By MICHAEL HIRSCH

Special to The Press

North Whitehall Township supervisors met for the first time in the banquet hall at the Schnecksville Fire Company on July 8.

Zoning hearing board and planning commission meetings also will be at the fire company for the duration of the township building renovation.

The recreation board and farmland/open space preservation board will meet at the Neffs Fire Company.

All meetings remain scheduled for the previously advertised dates and time.

Farmland preservation applications totaled 314 acres in June.

Currently, the township has 584 acres preserved.

An additional 138 acres will be preserved this year, and preservation of an additional 183 acres is expected in 2025.

Assuming they stay on their current path, North Whitehall Township will have 905 acres of preserved farmland by the end of next year, according to Randy Cope, township manager.

“We have a backlog of approximately 200 acres that we will be working with the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Board to determine how to move these farms forward in a quicker fashion,” he said.

In other matters, the McDonald’s in Schnecksville requested a land development waiver.

The project involves reducing parking spaces to make room for an additional drive-thru lane.

The application was initially. submitted in February 2020 but was delayed.

There will be five fewer parking spaces for a drive-thru lane addition.

The waiver was unanimously approved.

The township awarded a bridge and culverts consultant RFP to Herbert, Howland and Grub, Inc. to develop an asset management plan for the township.

The plan would include an inventory of the township’s bridges and culverts, an assessment of their condition, and a plan for their maintenance and repair.

Cope said an AMP would be helpful for budgeting and for demonstrating to the public how the township is spending taxpayer dollars on infrastructure.

There are 44 bridges and culverts in the township.