MARCH 20-26, 2014 Your Local News
50 cents
Kids Camp - Special Advertising Section, Page 8
The Home News
CRPD officer urges Lower Nazareth to accept ‘14 budget By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
This past Wednesday night’s meeting of the Lower Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors seemed to be routine. That is until it came to courtesy of the floor. It was then that Officer Andrew Laudenslager, president of the Colonial Regional Police Association and a representative of the officers in the Colonial Regional Police Department, got up to speak. He had a statement in which he urged the board to accept the 2014 CRPD budget and “allow our department to operate as the great department it is and to serve the citizens of Lower Nazareth Township.” The supervisors, late in 2013, tentatively decided to withdraw their membership in CRPD and to compare costs with other alternatives,
such as their own police department. The Borough of Bath and Hanover Township have approved their share of the $3.3 million budget, but Lower Nazareth has not gone along with its 34%. The major reason is that the 2014 budget called for an additional $30,000 in Lower Nazareth’s share to pay for a 25th officer. After Laudenslager read his statement, in which he said CRPD is one of the best police departments in the Lehigh Valley with a high level of professionalism and excellence, Lower Nazareth Township Manager Timm Tenges said he has done a “wealth of research so far” in his inhouse study to compare figures with that of CRPD, and that it is a budgetary item. Supervisors Chairman Eric Nagle added, “We have concerns for the taxpayers. It has Continued on page 5
County D.A. gives Lehigh Twp. $2,176 from Drug Task Force By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli presented a check for $2,176 to Lehigh Township at the Board of Supervisors meeting this past Tuesday. It will go to the Lehigh Township Police Department for a laptop computer to enhance their enforcement. Morganelli said it was for the department’s help with the Northampton County Drug Task Force that resulted in drug arrests. He said funds that are raised through these arrests are often returned to police departments or nonprofit organizations. Onethird of what Lehigh Township Police had a hand in was presented in this check. Morganelli said he has a
73rd Year, Issue No. 12
USPS 248-700
great appreciation for local government through his own experiences and he likes to work with local police departments. Chief Scott Fogel thanked the district attorney for the money and said that his department has an awful lot of paperwork. Morganelli said the D.A.’s office does try to give money back. Later in the meeting, Chief Fogel said there are a lot of goods that are in their property room that were seized in arrests for violations of the law. The supervisors passed a resolution for their disposal. Fogel also reported on road closures in traffic accidents or fires. To know where they are the public can consult the website www.lehightownship.com and go to “nixla” to find out what communities are affected. He also reported that the cell block at the police station is being renovated. Recreation Resolution Since April is so close, the recreation commission had recommendations for changContinued on page 2
homenewspa.com
Nelson Clater and William Holmes of the Allen Twsp. Planning Commission and Township Manager Ilene Eckhart seen in photo were part of a large panel representing the township. – Home News photo
Residents, Allen Planners Hear more about FedEx Plan
By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
Nearly 150 residents attended a meeting of the Allen Township Planning Commission on Monday, when they heard more detailed plans by FedEx and the Rockefeller Group for a mega distribution center in Allen Township that will replace three other smaller centers in the Lehigh Valley. ATPC Chairman Williams Holmes had a list of 15 persons in the audience who had asked to comment. They did so following presentations by the Rockefeller Group and an executive of FedEx. It was an orderly meeting, and Holmes said they have had two rounds of comments from engineers, the last in January. Kevin Coken, vice president of Eastern Operations, said FedEx oversees transportation companies for overnight products. FedEx Freight is for freight trucks; FedEx Services is in sales; and FedEx Ground provides a meaningful impact in the community and a relationship with charitable organizations. They will invest $335 million that includes an 815,000 sq. ft. building at first and later a 1.1 million sq. ft. facility when finished. It consolidates
Inside Non-Profits in Your Community Page 16
three distribution centers into one on a 260-acre site north of Lehigh Valley International Airport that has land along Willowbrook Rd. and Race St. and at the border of Lehigh County. There will be 300 jobs to start, working up to 3,000 employees. Both an entrance on the south side and on the east will be signalized. Water runoff will be done in accord with township ordinances. All trucks will go south on Willowbrook Rd. At least 1,800 trees and also shrubs will be planted for buffer. Coken noted distances of the center from other points: .8 mile away from the entrance to Catasauqua High School; .7 mile away from the south side tunnel of Nor-Bath Trail and Bullshead Rd.; .75 mile from Wayne Grube Park, and Country Rd. He said people won’t be able to see more than 10 ft. of the top of the building. Civil engineer Ron Gawlick talked about the road improvements that FedEx will be doing, now estimated at $35 to $40 million, that includes Airport Rd., Race St. and Willowbrook Rd. They did a scope of study and it was reviewed by PennDOT. Trip generation info was col-
lected and analyzed, with the busiest time the three weeks before Christmas. Findings of the improvements were approved by five governing bodies. Improvements include: Airport Rd. – Adding a southbound lane, right hand turning lane, another left hand turning lane, and another approaching Race St. and Schoenersville Rd. Race St. – From two lanes it will get another lane in two directions. Willowbrook Rd. – A fourlane section, with two in both directions, and turning lanes. W. Bullshead Rd. – Additional lane with one right and one left turn. Signal will allow pedestrian crossing. On Rt. 329 where there is an existing bridge, this will be replaced in phase one. Turns at Savage Rd. and Howertown Rd. will be made in phase two. An estimated total of 14, 602 vehicles (tractor-trailers, small box delivery trucks and employee cars) will be going out of the mega hub when finished. 30,000 packages an hour, and later 75,000, will be processed. Gawlick said most truck traffic will be between and after the a.m. and p.m. peak
Local Bath Mayor Fiorella Mirabito helped celebrate reading and Dr. Seuss Page 4
Continued on page 4