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South Whitehall EAC narrows 2026 priorities: official map, school recycling and transport links
Summary
The South Whitehall Township Environmental Advisory Council agreed to prioritize completion of an official map and to pursue school outreach on recycling, review the solid-waste plan, advance transportation connections and pursue ordinance updates on lighting and habitat protections; subcommittees were proposed to speed work between meetings.
The South Whitehall Township Environmental Advisory Council spent its meeting refining a 2026 work plan that places the township's official map, school recycling outreach and transportation connections at the top of its agenda.
"I just wanna say I appreciate everyone coming out in the whole weather and representing us," the Chair (Speaker 1) said as members reviewed recent public events and program ideas, including the winter tree-lighting ceremony and volunteer outreach. Staff and members agreed to focus the council's short-term work on three priorities: finalize an official map for commissioners, coordinate with Parkland School District on student recycling engagement, and review the township's solid-waste/recycling plan.
Staff (Speaker 3) said they would standardize the work plan so it can be presented to the Board of Commissioners in February–March. "My goal for the work plan is I put the old one in your packet. I would like to try to get something into a format similar to this so that come, like, February, March, I could present this to four commissioners," the staff member said, and asked members to identify discrete tasks they could advance in subcommittees.
Members described concrete outreach steps for the recycling priority: bring Total Recycle on a tour for school groups and determine whether Parkland high schools currently run in-school recycling. "Start with Mark Madsen, superintendent from the school district," the Chair suggested as a first contact; another member volunteered to be the initial point of contact for schools.
On transportation, staff reviewed the active-transportation and safety corridors in the township's draft plan and urged the EAC to recommend corridors and projects the board should prioritize. The plan identifies safety-focused corridors such as Hamilton Boulevard and recommends a preferred active-transportation network; members discussed focusing EAC advocacy on connecting neighborhoods to parks and closing gaps in the Greenway.
The council also discussed ordinance updates that could emerge from its work plan. Members raised lighting spill and wildlife-corridor protections as two code areas that may require revision. Staff reported the township already uses a lighting consultant to review developments against local ordinance standards and suggested exploring a lighting-zone approach (higher intensity in commercial corridors, lower in rural/residential areas). On habitat and no‑mow policies, members proposed adapting a Pennsylvania Land Trust model ordinance and creating educational or registration tools for residents who want to naturalize yards.
Operationally, the council agreed to form small subcommittees to do detailed homework between public meetings (recycling, transportation, mapping), with the clear directive that subcommittees would not make final decisions outside a public meeting. The group approved the November minutes and set the meeting schedule for next year with the usual holiday adjustments. Staff will draft the standardized work plan and circulate proposed subcommittee charters and contact lists ahead of the next meeting.
What happens next: staff will prepare a formatted work-plan draft to bring to the commissioners in late winter; members will pursue initial outreach to Parkland School District and to Total Recycle; subcommittees will be proposed and populated at the next meeting for follow-up work.
