Upper Macungie Supervisors Give Nod To Rec Plan

Upper Macungie Township supervisors unanimously approved a new parks and recreation  Thursday night.

The plan, as designed by the recreation board and reviewed by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, promotes land preservation for open space and allows for construction of athletic field facilities targeted for use by local youth sports leagues.

Additional open space facilities for parks and recreation is foreseen as the township's population continues to burgeon.  state that Upper Macungie's more than 20,000 residents surpasses the population of neighboring South Whitehall Township.  

"We feel we have a good plan," said township engineer Dean Haas of Keystone Consulting Engineers. "The recreation board has been an asset to the township and has squeezed every nickel out of the (township's athletic) fields. I'm also impressed with the youth groups concerning how well they've utilized the fields."

A portion of the recreation plan calls for the construction of more -- and smaller -- baseball fields in the Breinigsville area of the township, Haas said. Additional athletic fields can be built in future years under the terms of the plan.

Bruce Wlazelek, director of community planning reminded supervisors of the importance of keeping the new recreation plan current, given the state of the economy.

"A recreation plan is an important planning document and we tend to take them for granted and forget about them for 10 years," Wlazelek said. "We should stay vigilant and keep it current next year and the year after."

Funding for parts of the new recreation plan will be underwritten by land developers, who will  that will be dedicated to open space.  

Elsewhere, supervisors voted to extend the township's c expires at the end of this month. The current contract, inked in 2008, calls for a Cetronia unit within the township's limits at all times. 

Talks aimed at hammering out a new deal between the township and Cetronia are continuing, said Upper Macungie Township Fire Commissioner Grant Grim. The extension will cover the time needed to work out a new deal.

Grim pointed out that 158 emergency service calls were recorded in Upper Macungie last month, compared with an average of 60 calls per month in 2008.

Cetronia Ambulance Corps Chief Executive Officer Larry Wiersch said serving the township is an important part of its business.

"We consistently add and subtract units and it's not uncommon to have two or three units in the township at one time," Wiersch said. "We constantly move units around and and continue to look at our response times and volumes."

In other business:

--  Supervisors  voted to send  to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission at for its consideration. A public hearing, likely sometime in May, must be held before any SALDO changes can be adopted.

-- Supervisors awarded two bids for improvement work at the . The first bid, for public road and other improvements, was awarded to Muschlitz Excavation of Bath at a price of $222,000. The bid for pond, trees and open space improvement was awarded to Benckini Landscaping of Allentown for $265,933. 

-- Supervisors voted to shave 30 minutes off the township's administrative operating hours. Administrative office hours will change next month to 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule. The municipal building is currently staffed until 4:30 p.m.