SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Parkland School Board plans to decide Monday whether to join a legal battle to block Nexus 78, a proposed 501,000-square-foot warehouse near district property in North Whitehall Township.
Parkland Director of Communications and Community Engagement Nicole Mehta McGalla said in a release Friday that the board on Monday "will vote on joining the court fight" against the warehouse.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the Parkland School District Administration Building, 1210 Springhouse Road, South Whitehall Township.
The board previously was scheduled for a workshop meeting Monday; during a workshop meeting, the body can't vote to take official action.
District officials announced Friday they instead will hold a “voting workshop meeting,” allowing the school board to quickly decide whether to join the legal fight.
North Whitehall's board of supervisors voted in June to deny land development approval for the project, proposed for 71 acres at Route 309 and Orefield Road.
Developer TCNE North Whitehall appealed the board’s decision in July.
Impact on Parkland Schools
Parkland, which owns property near the site, opposed the warehouse in previous land development hearings, citing possible impacts to Orefield Middle School and district transportation infrastructure.
"This plan has the potential to impede the district to safely transport the 10,000-plus children of Parkland School District.”Parkland Assistant Superintendent Timothy Chorones, in a June hearing.
“The increased tractor-trailer traffic that is assumed to be seen with this project… directly impacts the safe transport of children to and from school on a daily basis,” Parkland Assistant Superintendent Timothy Chorones said in a June hearing.
“This plan has the potential to impede the district to safely transport the 10,000-plus children of Parkland School District.”
Now, as the fight over Nexus 78’s future shifts to a Lehigh County courtroom, the school district may seek to make its own legal arguments against the pending appeal.
The district's Friday release said the board may "potentially authorize legal action to petition the court against" the warehouse.
School board meetings are open to the public.
Argument in the land use appeal is scheduled to begin October 8.
