At the Macungie Borough Council’s meeting July 5, roads were at the forefront of discussion.

Cotton Street is currently being reconstructed, which requires the removal of trees on private properties to put storm drains in.

Council Member John Yerman and his wife have a black locust tree and a silver maple tree in the 100 block of Church Street which must be removed as part of this construction. The trees have root systems spread out underneath the road.

As part of the substantial agreement for properties potentially affected by the repaving job, the Yermans will have reasonable compensation for the removal. However, the Yermans were confused as to whether the silver maple tree must be removed.

They initially received a letter stating the maple would be removed due to a few dead branches and some rotting; however, later claims were made that the inside of the silver maple is rotten and removing the root system in the street will make it dangerously unstable.

The Yermans are concerned about the miscommunication and want to meet with a knowledgeable engineer on the project, as well as Borough Manager Chris Boehm, to gain a clearer understanding as to what course of action must be taken.

Race Street, which had its sewer and water lines recently replaced, now needs to be reconstructed as well. Public works wants to accomplish this via a tear-off rather than an overlay; however, the borough wanted to make sure the job will be effective over the long term.

After Council President Chris Becker spoke to the public works supervisor, he became convinced they could effectively complete the project. The repaving is scheduled for the second week in August.

Issues regarding Dock Street’s directions of travel were also discussed. There has been concern amongst the community because Dock Street, a two lane road, is particularly narrow and uncomfortable when there is traffic. The board wishes to implement a temporary detour to make the road one lane and see how this affects the public, with the street now going in from the South Church Street going east as opposed to being a two lane road. This type of change has only been implemented before with festivals or detours, so Borough Solicitor Patrick Armstrong agreed to look into the matter. The concerns were how the older citizens would react to the change and potential accidents due to the change.

The board resolved to make a motion, provided Armstrong gives clearance, for Dock Street to become a one-lane road for 90 days once proper signage explaining the new direction of the road is implemented.

Yerman called into attention pension liability regarding Mockenhaupt Benefits Group’s Uniform and Non-Uniformed Pension Financial Statement.

Based on his understanding of the reading, the borough will be roughly $200,000 short because their math is based on a 7.5 percent rate of return. This is in direct contradiction to last year’s rate of return, which actually cost the district roughly $14,000. Yerman believes the group is overestimating the returns. The group agreed to get the actuary for the company to explain the plan in detail in early September.

A discussion regarding inflow and infiltration in the borough’s sewer system brought attention to several issues. Because of the age of sewer system, stormwater frequently infiltrates the system and causes Allentown’s system to overflow.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said all of the municipalities must either repair or replace their sewer systems. There have been some upgrades to Macungie’s system, along with other counties, but there is a larger overhaul needed.

Lehigh County Authority scheduled a public meeting 6:30 p.m. July 11 to discuss the issue and its costs. Boehm urged board members to attend the LCA noon meeting July 11 before attending the 6:30 p.m. public meeting, as the information could be confusing and multiple meetings will help the information be understood better.

Additionally, Arcadis Engineering will also present a program on sewer rehabilitation at the borough council’s Aug. 1 meeting to further clarify the scope and costs of such a project.

New business included a request to waive a zoning hearing fee. A request to build onto the drainage easement went to the zoning board approximately eight weeks. The application was for a variance and a special exception. The variance was denied. The requester did not understand a special exception could have been granted during litigation despite not getting the variance. The requester has since relocated where they are building, a special exception is still needed.

As such, they are appealing to council to waive their zoning hearing fees because they have gone through the process before.

Council Member Marvin Moyer made a motion to reduce the fee by 60 percent, but the motion died due to the precedent-setting implications it could have regarding fee waiving. Council Member David Boyko made a motion to send a letter explaining the position of the board to the party. Council Member Alma Akinjiola seconded the motion and all except Moyer approved.

An item not on the agenda was the discussion surrounding cautionary painting of the railroad tracks. There was a fatality accident where a woman thought she was turning onto a road, but she turned onto the railroad tracks and she was struck by a train.

Council talked to representatives from Norfolk Southern Railway, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the state as to how to make the road safer. Norfolk Southern said it would allow some sort of cautionary painting near the tracks. Public works was asked to do the cautionary line painting.