During the June 9 Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners meeting, the board approved, in a 7-0 vote, the split of the Emerson Village plan into two phases.

The original plan was approved in March with conditions. However, the development has been met with concerns from the public.

The Emerson Village project includes the construction of 57 townhomes and 59 single-unit homes on 35 acres at 3626 Rural Road.

Karen Poshefko, vice president of Whitehall Township Environmental Advisory Council, spoke on the EAC’s concerns about the removal of trees and forested areas for this development. Poshefko provided commissioners with a woodland survey that was done by Keystone Engineering in 2023. It identifies seven different areas of tree cover.

“We are not opposed to the development, only to the clear-cutting of a healthy forest,” Poshefko said. “I think the weight of these recommendations should be seriously considered.”

Deb Rosene, president of the EAC, expressed her concern about the tree removals.

“This is a cautionary tale,” Rosene said. “Do we just want to pave over everything and it doesn’t matter? Let’s not. Let’s do better.”

Janet Minnich, a township resident, stated that Section 7, which she noted is closest to Fellowship, identifies mostly oak and hickory trees and is “a small ecological miracle,” she said.

“This special place is sacred to Whitehall and to the world,” Minnich noted. “I would ask that Emerson Village, for the health of the people who are gonna live there and for the people of Fellowship, that you do your best to save as much as that acreage as possible.”

Commissioner Jeffrey Warren expressed his regret that this survey wasn’t presented to the board.

“I’m disappointed that this wasn’t made available to me,” Warren said.

Solicitor Jack Gross said the plan was already approved by the board in March with additional conditions. The resolution in front of the board that night was a phasing agreement only. The plan was approved with two phases at first, but another agreement was required with some specifics, such as a time period for the completion of these phases.

Justice Strahorn, W.B. Homes project manager, said the two phases would be stand-alone. Trees wouldn’t be removed until the second phase, and extra parking would be provided.

The board also heard discussions about the Fellowship Community expansion plan. A vote on the project didn’t occur at the meeting, due to a change in plans relating to development.

Scott Pasterski, of Keystone Consulting Engineering, approached the board at the meeting and noted changes in plans for the development.

Three buildings, each consisting of 24 apartments, are planned to be built at the intersection of Mauch Chunk Road and Schadt Avenue.

Pasterski said one building would be built in phase one, and the other two in phase two.

Three stormwater facilities were originally planned, but Pasterski noted not all of the stormwater facilities would need to be built for the three buildings. One of the facilities would have required a lot of underground piping and would have cost $400,000-$500,000 to be built.

Gross said the approval of the apartments couldn’t go through the board that night, due to the change in plans regarding the stormwater facilities, and the developer will need to obtain a waiver and have the planning commission review it.

The plan needs to go through the planning commission because the ordinance requires the stormwater facilities to be built in the first phase.

Commissioner Ken Snyder raised concerns about access to the back of the building during an emergency, without any pavement during phase one. Snyder asked Pasterski how access would be provided to the back of the building if there was no paving.

There is reportedly a 10-foot accessway to the back of the building, which will be done with a heavy-duty sidewalk and grass pavers to support a firetruck. Pasterski said this would provide access to the back of the building and would be used for all three buildings.

Snyder wanted assurance the township’s fire chief, Mark Bilder, had approved this plan from the developers.

Bilder said this was an accessway to be able to get ground ladders back there in case of an emergency. He said one idea they had was being able to place an aerial truck on Mauch Chunk Road and having connectivity to the Fellowship apartments in case of an emergency.

Commissioners withdrew their motions on this plan, so it could go through the planning commission first for a waiver.

“There can’t be any action because of the waiver,” Gross said. “You’re not building all the stormwater facilities, so they would need to get a waiver and submit it to the planning commission before it came to a vote from the commissioners.”

The board of commissioners will next meet for a workshop July 7 and for a regular meeting July 14. Both are held 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 3219 MacArthur Road.