Those who support the preservation of the King George Inn are meeting tonight to discuss options to save the historic building which is on the national register of historic places. 

The meeting will take place at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum tonight at 6:30 PM . (Thursday)

Photo from Wikipedia

I had a chance to read the recently adopted (2009) South Whitehall Comprehensive plan this AM. While the South Whitehall zoning ordinance has no protections in place for historic structures, the South Whitehall comp plan encourages adoption of historic preservation protections. There is a whole 3 page section outlining a plan for protection of historic inventory.

There are four sites and structures in South Whitehall Township listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Dorneyville Crossroads of which the KGI is a part of is one along with the townships 2 covered bridges and Haines Mill.

A couple of the items outlined are mechanisms I favor for encouraging rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic structures. Remember we shouldnt be regulating protection but rather we should be streamlining the process to save buildings. Make it the path of least resistance.

The township created and adopted a great comprehensive plan. By adopting it they “bought into” the concepts laid out in it. Here is one of those moments for some followthrough. Is South Whitehall township another municipality that just goes through the motions of comprehensive planning or are they actually going to buy in and follow through.