At Hanover Township Council’s May 20 meeting, township Engineer Albert Kortze reported on the progress with improvements on Sherwood Street.

“We are replacing curbing. Once that is complete, we are going to be working on paving repairs. The crews will next move to Troxell Street to start curbing repairs there,” he said.

Troxell Street’s project was proposed last year but was delayed while geologists probed the substrate to find potential sinkholes.

Council Chairman Bruce Paulus received requests from Troxell Street residents asking for pricing on repairing driveway aprons. The add-ons for repairs are to be forwarded to Kortze, who will survey the requests.

Council heard from KRE Management on its proposed project. KRE is managing the St. Luke’s complex near Coca-Cola Park.

Earlier this year, KRE proposed constructing a luxury apartment complex on the property. Although commercial leasing is still strong, KRE felt the luxury apartment enhancement would complement the structure and add value to the property.

Although council is reluctant to endorse residential projects, KRE proceeded to investigate the plan. The limiting factor is sewage capacity at the Allentown treatment plant.

Allentown leased its wastewater treatment facility to Lehigh County Authority in exchange for payments to its pension plan.

The plant was beset by problems before LCA’s acquisition, and those were not abated by the transfer.

Hanover had an existing request to increase its allocated capacity prior to the LCA takeover. LCA rejected the request in part because the wastewater system had problems with groundwater infiltration in its sewer systems. Groundwater and rain water do not need to be treated and take up capacity when they enter the system.

Hanover is in a unique position with the treatment plant. Other municipal systems that feed sewage into the plant are cooperative members and are subject to financial and operational requirements. Hanover is treated as a large commercial customer might be.

KRE’s project cannot be completed because there is not enough capacity to handle sewage. The capacity restriction will forbid any development at the site, not just the luxury apartment proposal on the table.

KRE proposed adding a prepackaged system at the site to serve the complex. Such a system would serve the proposed apartments but might also be configured for the office building. The system could also include Airport Center Mall, although that was not proposed.

KRE indicated its proposal was intended as an alternative proposal to LCA to see what type of compromise could be reached to allow the project to proceed.

Council has not indicated it would support the luxury apartment idea. KRE asked council to consider its proposal. KRE did not want to go forward with LCA negotiations if council is going to nix the project.

Council will review the proposal prior to the next meeting, June 17, and make its suggestions at that time.