Lower Nazareth Seeks Zoning Board Member

The board has an opening to fill – or soon will.

The zoning board’s chairman, Robert Hicks, has informed township officials that he plans to resign, township manager Timm Tenges said at Wednesday’s meeting of the township supervisors.

Hicks has offered to stay on the board until the end of the year, if needed, to give supervisors time to name someone to replace him. Even so, the township “needs to find a zoning hearing board member sooner rather than later," Tenges said.

Any Lower Nazareth Township resident who wants to serve on the zoning hearing board should call the at 610-759-7434, said Eric Nagle, supervisors chairman.

In Pennsylvania, a township zoning hearing board consists of three members and two alternates who are appointed by the board of supervisors. The zoning board acts as a quasi-judicial body as it conducts legally binding hearings and issues decisions on appeals, variances and special exceptions to the township's zoning ordinances.

In other business:

• The developers of a proposed 57-home development on the off Route 191 near the township municipal complex presented a preliminary sketch. Supervisors told the developers they would need to include sidewalks – preferably on both sides of the street – in their planned private community of homes on 1-acre lots.

• Supervisors passed a motion to raise the fee for duplicate real estate tax bills from $5 to $10, effective immediately. The old rate had been in place for 10 years, Nagle said.

The next scheduled supervisors meeting on Sept. 14 has been canceled because Tenges has a conflict that night. on Sept. 28.