The concerns around the newly increased train speeds were discussed at the Emmaus Borough Council meeting March 19.

Norfolk Southern has recently raised the speed limit for trains to 60 mph, which Councilwoman Teri Sorg-McManamon said raised concerns during the community relations, planning and development committee meeting.

Sorg-McManamon said the committee felt higher train speeds put the borough residents at risk and recommended the borough send a letter of concern to Norfolk. She stated other letters are being written by not only other entities in Emmaus, but by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission as well. Concerns include derailment, residents getting hit by a train at the crossings and hazardous materials flying off of trains.

Councilman Roy Anders said he appreciated the fact the committee came up with this conclusion. He expressed similar concerns and added in the safety of school buses crossing the tracks. He noted while buses do stop at the tracks and look both ways, there is always the risk of malfunction.

Councilman Wesley Barrett said, while he is all for the mentality of doing something he thinks is right, he feels this is one of those items where he doesn’t think it’s going to go anywhere based on previous conversations and discussions with Norfolk. “They kind of run their business the way they want to run it, that’s generally been our experience.”

Council President Brent Labenberg said he will not be supporting the letter, as he also feels it will not make a difference. He noted he doesn’t think all the trains will be traveling at that speed. However, “if they have an empty train, they’re going to go that fast so they can get through and get to their next destination.”

In regard to safety, he said every track in the borough has crossing gates and if somebody then tries to cross the track “it’s their own fault if they get hit.”

“If we do not write a letter of concern for our community to be aware that we actually have their best interest at heart, I think that is sending a very odd message,” Sorg-McManamon said. “When there is something to this caliber, with a company of this magnitude, it’s such a simple thing for us to just voice our opinion as a community.”

Council voted 5-2, with Barrett and Labenberg voting no, in favor of having Borough Manager Shane Pepe send a letter of concern to Norfolk.

In other business, Kathy Mintzer spoke on behalf of the Emmaus recreation and entertainment committee to discuss a possible Chocolate and Wine Walk event.

The idea of the event, which is still in the planning stages, is to have people register and pay a fee to receive a wristband, and in return receive a list of participating downtown businesses who will have different chocolate samples for participants to try.

A separate wristband would be given out to people wanting to participate in the wine tasting which would be held in Triangle Park. Local wineries would be able to set up tents to sample and sell their goods. The Emmaus Main Street Partners would help with the event as well, which has a suggested date of Sept. 15.

Besides the issues of liability insurance with the wineries, the issue of closing off streets and certain downtown parking areas was brought up. Pepe said there may be a specific downtown business or two that will not be happy with the area being closed for the originally suggested eight hours. He told Mintzer it is a normal practice for anyone holding an event in the Triangle to contact and receive feedback from all business owners in that area.

“My feeling is that it is perfectly OK to close the Triangle,” Barrett said. “They are in the center of town, and that is where events should take place. It should be a known expectation that your road could be closed in front, and if your customer is not willing to walk from Fourth Street, Fifth Street, wherever, then there’s something wrong there.”

Barrett said he’s talked to business owners during events in the Triangle, and sometimes they tell him they had one of their best days, and other times they don’t have good days. He said the idea of events is to get people to check out the businesses, so even if they don’t purchase anything that day, they know the option is there for the future.

It was decided the event would go to committee level for more discussion and planning.

Council voted 7-0 in favor of having Pepe start drafting an ordinance for an Emmaus Community Garden Commission.