South Whitehall staff and developer Atul Patel have arrived at a solution to save the historic King George Inn while also allowing construction plans to move forward on land adjacent to the structure.

At the April 3 commissioners' meeting, South Whitehall Director of Administration Howard Kutzler reported Patel reached out to the township several months ago in response to residents' pleas to avoid demolition of the 18th century inn listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kutzler presented a draft zoning ordinance amendment providing a historic structures overlay district in the Highway-Commercial, Industrial-Commercial and General Commercial-Industrial zoning areas.

If approved, the ordinance would provide protection of the King George Inn, situated on a site zoned Highway-Commercial.

Kutzler commented on the matter.

"The owner has agreed to preserve the King George Inn for public or private use," Kutzler said. "He will work with us on this.

"Our initial goal was to make sure the inn is preserved. We'll flush out what it's used for as time goes on.

"This was a compromise situation our staff came up with to preserve the King George Inn and work collaboratively with the developer.

"There will be no wrecking balls."

On the tract of land adjoining the inn, Patel proposes to remove the buildings once occupied by Burger King and Carvel and develop the property with new businesses.

Patel's plan includes a bank, retail unit and an extended stay hotel for the site east of the King George Inn along Hamilton Boulevard.

Kutzler noted the setback measurements of the King George Inn are somewhat different than usual due to its position at the intersection, but all is in order for safety purposes.

Commissioner Glenn Block raised concern about the upkeep of the King George Inn.

"We need to include provisions for the historic site itself to make sure it is maintained and we're not looking at something ugly," Block said.

Solicitor Joseph Zator said an independent document will be prepared with specifics on maintaining the historic building.

Kutzler said the ordinance admendment is a win-win situation for the township and the landowner.

"We can preserve the King George Inn and redevelop a site not nice to look at right now," Kutzler said.

The historic overlay ordinance will be forwarded to the South Whitehall and Lehigh Valley planning commissions for review.