Macungie's long-shelved downtown streetscape plan may see the light of day again as council members and business owners stir up interest.

Council was chaired Nov. 19 by Chris Becker as both president Jean Nagle and vice president Greg Hutchison were absent. Becker kept council's deliberations on track, nudging focus back to what he saw as the central issue for that evening's discussion confirming enough interest from council to continue more formal discussions in the future toward revisiting the streetscape plan.

The plan found its way onto borough council's agenda thanks to Ron Beitler, a business owner in Macungie, who two weeks ago brought forward a petition signed by local business owners.

"Without interest from council this goes nowhere," Becker acknowledged.

Borough manager Chris Boehm reviewed some of the issues which originally buried the plan. They mainly concern three proposed medians on Main Street and projecting "bulb outs" from the sidewalk and the possible safety issues arising from them.

Part of the idea behind the medians and bulb outs was to slow traffic. Main Street sees about 15,000 vehicles a day, according to Becker, and at 17,000 PennDOT declares the street a traffic highway and no more work of the kind proposed in the streetscape plan can be undertaken. With that prospect looming in Macungie's foreseeable future, Becker pointed out that if something is to be done it needs to be done soon. If so, business owners would benefit the most and the concomitantly proposed downtown revitalization plan could be a part of this.

Becker volunteered to step forward and put together an interest group, together with Beitler and any others expressing interest, to meet and develop ideas with professionals about revisiting the project. At this stage, both Becker and Beitler pointed out, the engineering work is already done and paid for; it's just a matter of implementing.

Council member Joe Sikorski also raised the issue of a similar project realized on Broad Street in Emmaus. There, the existing medians hinder traffic too much, said Sikorski, saying Macungie needs medians that emergency vehicles can drive over when necessary while also slowing traffic.

Beitler had anticipated this and looked into the issue of raised medians in Emmaus, asking two local businesses on Broad Street. "All of these concerns haven't materialized at all in Emmaus," he said before going on to explain his and his business partners' reason for locating their business in Macungie rather than a strip mall.

"Your biggest asset [as a small town] is your character and fostering that distinctiveness." Beitler concluded, "Obviously I'm biased but I do think it's sort of a no-brainer."

Debra Cope was not sold on the idea, citing potential issues with existing traditional borough events like the car shows but no one expressed refusal to hear the idea presented from Becker's proposed group discussions. Becker concluded, "When you don't try, you don't get anything."

The problem of speeding traffic through town is not a new one. Earlier in the meeting, council member Linn Walker complained of state troopers speeding down Main Street in excess of 60 mph, and Becker attested to having witnessed the same.

"Something has to be done," Walker said, suggesting a letter be written to the state troopers and requesting the advice of Chief of Police Ed Harry.

Council also acknowledged a notable problem with street conditions, when the discussion moved to resident Marvin Moyer's concern about the state of Village Walk and Brookfield Drive.

Becker and Boehm, along with borough zoning officer Tracy Smith and engineer Bill Erdman and others, walked the two streets to view the problem themselves. The streets are both coated with micro-seal, a product never been used before in the borough. It consists of a thin (one eighth of an inch) layer of self-leveling oil and water aggregate that coats the street and seals the pavement. Erdman confirmed the micro-seal coat on the pavement had been installed correctly.

Moyer had complained of dangerous unlevel streets because of untoward wear and tear on the micro-seal. Becker said Village Walk would receive a new coat of micro-seal next year.