Walker Township Supervisors voted to solicit bids for repair work to several township streets.

The bid estimate is for 12,000 square feet of work at approximately $5 per square foot.

The work to be done includes patching and repairs to shoulders, fixing potholes, and making some base repairs. The streets to be fixed include sections of Valley Road, Catawissa Road, Kettle Road, Mountain Road, Meadow Lane, Brook Lane, Swamp Road, Shady Lane, and Reynolds Road.

The township will advertise the bid, and will include a provision where, if the bids come in too high, to just approve segments of the project in order to at least get some of the work done.

An added project will be repairs to the Cold Run area of the game lands in the amount of $3,000 which will be paid for by a private company.

In order to expedite the opening and awarding of the potential bids, township officials might either move the July or August meeting or schedule a special meeting.

Zoning changes

At last month’s meeting, Walker Township Solicitor Chris Riedlinger explained the plan of the Eastern Schuylkill Regional Planning Board to make required changes to the zoning ordinances as ordered by the state Attorney General’s office.

“There is a final ordinance drafted,” Riedlinger advised the supervisors at Thursday’s meeting. “It has been mailed out to all the various planning commissions; the county and the participating municipalities, and the ESRP board itself, just for a statutorally required review. The ordinance incorporates all the changes required by the Attorney General’s office, and the changes requested by the individual municipalities.”

The next step will be a public hearing on the proposed ordinance changes. That public hearing will tentatively be on July 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tamaqua Borough Hall, to be held in conjunction with the ESRP’s board meeting that night. The hearing will be advertised at a later date with the official date and time.

After that hearing, each of the four participating municipalities will need to advertise and then vote on the ordinances.

There are seven desired changes that were proposed:

Rush Township requested one change: to allow roof-mounted solar panels to be a permitted use rather than a special-exception use in R4 zoning districts.

Tamaqua Borough requested two changes: they also want the change of roof-mounted solar panels, but in region R5; and to add the “GC” district to the section 1507, subpart H, which is currently a list of four districts where certain signs are permitted.

Schuylkill Township listed two changes: to redo the definition of “accessory use” in the definition section of the ordinance to allow an accessory use not only in the same lot as the principle use is on, but an adjoining lot as well; and the second change is to take motor sport facilities, which are currently a special-exception use in the Gi2 district, and move it to a Gi1 district instead.

Walker Township suggested two changes: changing the side yard setbacks for R1 districts from 50 feet to 25 feet; and the second change involved changes requested by the Attorney General’s office.

The Eastern Schuylkill Regional Planning Board consists of Walker Township, Rush Township, Schuylkill Township, and Tamaqua Borough, which share zoning ordinances through the board.

In other business

• Chief of Police Doug Springer advised township officials of the yearly weapons qualifications that were done.

Thomas Rodgers, a certified instructor, will be helping Springer to qualify their department at a cost of $100.

“Yearly, we have to be qualified for the firearms,” Chief Springer advised the supervisors. “We normally just have the pistol, which we all have to be qualified for. And now we have the shotgun and the AR-15, with the 8-point scope on the AR-15. He (Thomas Rodgers) is certified for all the courses we need. It has to be a yearly qualification, and it has to be done by someone who is qualified and certified.”

Springer also advised the supervisors that he has a potential applicant to provide additional part-time police coverage for the township. He pointed out that during the summer, things get busier in the township. The additional officer will be able to help, especially covering the weekends.

• New England Fire Company member Chad Felty said the fire company responded to five calls in February, eight in March, eight in April, and five in May.

The fire company will be planning a barbecue chicken dinner fundraiser in September, and a pork and sauerkraut dinner for October. They will have more details later.