At their February 23 meeting, the Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors approved a change order for the ongoing work being done at the Cherryville intersection of Blue Mountain Drive and Route 248 after PP&L said that existing utility poles need to be relocated. A motion was made not to exceed $34,371.45 with the condition that they will get the owner and lease holder to sign off on the placement. If there are any environmental issues, it won’t be the responsibility of the township, but that of the owner or leaseholder. The motion passed unanimously with the board members present, Supervisor Mike McGonigle was absent this meeting. Adjacent property owners were praised by the board for their cooperation with the project.
“The Amey’s have been really great and doing the right thing for the township,” Solicitor Dave Backenstoe said.
An ordinance that has been in the works regarding rental properties in the township was discussed, with Backenstoe saying that he thought it looked good to him and was ready to be advertised. The motion to authorize to advertise the proposed ordinance (2021-2) was made by Supervisor Mike Jones and passed with no dissent. The ordinance will strengthen existing township rules regarding applications for short-term rental properties and the size of such properties. The Supervisors decided to look at rental properties after complaints from residents about AirBnB rentals in July of last year.
Other agenda items included a zoning-map amendment that was tabled, and a mini-grant application approval for the recreation department. Board Chairperson Cindy Miller said that she would like to have a meeting with the Volunteer Fire Department to clarify financial requests as discussed in the last meeting.
“I don’t have a problem giving them the money. I just want them to understand how much is in the account,” Miller said. “I don’t like having a discussion about the fire company without them here to talk about it.”
The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. on March 9 in the municipal building. There is a call-in option available for the public.
