Emmaus Borough Council made some new guidelines to be followed at Boroline Park at the Aug. 21 meeting.

A resident has been complaining for a few years that teams are showing up for baseball and softball tournaments 7 a.m. on weekends to start practice on the field before games. In addition, games are so close together that parking “is a nightmare.”

“I’ll tell you on the weekend it [guidelines] will definitely reduce police calls, because on the weekends our police are down there at least once a day during tournaments,” Borough Manager Shane Pepe said.

Council voted to have no games starting before 9 a.m., with the earliest teams allowed to arrive at the field 8 a.m. In addition, games are to be spread out which will help with traffic issues.

In other business, Erich Schock and John Cogen, who represent Summit Realty Advisors, spoke before council to begin the process of a zoning change to the area in front of the Colonial Crest apartment complex. The new zoning proposal will change part of the area to allow a potential Wawa to go on the empty pad of land.

Council requested Summit Realty Advisors put a trail along the creek to connect Tenth Street to Cedar Crest Boulevard, then recede down the sidewalk to the high school stadium and connect across to the walking trail at the Indian Creek Apartments. They also want to open up Green Street in hopes of helping traffic flow.

Pepe reminded council this is just a vote to “start the process of rezoning that district. All the street stuff and all the trail stuff, that’s all concentrated in later discussions that will go through planning and council, if in fact it gets that far, so right now what you’re looking at is the zoning restrictions in itself.”

The vote passed 4-1 with Councilman Nathan Brown against.

Ordinance 1158 passed its first reading which pertains to amending the official zoning map for the proposed Townhouses at South Mountain. This proposed ordinance will allow the borough to send off the newly proposed zoning map to several planning commissions before returning to borough chambers for a public hearing sometime in October.

Ordinance 1159 passed its first reading which will improve the quality of the ticketing program that deals with resolving property blight and maintenance violation issues. Pepe said the new ordinance will allow them to issue a ticket to homeowners who aren’t taking care of or neglecting their property. Instead of going through months of legal processing, they will now be issuing tickets directly to homeowners.

Ordinance 1160 passed its first reading which prohibits certain articles of furniture and appliances from being placed on the exterior of a property. Outdoor furniture will be allowed, but items such as a living room sofa or recliners are not allowed.

Ordinance 1161 passed its first reading which allows the animal control officer to enforce vermin control ordinances.

Ordinance 1156 passed its final reading which updates and revises the job description of the borough manager. It was noted the job description hasn’t been changed in over 30 years.

Ordinance 1157 passed its final reading which addresses vehicle and bus drop-off and pick-up parking issues on East Minor Street relating to Seven Generations Charter School. This is the third time council has amended this ordinance.

Council voted 5-0 in favor to allow the purchase of a 2006 bucket truck from Utility Auto Sales for $35,000. “We’ve been all over the eastern part of the state looking for trucks and this is by far the best one we found,” Pepe said.

Councilmen Roy Anders and Wesley Barrett were not in attendance.