Preparation for the new site of the Giant Food Store at the South Mall, Salisbury Township, is underway.

“The Bon Ton has apparently started to be demolished,” Stan Wojciechowski, department head, municipal engineering services, Barry Isett & Associates, Inc., township consulting engineering firm said.

“They are also taking out the pad, too,” Wojciechowski said about the former department store’s footprint in his report to the board of commissioners at the Jan. 9 township meeting.

Giant plans to build a new store at the former Bon Ton at the South Mall, 3300 Lehigh St., Salisbury Township, to replace its store at 3015 Emmaus Ave., Allentown.

According to the South Mall website, the Giant store is to open in 2025.

South Mall stores include Ross Dress for Less, Staples, Starbucks, SuperSets, T-Mobile, Yocco’s, Mattress Firm, Petco, Holiday Hair, Just For U Salon, A1 Japanese Steakhouse, Amazon locker, Blick art materials, Bath & Body Works, Bank of America, Attic Mice 2, Back to the Arcade, Dino’s Pizzateria, Eric J. Loch Diamond Jewelers, Eye Beauty, C&I Minerals, Caring Hearts Thrift Boutique, Dragonknight Gaming & Collectibles, EcoATM, Fine Wine & Good Spirits, Mavis Tire & Auto Service Center, Ohana Wonderland Playground, Oriental Therapy, Poppteas, The Robin’s Nest Handmade Shop and 123 Sweetsss.

Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, in his annual visit to a Salisbury commissioners’ meeting, updated officials on the countywide radio communications project.

“We are the only county that is taking out a bond for the radios,” Armstrong said at the Jan. 9 township meeting. “We are even willing to take out a payment plan.”

Concerning other topics, Armstrong said, “We are No. 1 in farmland preservation in proportion to our farmland.”

Another item Armstrong mentioned is, “The county saved $6 million in medical expenses.”

Armstrong also said, “We’re partnering with Berks County and Dauphin County for a treatment facility.”

In other business at the Jan. 9 meeting, township commissioners voted 5-0 for:

- Resolution approving revision of township’s official sewage facilities plan to include the major subdivision plan for six homes at 621 E. Lynnwood St.;

- Resolution amending tax collector fees charged for reimbursement of expenses from $25 to $30;

- Resolution appointing township sewage enforcement officer and alternates: Scott Beiber, Lehigh Soils and Wetlands, 6071 St. Peters Road, Emmaus, as primary township sewage enforcement officer; Alternate Sewage Enforcement Officer Michele Lopez Gudino, Salisbury Township Code enforcement officer, assistant zoning officer and rental inspector and Christopher A. Taylor, Luke E. Eggert, Paul G. Saba and Jacob A. Schray of Hanover Engineering Associates, 252 Brodhead Road, Suite 100, Bethlehem;

- Motion accepting a time extension to April 30 for the Vistas at South Mountain Preliminary-Final Land Development Plan, 88 townhomes along East Emmaus Avenue near Honeysuckle Road;

- Motion ratifying the nonuniformed defined contribution pension plan funding of $103,896.38 for the year ended 2024;

- Motion appointing Nicholas Birosik as 3rd Ward representative to the township zoning hearing board;

- Motion appointing Tom Grello as 5th Ward representative to the township building code board of appeals, and

- Motion appointing Richard Schreiter as at-large representative to the township planning commission.

Township municipal meetings include: 7 p.m. Jan. 22, planning commission, and 7 p.m. Jan. 23, board of commissioners.