The first step in implementing the Laubach Park Master Site Plan is to address concerns about runoff problems in and around the park on Salisbury Township’s east side.

With that goal in mind, the Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners voted 4-0, with one commissioner absent at the Dec. 8 meeting, to accept a proposal at a cost of $32,000 from Gilmore & Associates, Inc., to develop a hydrology study for the master site plan for William H. Laubach Memorial Park.

After the meeting, Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano told a reporter for The Press the bid was lower than a bid of $38,000 received from Keystone Consulting Engineers, Inc., the township consulting engineering firm.

During the meeting, Soriano told commissioners input from officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the township Public Works Department is being factored in for the hydrology study, which he described as a “stormwater management report.”

The 14.25-acre Laubach Park is south of East Susquehanna Street and Lehigh Mountain and north of East Emmaus Avenue and South Mountain. Lehigh Avenue is along the north boundary of the park. Fairview Avenue is along the west boundary of the park. Private residences are along the south and east boundaries of the park.

“This will be a study to control stormwater at Laubach,” Soriano told commissioners.

Residents who live in the vicinity of Laubach Park have complained about runoff problems. Those concerns, as well as concerns in the park, which has several wetlands areas, prompted the relocation of several sports fields and facilities in the park as conceived by the master plan.

The unveiling of the William H. Laubach Park and Franko Farms Recreation Area Master Plan at an April 18 meeting turned into a forum about stormwater runoff complaints in eastern Salisbury Township.

More than 50 persons packed the meeting room of the township municipal building, including an estimated 35 residents, most of whom live in the vicinity of Laubach Park, the site for Salisbury Youth Association games.

The bulk of the questions and concerns revolved around what residents say are existing runoff problems, especially along Brook Avenue, a north-south street along the east side of Laubach Park.

About 25 persons attended the Aug. 15 master plan public hearing when Laubach Park Master Plan consultant Leonard J. Policelli, landscape architect, project manager, Urban Research & Development Corp., Bethlehem, said the hydrology study is the first priority for the master plan.

The study would identify wetlands. The master plan includes vegetated swales to cleanse and slow stormwater before it empties into Laubach Pond or Trout Creek, the latter of which traverses the park.