Macungie Borough Council is considering the adoption of a new zoning ordinance which will affect nearly 300 properties in the borough.

Most of the changes are minor, though, and according to borough manager Chris Boehm they will be to the residents' benefit.

Council president Chris Becker explained it's good to look at the zoning ordinance every 10 years or so, and that council was "trying to make the community better by this."

Nothing will be adopted until after an advertised public hearing Oct. 7, when citizens of Macungie will have a chance to address council.

One of the main issues in question was the amendment's approach to establishing a process for demolitions of buildings constructed prior to 1941. Rather than prohibiting such demolitions entirely, the ordinance would seek to establish a process for reviewing them. But the seemingly clear cut proposal brings in gray areas as well, such as exterior structures like porches or bay windows on old homes.

In Macungie, 237 properties would be affected by the changes to the zoning ordinance with regard to the demolition portion alone. Boehm estimates some 25 more would be affected by the zoning ordinance changes in general, specifically changes of R10 districts to R7.8 that is, from low density to medium density residential districts.

All property owners who may be affected by the ordinance amendments will be notified by the borough.

Mayor Gary Cordner proposed a new security notification system for Macungie's use which met with consensus approval by council. The Nixle system provides emergency notifications to members of the public who subscribe to it. By way of emails and text messages, citizens of Macungie could have almost instant updates of emergency situations as they occur. Nixle provides its services to public safety agencies, such as the police department, free of charge. All Macungie has to do is sign up for it. Upper Macungie is already using the system, Cordner told council, and it's working very well for them.

Council passed the GPS policy after several months of lengthy discussions and some litigation behind closed doors. In particular the policy dictates how the GPS units can be utilized in the police department and who can access the resulting data and from where. The chief of police currently cannot access data uploaded from the GPS from his home only from Borough Hall and the police department office can records be reached.

Becker said he was not comfortable with limiting access of the record to only the mayor and the police chief, and Chief Ed Harry himself is not in favor of the GPS units to begin with as distinct from the policy.

Vice president Greg Hutchison and council member Jean Nagle both were opposed to the policy and voted nay.