Wal-Mart fight woke residents in N. Whitehall

Bill White

July 22, 2008

When I was carping recently about elected boards that hold their meetings in the morning, I should have worked in the 4 p.m. township supervisor meetings.

There's a good reason many supervisors have met at 4 p.m. for so long. It's because they've hired themselves to work for the townships, and a 4 p.m. meeting protects them from having to drive home and then come back. Very convenient. For them.

An early version of the column specifically included the North Whitehall supervisors, one of those groups that still was holding some of its meetings at 4 p.m. as recently as April, with workshop meetings at 9 a.m. or even 7:30 a.m. But I checked the township's online calendar and saw that the supervisors were holding their regular meetings now at 7 p.m., so I took it out.

Many of these communities are sleepy enough that people rarely complain about meetings held at an inconvenient time -- until something controversial comes up. In North Whitehall, it took Wal-Mart to wake people up.

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The company wants to put a planned commercial development -- a Wal-Mart Supercenter and four smaller retail parcels -- along Route 309 in Schnecksville. With residents clamoring, the board finally agreed last May by a 2-1 vote, with Supervisor Terry Stoudt voting no, that all the meetings would take place in the evening for the rest of this year.

Believe me, North Whitehall's meetings aren't sleepy anymore. I attended one earlier this month, and there not only was a good crowd on hand, but some spirited sniping back and forth between lawyers for Wal-Mart and project opponents North Whitehall for Sustainable Development. It was the last in four nights of hearings about the project.

This one focused on traffic problems that would be created by a Wal-Mart Supercenter on Route 309, which already is badly congested. A transportation planner testified that even with proposed road improvements, it would result in gridlock conditions.

As entertaining as it was to watch the lawyers toss zingers at one another, I'm not sure anything that emerged should be news to anyone. Route 309 is a nightmare in Schnecksville. Sticking a Wal-Mart there would be like shoving a ring bologna down a clogged drain, not to mention the associated problems in a community that doesn't even have a police department.

Nonetheless, the board voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant conditional use approval that allows the land to be used for commercial purposes.

Given that a previous board approved the site for a shopping center -- not involving Wal-Mart -- years ago, the decision seemed inevitable. But Wal-Mart's opponents in North Whitehall insist that the fight is far from over. The supervisors are requiring the owners to prove the soil isn't unsafely contaminated, and the land development plan process will offer the opportunity to press Wal-Mart on traffic, trash, parking, crime, times of operation and a host of other questions. Tough restrictions may at least make the project -- which also has its supporters in the township -- more palatable.

However that all comes out, it's important that North Whitehall doesn't return to business as usual. Meeting times may not strike you as a big deal, but they say something about a public official's attitude. Heck, this is a township that wouldn't let residents copy Wal-Mart plans until the citizens group took it to court.

I suppose when you're holding mundane half-hour meetings and no one ever shows up, it's easy to assume it makes no difference when you meet or how open you are. And when you've hired yourself as a ''working supervisor,'' accountability may be even less of a concern.

But I would argue that the healthiest governments are those that bend over backward all the time to keep the public engaged and informed -- not just when all hell is breaking loose.

bill.white@mcall.com 610-861-3632

Bill White's commentary appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.