Hearing Set For Lehigh County Detox Facility in Salisbury Township

The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing Thursday on Lehigh County’s plans to build a 31-bed drug and alcohol detoxification center on Riverside Drive.

The proposed Lehigh County Detoxification Facility is a 15,510 square-foot building that would be built next to the county’s Community Corrections Center, a work-release center for low-risk offenders that is undergoing a $6.1 million renovation and expansion.

The detox center’s clientele would be restricted to Lehigh and Northampton counties, although the county requested to be able to bring in clients from adjoining states. The county had planned to contract treatment services with White Deer Run, Inc.

The center would add up to 18 employees per shift to the site, and an additional 43 parking spaces to be built on 6.95 acres on the north side of Riverside Drive. 

The Planning Commission approved conditional use plans and preliminary/final land development plans for the Lehigh County Detoxification Facility at its Feb. 8 meeting. The vote was 4 - 1. Stephen McKitish Jr. voted against the plan. Richard Schreiter and William Licht were absent.

Planning commission Chairman Charles Beck and township engineer David Tettemer expressed concerns about the poor condition of Riverside Drive, which is rutted with potholes, and wanted guarantees that Lehigh County would repair and maintain it.  The road is privately owned by Norfolk Southern but used by the public.

Lehigh County Director of Capital Projects Glenn Solt said he frequently used the road and had no problems.

“Let me show you where to go on the road,” Beck said.

After the plan was approved, Beck told Solt, “Something has to be done before someone gets hurt. And I’m not kidding you. It’s bad. I don’t care what you say, how great you tell me the road is. It isn’t. I was there. There a lot of potholes.”

Planning commission member Glenn Miller was concerned there might be contaminated soil on the site, a former industrial area that was used to sandblast paint off railroad cars in the 1970s. In 1998, about 4,000 tons of sandblast was removed and monitoring wells were established. Miller wanted Lehigh County attorney Edward Andres to produce logs that would provide evidence. Andres said there was a “lack of evidence” of contamination.

 “We have no reason to believe there is any danger to the health, safety and welfare of any workers or residents of this property,” Andres said.