During the Nov. 10 meeting, Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners approved a resolution that will see a distribution center built in the Fullerton area. The project advanced by a 4-3 vote but not before criticism and debate among all seven commissioners.

The Fullerton Terminals distribution center will be located at 2625 Range Road, under Landston Equities LLC, an entity of the Jaindl Land Company.

Board President Thomas Slonaker, Vice President Jeffrey Warren and Commissioner Elizabeth Fox cast the three votes against the center. Commissioners Alberta Scarfaro, Ken Snyder, Phil Ginder and board Secretary Randy Atiyeh cast the four votes in favor of the project.

Ginder said he understood the project met all the requirements for approval but expressed his concerns.

“I just want to make it clear to everyone here exactly the mess that’s going to be created here,” Ginder said, while still voting in favor of the distribution center.

Three officials from the project approached the commissioners and presented them with a map detailing the center and the truck route and showing several videos of truck drivers simulating driving along MacArthur Road through the jughandle at Schadt Avenue as well as making a wide right turn onto MacArthur Road toward Glenside Drive.

Ginder expressed concerns about trucks having to cross two lanes of traffic to make wide turns onto MacArthur Road or from the jughandle onto Schadt Avenue.

“How do they propose to do that if there’s traffic sitting in those two lanes?” Ginder said.

“They’ll have a difficult time and have to interrupt traffic,” Peter Terry, township traffic engineer, replied.

Warren also expressed concerns about trucks having to maneuver left from the jughandle, especially during rush hour.

“That’s going to be very problematic for a truck during normal business traffic,” Warren said.

The developers responded by saying trucks will rarely be directed to use that route. They said trucks will only use that route if they’re coming southbound from MacArthur Road. A representative from Jaindl Land Company argued they’ve seen Walmart and FedEx trucks use that same maneuver before, adding, however, it’s very rare to see trucks use it.

Scarfaro voted yes to the distribution center, noting she rarely sees trucks drive on that jughandle but does have concerns regarding traffic along that path.

Another video was shown capturing a truck turning right onto MacArthur Road to go northbound toward Wawa and McDonald’s.

Snyder reported the project met all requirements. He admitted traffic is a concern but said that is more so a problem in the entire township.

The developers provided another video to the board of another truck-driving simulation, with the truck making a right turn from Eberhart Road onto MacArthur Road, heading toward Wawa.

The videos drew much criticism and debate among the commissioners and community, especially regarding increased tractor-trailer traffic in the area.

In other news, the board also voted on an ordinance to amend the official zoning map of Whitehall Township by rezoning a 1.235-acre parcel owned by Catawba Associates of Allentown from office park to a C2 regional/commercial property. This ordinance will change the zoning for the property north of the Chili’s and Olive Garden restaurants on Grape and Jordan streets.

The business that was previously Buca di Beppo, which has been closed for several years, was included in this new zoning map.

There isn’t a specific proposal for that parcel of land, but a restaurant or some commercial business related to it is a possibility.

The resolution passed 6-1, with Snyder being the single vote against.