of their employees access to special Chamber resources.

“As a Chamber member, Weisenberg has access to those Chamber member benefits, including free benefits like social media promotion, press release distribution, public policy representation, mailing lists, and more, plus several exclusive affinity programs that offer discounts and special savings to Chamber members like yourself,” Adams-Weiss said.

Another item under new business was the Lyon Valley Road Park Pavilion contract award.

“We have the LSA grant for a similar pavilion that we did over at Bachelor Road,” Carl said. “This one is for Lyon Valley.

“I have a price from Pioneer Pole Buildings for a slightly smaller building. It came in at $24,065.

“The grant we have covers the majority of this.

“It is $23,064, so we would have to chip in roughly $1,000 of our own money.”

He said the new pavilion at Lyon Valley would look very similar to the one the township built last year at Bachelor Road, however, it would be slightly smaller due to the grant being less than the one they received for Bachelor Road.

“The height will be the same, however, this one will be 18 feet by 30 feet vs 24 feet by 40 feet,” Carl said. “The price of the structure is under $25,000, so prevailing wages do not apply, which would add significant cost to the building.”

The board approved a motion to award the contract to Pioneer Pole Buildings for a new pavilion at Lyon Valley Road Park.

Also under new business, Carl provided an update on the walking trail project.

“Stan Wojciechowski, township engineer, with Barry Isett and Associates, and his group have a bid spec for us, so that would be the next piece that connects the trail from Palram Americas through Waste Management to our park and then across the street to (Weisenberg) elementary school,” Carl said. “We have enough grant money to bid this out and have a contractor complete the work since we have other projects requiring our attention this year, including the maintenance building expansion, pavilion and community center.”

Supervisors approved the motion to bid out the work for the walking trail.

The board also discussed the appointment of Tom Gaunter as an alternative planning commission member.

“Tom expressed an interest in becoming a member of one of our boards,” Carl said. “We could use an extra alternate on our planning commission.

“Tom is also on the fire department. He is retired from Air Products.”

The motion to appoint Gaunter as an alternative planning commission member was approved.

Carl also mentioned there would be an electronic recycling event 9-11 a.m. April 27 at the fire station.

Adams-Weiss said the Chamber could help them promote the event.

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Editor’s note: See related story on page A5.