On the night when the Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners held a workshop on stormwater runoff, township residents came forward to complain about stormwater runoff in their east side neighborhood.

However, township officials may be unable to take action because the alleged runoff problems are on private property.

The commissioners' Aug. 28 workshop discussed the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit system pertaining to stormwater discharges.

It is the second recent complaint about east side stormwater runoff. Residents complained about stormwater runoff in the Public Road area at the July 24 township meeting.

Lance Hawk, who with his family lives along Vermont Avenue on the township's east side, said what he termed a "water discharge problem" is so bad "I have one neighbor who can't use their backyard" because of standing water.

Hawk told commissioners at the Aug. 28 township meeting the problem appears to be generated along East Susquehanna Street in the vicinity of the Lehigh Safety Shoes store and the former Allentown Drywall building.

Distributing photographs he said depicted yards and swales in the vicinity, Hawk asserted, "I actually have a sinkhole that opened up on the side.

"We keep getting the runaround," Hawk charged. "They say it's the state or the township."

Other residents also told commissioners about alleged stormwater runoff problems.

East Susquehanna Street is a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation jurisdiction highway.

During the commissioners' meeting, Salisbury Township Director of Public Works John Andreas provided a perspective in response to Hawk's complaints.

"It's draining off the mountain. It all wants to get to the creek," Andreas said, referring to Lehigh Mountain which runs parallel to East Susquehanna on the street's north side, and to Trout Creek, which traverses eastern Salisbury roughly between East Susquehanna Street and East Emmaus Avenue.

"We've had problems with mosquitoes," Hawk said, referring to standing water.

"It doesn't happen once or twice. It happens every rain," it was claimed.

Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano said at the meeting a township official was dispatched to assess the situation.

"It traverses private property," Soriano said of the runoff, "and there's not much the township can do."

"Possibly, if we look at storm sewers, it could be extended," Andreas said.

"The only thing we can do is build storm sewers and that's $1 million," Soriano said.