Bolete is served.

The nationally-renowned restaurant was given notice it is in violation of Salisbury Township law for not removing sheds where food was served.

Salisbury Township Planning and Zoning Officer Kerry Rabold told a reporter for The Press at the Aug. 10 township planning commission meeting she mailed a notice Aug. 9 to the owners of Bolete concerning the sheds.

The sheds, which provided socially-distanced dining during the COVID-19 lockdown, were to have been removed Aug. 9.

As of Aug. 13, nine sheds remained on the property of Cross Roads Church, 1860 E. Emmaus Ave. and 10 sheds on the parking lot of Bolete, 1740 Seidersville Road, which is across the street from the church.

Rabold said Bolete has 30 days to remove the sheds. If the sheds are not removed, Rabold can go to a magistrate and file a civil complaint. A fine of up to $500 per day could be assessed, dating from Aug. 9.

The sheds are to be removed not only from the church property, but also from the restaurant parking lot.

The restaurant must receive township zoning approval and possibly township planning commission approval to continue table service in the sheds on its parking lot.

Bolete could appeal the notice from Rabold with the township zoning hearing board.

The church’s appeal to construct a 2,023-square-foot addition was approved but tabled at the July 13 township planning commission meeting. The tabled appeal is expected to be on the agenda of the Sept. 12 township planning commission meeting.

The sheds were allowed by an amendment township officials enacted in August 2020 to the Salisbury Township Zoning Ordinance in response to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus pandemic emergency declaration.

Rabold said at the July 13 planning meeting Bolete must remove the sheds.

“All sheds can continue to operate until Monday, Aug. 9. After that they must stop all operations within the sheds unless they are granted a variance from the Zoning Hearing Board (but they have not applied for one yet),” Rabold stated in a July 19 email to The Press.

“If the sheds remain, on Monday, Aug. 9, I will send a violation letter for each property. At that point, they will have to cease operating out of the sheds and they will have 30 days to remove them,” Rabold stated in the email.

“If the sheds are not removed (and/or they continue using them), they will be fined up to $500 per day as regulated by our zoning ordinance and the State Municipalities Planning Code,” Rabold continued in the email.

“The township will send the violations to the restaurant since they own the sheds but ultimately, the underlying property owner is responsible,” Rabold stated in the email to The Press.

The church addition is to include a stage and seating for 123 people. There is now seating for 90 in the sanctuary.

“Unfortunately, they have the sheds on your property. It’s a multiple-use,” Salisbury Township Consulting Engineer David J. Tettemer said at the July 13 planners’ meeting.

“Technically, we can’t approve your plan because your property is in violation,” Rabold said at the planners’ meeting.

“Bolete has sheds, but now they must be removed. This plan [the church addition] does not get approved until this is done,” Rabold said.

“My intent was to bless our neighbors,” Cross Roads Church Pastor Gary Becker said at the July 13 meeting concerning the church allowing Bolete to place sheds on the church property.

Planners, while approving the church officials’ requests for variances and deferrals for the expansion, voted 5-0 to table the plan until the sheds are removed.

Each shed, with a table and chairs, allowed socially-distanced dining during the pandemic.

The amendment to the township zoning ordinance, enacted Aug. 13, 2020, by township officials, states, in part: “In the event of an Emergency Declaration by the United States Federal Government, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or the Township of Salisbury, temporary tents, structures and uses needed to adhere to regulations set by the Emergency Declaration, shall not be regulated by this Chapter provided that such temporary tents, structures and uses, are removed and the property is restored to its original state within 30 days after the Emergency Declaration has been lifted.”

The Pennsylvania Senate and General Assembly voted June 10 to permanently end Wolf’s COVID-19 emergency declaration, which the governor enacted March 6, 2020. Wolf signed several declaration renewals, the most recent May 20. Wolf brought a formal end to the declaration June 15.

With the commonwealth emergency declaration lifted, the township emergency declaration was ended by a consensus vote at the July 8 board of commissioners’ meeting, thereby triggering the portion of the amendment to the ordinance requiring the sheds to be removed.

The Bolete restaurant website states, in part: “We will be closed after July 31 through the month of August for renovations in our kitchen and dining room. We are planning to reopen in September for indoor dining.”