The Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners, at its June 8 meeting, failed to pass an ordinance to investigate the idea of selling two parcels of land in the township.

The first parcel up for discussion and a vote was the Cameron Tract, which failed to pass 3-4 after much debate among the board. The board was also to consider 29.7 acres of property at 3561 Columbia St., but it did not move forward for a vote.

Board President Jeffrey Warren, Vice President Thomas Slonaker and Commissioners Taylor Stakes and Elizabeth Fox voted not to investigate the Cameron Tract, while Secretary Randy Atiyeh and Commissioners Ken Snyder and Lee Christman voted yes.

“It’s like selling our souls to consider this resolution,” Stakes said.

This ordinance drew much frustration and debate from the public, with many residents speaking against the idea of selling these two pieces of land for township profit at this time. The public noted they did not want to see that land turned into another distribution facility, another vacant warehouse or an empty location and expressed their concern over the idea of a data center.

Had the resolution passed, the supporting documents stated the township would have conducted a comprehensive review of a potential sale or use of said land, including site surveying and study, investigating potential zoning amendments and other preliminary analyses.

Supporting documents noted Whitehall Township owns 42.7089 acres of property on 2655 Range Road, also known as the Range Road Properties, including the Cameron Tract, “currently comprised of vacant and/or underdeveloped lands.”

Snyder noted the Cameron Tract property once consisted of a nine-hole mini golf course, which he noted had high costs and was unaffordable for the township based on taxes. The second time the property was utilized was for a Tri-Boro soccer field, until Tri-Boro told the township they could no longer practice there due to it being unsafe, according to Snyder.

The Cameron Tract consists of a recycling center where residents can bring yard waste.

The Columbia Street parcel is behind Tractor Supply.

Snyder and Christman noted in their deliberations that this resolution was added to the agenda for public input regarding the future usage of that land, whether it could have gone to a potential sale or not. Snyder noted that, after many executive meetings regarding the future of the Cameron Tract and Columbia Street, they had to bring this topic to the public for input and debate.

Snyder and Christman repeatedly affirmed the sale of those two parcels was not occurring at this meeting but said it was time for the board to discuss the idea of selling those two parcels and determine the best use of that property. It was said if it were to be sold, it would be a several-year process.

“Nobody wants their taxes to go up. Everybody loves open space, but it doesn’t pay taxes. It doesn’t pay the rising cost of everything,” Christman said.

Snyder said a real estate company approached township Solicitor Jack Gross about these two parcels of land. The commissioners held an executive session to discuss this proposal, and Snyder noted they were intrigued at first.

Several months later, the company came back with their proposals, which were not directly outlined, but numbers were mentioned at the meeting.

Snyder called the numbers, reportedly $12-$22 million, “mind-boggling.” He noted that, depending on how the property would be used, the numbers for the sale varied.

“If you approach it from a point of view of making it a highly marketable property, you could realize $20 million,” Snyder said.

Snyder said a distribution facility could possibly bring the most value to the parcel. However, if a facility was not wanted or shot down by commissioners, the value of that property may decrease.

After several residents asked the board what company approached the township, Gross noted two companies approached him about the parcels, one of them being CBRE. The other company was not stated.

“We didn’t seek this out. This came to us,” Snyder said, regarding the future of those properties.

“We’re putting a value on some open space, and I don’t think that’s wise for the township at this time,” Stakes said. “I believe we should hold onto it. The township should evaluate what to do with that space.”

Gross said the township is not legally permitted to approve the sale of real estate through a resolution. He said it is a state-required process to sell real estate, which has to be done at a public auction or by a sealed bid.

“I think my gut tells me that I don’t want to sell it. If the price tag is $15 million, it’s not a trade-off,” Warren said.

“The voters did speak when we passed an open space referendum,” Warren added.

Residents made their voices heard during the June 8 meeting, speaking out against the resolution.

“Not only will it devalue our property, you’re devaluing the township as a whole,” Deb Martin, a resident, said. “The best use of that property is what would benefit everybody in Whitehall. A distribution center is not going to serve them best. An empty building’s not going to serve them best. It’s not going to bring tons of jobs to the Valley. It’s going to bring some traffic or sit empty.

“I don’t want you to sell that property down here because that affects all of us. It doesn’t just affect the people that live there; it affects every single person, people who rent here and raise their children here,” Martin added.

Snyder clarified it wouldn’t lower property values in the township.

Stephanie Falcone, a resident, discussed CBRE’s website.

“It took about three scrolls on their website to get information regarding data centers. If we move forward with something like this and go for a sale, there aren’t a lot of safeguards in place that it will be turned into a data center,” Falcone said. “Maybe we can discuss this again in the future, but it appears that the time is not right, right now.”

Snyder said the solicitor is working on a draft regarding a data center ordinance, which may be expected by the end of the year.

Snyder mentioned during public comment that the county has asked the township to expand its police academy, using some of the ground from either the Cameron Tract or Columbia Street.

He mentioned the Cameron and Columbia parcels could be interlinked, meaning if the Cameron Tract was sold, you could leave some of the Columbia ground left for the police academy.

Stakes mentioned the police academy plan was in front of the zoning board last month.