FEBRUARY 6-12, 2014 Your Local News
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Western Hoedown at Good Shepherd Catholic School, Page 9
The Home News homenewspa.com
Bath Borough Council meeting Snowed out
Because of the eight inches of wet snow that fell Monday morning, the February meeting of Bath Borough Council was cancelled. It has been re-scheduled to Wednesday, February 19 at 7 p.m. The weather forecast was that conditions weren’t going to improve after Monday.
Another even stronger snowstorm was expected to hit on Tuesday night into all-day Wednesday. After two winters of relatively little snow, we are really paying the price now with snowstorm after snowstorm, causing treacherous walking and driving conditions. Snow is also expected on Sunday.
A Change in zone for Cherryville intersection By CINDY MILLER
The Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors will vote on adopting an ordinance to rezone some properties along Route 248 in the Cherryville area from Village Residential to General Commercial during their February 11 meeting. Concerned residents attended the January Planning Commission meeting and asked the following questions: Why would the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission want to extend the General Commercial zone in Cherryville from Turkey Hill to include the Old Post Office down to and include Hope Lutheran Church and the Fire Company lots? The Township is primarily an agriculture/rural residential community. Extending the General Commercial zone affords the Township the opportunity for commercial development in an area that makes sense while improving the Old Post Office property and the Route 248 and Blue Mountain Drive intersection. Will a reclassification to
general commercial zone cause a tax increase for the residential properties? The answer is “No”. Zoning does not determine the value of a tax. Those residential properties impacted by the change will continue to pay the same tax value as they do today. The change will benefit the property owner should they decide to open a commercial type business on the residential property or if they are approached by a developer interested in purchasing their property. Does the zoning change make our residential properties vulnerable for the government to come in and take our land through eminent domain? The answer is “No”. It is not the intention of Lehigh Township to take any of the properties by eminent domain. If anything the General Commercial zone should increase the value of the property and give the owner more bargaining power with interested buyers. A commercial property is usually higher priced than a residential property.
Allen residents continue To oppose FedEx plans
By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
Another meeting, in what promises to be a long series protesting warehouse distribution center plans by FedEx, was held last Tuesday by the Allen Township Board of Supervisors. That meeting, attended by more than 40 residents, crowded into the supervisors municipal building meeting room. The next one, and who knows how many more, will be held in the more spacious dining hall of Allen Township Vol. Fire Co. #1. That will be on Thursday, Feb. 13 The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority plans to sell 253 acres of land along Wil-
lowbrook Road in the township to FedEx for $9.6 million, which would allow the package company to build more than two million square feet of warehouse and distribution center space. FedEx, as part of the plan, expects to make $25-million in road improvements around the area to handle the thousands of tractor-trailer and delivery trucks, as well as their employees’ cars. The plan as a whole was unveiled before the Allen Township Planning Commission on Jan. 20. It is also being studied by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. Supervisors Chairman Paul Balliet said on Jan. 28 that the
development plans will likely be under consideration for the next several months due to their complexity. The residents are most fearful of the thousands of trucks that will be traveling back and forth from the facility, disturbing their environment, and the rural setting that they had grown to love. They want it some place else, not in their backyard. On the other side of the picture are the factors of more jobs and new tax revenues for the municipality and the school district.
Kindness is Always in Style
To the Editor: I’ve wanted to tell this story and felt it may be too late to be a Christmas thank you but maybe this would be a good story to tell for National Kindness Day on February 17th . I have a wonderful story about the Klecknersville Rangers and their kind act for a family in need at our church over the holidays. Our Pastor Tedd Leininger could tell you the story better than me as he was there when all of this unfolded but I will tell you what I know. Our Pastor sent out an email to all of us on December 13 telling us about a new young family with two small children that had been attending our church, Mountain View Wesleyan Church, for several weeks and their need for money to get back to their home in South Carolina. The Pastor wasn’t sure how much money we could raise in the two days before they
Letters from our Readers
were to leave but he sent out the e-mail. We are a small church and it seems that we don’t have much extra with building our new building that we’re in. We’re even still having services in the foyer because we are still raising the funds we need to finish our sanctuary. The Pastor knew that we would do our best and that God would provide if we could not. On December 14 the Pastor and the choir were practicing for the Christmas program when the Klecknersville fire truck pulled into the parking lot. They said that they saw the lights on inside and asked if they could use the facilities and while there they asked the Pastor if there were any families in need as they had
INDEX: Bath ..............................7
Nazareth ......................10
Focus on Folks 60+..........8
Obituaries ...................12
Northampton.................9
Classifieds ...................14
collected toys to give. The Pastor told them of our family and then they went on their way. Sunday morning, Dec. 15th came and without anyone knowing the rescue trucks pulled in and about 20 members of the Klecknersville Rangers came in with boxes of gifts, Christmas cookies and enough money for this family to make their way back home. Real life heroes walked through those doors that morning, these men and women that do so much for us all year protecting us and risking their lives, now helping us to help this family. And they all stayed for the entire service. What a touching service that still brings tears to my eyes. I have attached a letter that was written by a member of our church to the Klecknersville Rangers and it Continued on page 2
73rd Year, Issue No. 6
USPS 248-700