Macungie residents living along Village Walk Drive received a notice from the Borough Authority that the easement along their properties will now be enforced, after years of receiving permits and even reissued permits from Borough Council, says Joel Cope who stood before council with his grievance June 3.

Cope has lived in the development for 23 years, and never even knew about the easement which does not appear on his deed. His fence sits astride the rear property linefully 20 feet from the prescribed distance of the easement. Cope attested to the cost and frustration such an enforcement will cause residents, some of whom have planted trees now mature, built sheds and created landscaping that will cost thousands to remove. A letter from Zoning Officer Brian Nixon demands property owners remove all obstructions on the easement within 90 days. The letter was sent out last week.

Cope contacted Nixon who said he'd been "working on" the easement for two years. But nothing was ever mentioned to the property owners, who continued to receive permits for fences and sheds and trees.

The properties affected total 128; Cope's yard, and those of his neighbors, span some 50 feet, nearly half of which length would be affected by the easement. Properties will have to be reassessed and may lose value, Cope pointed out.

Cope's wife and Councilmember Debra Cope told council she was "ashamed" that she, a council member, did not even know about the easement being enforced before receiving her letter as a property owner. Borough Manager Chris Boehm informed borough council of the Authority's action on this in May, a fact Councilmember David Boyko hotly confronted by demanding of Boehm why the issue was never addressed in two years of Nixon's research. Boehm says it hadn't come up, even when she was zoning officer.

Council President Chris Becker said council should get involved, and the issue would be addressed that evening as a personnel issue in executive session. Though the original decision regarding the easement would have come from another council, Boehm admitted the borough could have made mistakes in the past. Joel Cope said it was negligence.

Boehm warned council about becoming too closely involved in the sphere of the Borough Authority. As separate legal entities, the two powers cannot mingle in one another's respective areas, otherwise risking lawsuit. Boehm asked Borough Solicitor Patrick Armstrong to research the matter and advise council on exactly what they can say to the Borough Authority. Nixon has opened his office to property owners to discuss the problem.

Macungie Borough's newly appointed engineers, Barry Isett & Associates, represented by Neal and Ryan Kern, received their formal introduction to council and citizens of Macungie along with a review of the workload before them.

West End Trail will be milled and repaved and Hickory Street will also be milled. Hill Street has some water issues underneath the surface and will probably be carried over into next year's work list.

The much debated Brookfield Drive is just fine, according to Neal Kern, who says that the single microseal coating might not be heavy duty but it's not doing anything unexpected in cracking.

Although some residents balked, council approved the issuance of a general obligation note which will grant the borough $1 million to fund capital projects. Macungie will be able to achieve the construction of Lumber Street agreed upon in the arrangements made with the Devine School, complete a traffic study for and install a light at Church and Main streets., and reconstruct deteriorating Cotton Street with sidewalks and curbs per the borough's ordinance requiring these to be installed on newly reconstructed streets.

Resident Marvin Moyer, though, is afraid a light there would cause traffic back ups onto the railroad tracks, a concern Council President Chris Becker addressed directly to the engineers at the meeting. Kern responded that they had accomplished a solution in similar circumstances dozens of times; the timing of the light can be adjusted to take queuing and the railroad tracks into consideration, and Kern expressed confidently that his firm would find a safe and satisfactory solution.