The updates<\/a> involve the building, residential, plumbing, fire and property maintenance codes. A summary of key changes involves eliminating locally carried provisions when the functions are already governed by the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code.<\/p>\nAnother would convert annual plumbing license renewals into a one-time renewal with lifetime licensing. This would, according to South Whitehall officials, reduce administrative requirements on both contractors and township staff while providing existing licensees with a mechanism to maintain their licensed statues within the township.<\/p>\n
Another significant aspect is that the ordinances retain, clarify or enhance important township-specific requirements. This includes mandatory connection to public water and sewer within 150 feet, along with fire code permitting structure and operational controls.<\/p>\n
Subdivision request<\/p>\n
The board approved a time extension to record an approved subdivision plan.<\/p>\n
The project, the Ruhe Major Subdivision, involves 4.6 acres located at 2442 Huckleberry Road. Commissioners granted preliminary\/final plan approval on April 16, 2025, with conditions. It’s those conditions which served as the impetus for the extension request.<\/p>\n
The applicant, Robert Ruhe, sought additional time for three reasons. One was to obtain an actual estimate for road frontage improvement costs, which Ruhe believes will be significantly less than estimated by the township engineer. The second would allow time to complete the posted security requirements, while the third will allow Ruhe to complete the agreements and dedications deeds with South Whitehall.<\/p>\n
The extension is for one year.<\/p>\n
Noise consultant<\/p>\n
The board appointed a noise consultant Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Metropolitan Acoustics’ services will be utilized “from time to time,” according to the township. Specifically, Metropolitan will measure environmental noise, sound propagation, vibration analysis and the review of acoustical studies submitted in connection with land development applications and other matters.<\/p>\n
The firm will be paid between $160 and $340 per hour based on position employed.<\/p>\n
Data center<\/p>\n
During public comment, five residents expressed concerns about a proposed data center project.<\/p>\n
Project Atlas calls for six data center facilities at 2493 N. Cedar Crest Blvd. The individuals who spoke Wednesday night said the project would negatively impact the environment, local water supplies and their general quality of life. Some questioned also the authenticity of studies produced by the developer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. \u2013 The South Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners approved the advertisement of various code…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,70319,70318,3069,70320,70321,664],"class_list":{"0":"post-155073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-building-codes","12":"tag-code-amendments","13":"tag-data-center","14":"tag-plumbing-license","15":"tag-property-maintenance","16":"tag-south-whitehall-township"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}