'500-Pound Gorilla' is Out of Control, Neighbors Say

Months ago, Upper Milford Supervisor Rob Sentner said that development in Upper and Lower Macungie is out of control and ruining the quality of life in the southwest corner of Lehigh County.

News that eight acres of land at Route 100 and Quarry Road in Lower Macungie might be rezoned was the last straw.

His reaction was to call Wednesday night's meeting of the six member communities of the Southwestern Lehigh County Comprehensive Plan: Emmaus, Alburtis and Macungie and Upper Milford and Lower Milford townships.

In theory, the plan is designed to control development and preserve open space throughout the region.

But it was the practice that concerned Sentner more.

The meeting began with Sentner giving a brief introduction that called for "no finger-pointing." And save for a brief reference or two about development in Lower Macungie Township as the "500-pound gorilla in the room," collaboration was in the air.

Public comment was saved till the end of the meeting, and that's when nuance went out the window.

Audience members wanted to know how all the good ideas for chipping away at traffic, water and school district dilemmas were actually going to happen.

"The problem is there's no teeth. The visioning for all the problems is wonderful, but we have to avoid having the comprehensive plan being a 10-year lagging indicator. If the visioning doesn't make it into the books, that's what's going to happen," said Ron Beitler of Lower Macungie Township.

Sentner agreed that there should be some way either to curb development or demand of developers some kind of "givebacks" such as a traffic light for the community next door to one that has a major development going on.

"We need to have those conversations," Sentner said.

Until that point, all participants pretty much spoke in generalities.

"Lower Macungie is the 500-lb gorilla in the room," Upper Milford resident Phil Casey said.

Development in the township next door is "of drastic relevance to us," he said.

"You talk the talk," Casey said, "But when you do things that impact us, you must do them in such a way that we can say 'stop.' "

Representatives at the Wednesday meeting were:

• Emmaus: Michael Hoffman, member of the Planning Commission
• Macungie: Christopher Becker, president of Borough Council
• Alburtis: Jason Schweyer, member of the Planning Commission
• Lower Milford: Donna Wright, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors
• Lower Macungie: Sara Pandl and William Erdman, director of planning and community development and township engineer, respectively
• Upper Milford: Sentner

The Southwestern Lehigh County Comprehensive Plan members agreed to meet again on May 29.