Wanting to preserve their safe, peaceful neighborhood, Cedar Crest Gardens residents pleaded with South Whitehall commissioners Oct. 7 to avoid opening Glick Avenue to through traffic.

“If Glick Avenue is opened, our tranquility will be history,” Kay Yankoski, of 3301 Birch Ave., stated.

Janet Batstone, 3430 Birch Ave., brought a petition signed by 83 residents opposed to the opening of Glick Avenue, presently a closed stub street.

“To have 200 or 300 cars coming through will destroy our neighborhood,” Batstone said.

The issue arose from a proposal by equitable owner Wells Family Partners LP to develop the 8.3-acre site occupied for many decades by Kuss Brothers nursery at 670 South Cedar Crest Blvd.

The applicant presented a request to have the property rezoned from R-3 Residential with Traditional Neighborhood Development overlay and Highway Commercial to Neighborhood Commercial with TND.

Township Planning Director Gregg Adams reported the TND overlay was adopted in September 2014 as part of a zoning action which had nothing to do with this particular applicant.

“The TND gives the developer more options,” Adams said.

Engineer Mark Bradbury, representing Jeremy Wells, put forth a few scenarios on possible use of the property.

One option would be to have commercial establishments in buildings on the first floor with apartments on the upper level, bringing 987 vehicles over a 24-hour period, according to traffic engineer Peter Terry.

Another choice would be medical office buildings and retail with 781 vehicles likely.

A third alternative would be all residential with a much lower traffic volume.

The residential layout was deemed unfeasible because the land is too valuable for that use.

Bradbury said insurance regulations do not allow residences over medical buildings.

Alexander Fulop, 823 Jefferson Ave., said his home is in a nice quiet neighborhood built in the 1950s.

He said people of all ages feel safe walking along the streets, which have no sidewalks.

Fulop expressed opposition to opening Glick Avenue.

“You’re talking about completely changing this neighborhood,” Fulop said. “We’d be seeing hundreds of cars a day. Now we see sometimes none.”

Manaf Moreef, 831 Jefferson Ave., agreed.

“Opening Glick will kill the neighborhood and lower our property values,” Moreef said.

Patricia Pepe, 828 Glick Ave., asked commissioners to keep in mind the safety of everyone, from children getting on and off the school bus to senior citizens out walking.

Bradbury injected a brighter note into the discussion.

“If we can get a traffic signal at our place, we might not need other access points,” such as Glick Ave., Bradbury suggested.

Commissioner David Bond expressed concerns about opening Glick Avene.

“Lincoln Avenue is already a speedway,” Bond said. “People aren’t stupid. They’ll look for short cuts.”

Board Vice President Glenn Block offered his thoughts.

“I’d like to see this go another round or so and focus more on traffic issues,” Block said.

Commissioners voted to take the matter under advisement and place it on the agenda for consideration at a future meeting.