Civil Municipal Magazine - Dec 2023

220 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12 simultaneously enhancing its parks, open space areas, and recreational programs. It was designed with a considerable amount of community input and feedback via public meetings and surveys, and it is, indeed, comprehensive. It outlines specific goals and action plans regarding: the maintenance and upkeep of the township’s parks; purchasing farms and vacant lands to preserve them from development; conserving and protecting wooded, wildlife, and environmentally sensitive areas and corridors; optimizing trails and pedestrian access in order to provide safe and expanded community connections; maintaining and growing local sports programs and recreational activities; and planning the structure of a township recreation department; among other items. Growing the economy purposefully Meanwhile, North Whitehall is also trying to promote a carefully-considered agenda of economic growth, with the understanding that its geography offers limited opportunities for large- scale industry -- especially while it is so focused on preserving its open spaces and keeping them from being over-developed. “We’re very cautious when it comes to very large industrial businesses,” notes Director of Planning and Zoning, Jeffry Mouer. “There’s not a lot of big open spaces for big industry. So, we have to concentrate on the open space that we do have. We want to preserve as much as we can and utilize the open space to provide the right kind of development that conforms to the area. Putting the right kind of buildings in the right places is very important for the people and for the local economy.” Today, the largest company in the township, employing over 500 people, is United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), a natural and organic food company that operates out of a 1.2-million- square-foot warehouse that was constructed in Schnecksville in 2020. There’s also Jaindl Farms, a family-owned turkey farm and land development company that has been in business since 1936. “They produce over 800,000 turkeys a year,” Cope reports. “The majority of the land here that they own is primarily agricultural to support their turkey program with the necessary Photo: Matt Beck Randy Cope