Plans for a new Whitehall Township police station could be on the horizon as early as 2017.

Township officials have previously discussed the possibility of building a new police station, however, plans never materialized due to financial restraints.

The police station is presently located at a two-story structure on Lehigh Street not far from MacArthur Road. The building was once home to HMS Ambulance Corps, now defunct.

Before moving to Lehigh Street the police headquarters were located at the municipal building, which now houses administrative offices.

Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. confirmed that in 2017 a bond debt would be paid off and a new police station could be in the offing.

The three possible sites, according to Hozza, for erecting a new police station are:

· Range Road, by Mulligan's Golf Center, a tract owned by the township.

· Lehigh Valley Hospital property on MacArthur Road, across from the municipal complex.

· At the rear of Arlington Cemetery, with a connecting road to the township's campus.

At one point, officials were eyeing the vacant Circuit City electronics store off Grape Street.

Another approach in planning for a new police station would allow the structure to house the office and courtroom of the district magistrate. Township police have many cases, both traffic and criminal, heard by the district judge.

Lehigh County operates the district magistrate offices. The county also pays rent for its offices.