Hanover Township Council Chairman Bruce Paulus discussed his assessment of a recent Lehigh Valley Planning Commission meeting regarding the warehouses proposed by the Rockefeller Group in Allen Township at the Jan. 16 meeting.

Paulus attended the planning commission meeting along with Solicitor Jackson Eaton, township Manager Sandra Pudliner and township Engineer Fredrick Hay.

"They rejected the storm water retention plan," Paulus said. "But the planning didn't go far enough."

Paulus said all access roads leading to Route 22 were modified, but nothing was addressed about Route 22.

"According to them [planning commission], they were not required to review Route 22," he said.

The proposed warehouse traffic plan adds potentially 14,000 additional trucks daily to the traffic load.

"There is a plan for Route 22, but waiting ten years for a solution is not acceptable," Paulus said.

The plan widens Route 22 from Hanover to exit 15, Paulus said. The warehouse traffic plan as presented includes widening Willowbrook Road and increasing Race Street to five lanes. Airport Road would be widened to accommodate traffic to Route 22.

Paulus noted there is no light at Grove and Airport Road.

"It would be hard to justify a light because traffic on Grove is light," said Hay. He asked consideration be given to increasing the length of the turning lane to Postal Road.

"During rush hour, we have a huge backup there now which will tie up traffic on Airport Road," Hay added.

There is little the township can do to stop the development if it is approved by Allen Township.

"I urge everyone on council and residents to contact all our representatives and have them look at improving Route 22," Hay said.

The Allen Township Planning Committee met Jan. 20 at the fire station to discuss the issue further.

The fire station was selected because the Allen Township planning committee expected a large number of citizens to show. Hanover council members said they would attend the meeting although they said they had no presentations planned or an agenda.

During the earlier reorganizational meeting, Paulus asked council members to review the township charter, possibly looking to make changes in the language. All changes to the charter need voter approval.

At the last meeting, Eaton indicated council could submit changes no later than early April for inclusion on the next ballot. Eaton corrected the date.

Submissions need to be made by mid-February to meet the election board's criteria.

With the tight deadline, council decided to defer any additional changes until the fall election.

"The changes that we already approved we can go ahead and we will submit them for the spring ballot and we can wait on any additional changes until fall," Eaton said.