East Allen Township will soon begin work on Bicentennial Park.

At its April 23 meeting, the East Allen Township Board of Supervisors heard from its township engineer on the project to expand Bicentennial Park. The township acquired approximately 24 acres of Jaindl property to the west of the existing park.

Roger Unangst, chairman of the board of supervisors, explained the purpose of the expansion after the meeting.

"We experienced runoff that caused water problems in the housing development below the park," he said.

The areas of concern are detailed on a map in council chambers. A way to solve the problem is to return the area west of the park to its natural state.

The plan is to keep the area as a passive recreation area. Bicentennial Park has set aside areas for baseball fields and other active recreational activities. The new area will have just a few walking trails. The conservation effort is expected to control stormwater runoff.

The township took preliminary efforts at the meeting to plant areas that were accidentally plowed. Hanover Engineering, the township's engineering firm, is preparing the details of the plan.

In other business, council took action to ban brake retarders for large trucks on Silver Crest Road.

Township Manager Deborah Seiple also reported on the latest developments on the Penn-East pipeline.

"The pipeline people are meeting with land owners," she said. "The path changed and the pipeline is no longer through the middle of the township. The owners moved it more to the northeast corner."

The new location minimizes the pipeline's effect on land owners. Most of the pipeline will pass through land owned by one property owner. Negotiations with the land owner are ongoing, and an agreement is expected.

Seiple noted several major pipelines run through the township now.

Also during the meeting, public works coordinator Gary Mathesz reported that pothole repair is now complete.

"We also repaired damages done by snow plows," he said.

There was some controversy over the Jacksonville Road Bridge. The bridge is in need of repair, although the project is not expected to start for seven months.

Council questioned Solicitor Joseph Piperato on who had liability if problems developed during the seven-month delay period.

Piperato will check into the matter and report to the board.