Published May 27. 2026 11:36AM<\/p>\n
At the May 14 East Allen Township Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors approved a recommendation to award a bid for planned Jacksonville Park improvements. In 2025, supervisors voted to proceed with design of the redevelopment of the park.<\/p>\n
Part of the plan is to remove the basketball court determined to have an unsafe court surface. The low bidder was Grace Industries, which submitted a bid of $207,577.74. Because of the park\u2019s history, there is a plan to hold a dedication ceremony upon the project completion.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville Park, often referred to as the Jacksonville Recreation Park, is a neighborhood park located on Jacksonville Road. Jacksonville is a rural-suburban village within East Allen Township. The park and village share a deep agrarian history in its surrounding fertile farmlands.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville traces its roots to the mid-18th century. Originally formed as part of a 23,000-acre tract known as John and Richard Penn\u2019s Manor of Fermor. The region was historically dominated by Pennsylvania Dutch farmers cultivating some of the most fertile limestone soil in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Manor of Fermor refers to an occupational surname of medieval English origin around the year 1066 that translates to farmer or tenant for a fixed sum. Historically, it also refers to a tax farmer, a person who was granted the right to collect taxes, tariffs or tithes for the crown or a major landowner. Fermors acted as financial brokers or lessees who managed land and revenue, rather than just physically tilling the soil.<\/p>\n
In the early 20th century, with the establishment of large-scale cement operations, the area experienced an increase of housing growth. However, Jacksonville largely maintained its rural charm.<\/p>\n
Recognizing the need for localized outdoor recreation, East Allen Township adopted a formal parks, recreation and open space plan in 1990. By 2010, the township drafted and adopted a master plan for Jacksonville Park to outline major improvements.<\/p>\n
Currently, Jacksonville Park serves as a community hub for local residents. The park offers baseball, soccer and lacrosse fields. It has a dedicated basketball court, a child\u2019s play park and kiddie playground, an exercise walking path and a community pavilion.<\/p>\n
In other business, supervisors approved an updated proposal for the township\u2019s purchase of a tandem axle truck. The total cost of $320,326 has been increased by $3,510.<\/p>\n
The board approved allocating money from the township\u2019s general fund for the purpose of recruitment and retention for the East Allen Township Volunteer Fire Department. The department is requesting $13,890 as payments for firefighters who attended fire calls, trainings, meetings and staffing shifts from the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n
In the township treasurer\u2019s report, it was noted that more than 90% of the township\u2019s property taxes have been collected so far.<\/p>\n
The supervisors approved the minutes of the April 9 meeting. The board also voted to ratify general fund, escrow fund and fire fund checks totaling $6,959.08.<\/p>\n
The next East Allen Township Board of Supervisors meeting is set for 7 p.m. May 28 at the township municipal building, 5344 Nor-Bath Blvd. This workshop meeting has both in-person and virtual options. Visit eatwp.org to review the meeting\u2019s agenda and to access the meeting virtually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published May 27. 2026 11:36AM At the May 14 East Allen Township Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors approved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-204463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204463","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=204463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}