Joint Planning Commission Gets Consolidation Update

At the Sept. 15 joint meeting of the Lower Saucon Township and Hellertown planning commissions, Township Manager Jack Cahalan and Borough Manager Cathy Kichline discussed the status of projects undertaken by both municipalities.

Cahalan said Lower Saucon Township and Hellertown currently have several consolidation studies in the works.

One is a fire department consolidation study, which is examining merging the Saucon Valley volunteer fire departments into one entity.

Cahalan said the five departments have already trained on each other’s equipment and do not have a problem with the idea of consolidation.

However, there are issues that would need to be addressed with this type of consolidation, including social club and real estate concerns.

Another consolidation study involves library services available to local residents. , but .

A report by the Saucon Valley Library Task Force will be finished by next summer.

“No decisions have been made to switch,” Cahalan said emphatically.

The township and the borough are also looking at playing fields in the Saucon Valley, and how they can be used more efficiently by teams that draw players from both municipalities.

In other joint matters, Cahalan told commission members that the township and borough have been working together on paving roadways.

He said that over the last five years about 10 roads have been paved jointly by public works employees from Lower Saucon Township and Hellertown. About three years ago, the employees jointly paved the parking lot at .

In addition, the township and borough have worked together to provide residents with a very low cost (due to grants) . They worked together to provide safety barriers and fencing along the trail to protect residents, and the township and borough agreed on a crushed concrete trail surface, which Cahalan said “everybody loves.”

Commission members commented that they heard there were very few problems with the trail, even in .

The next joint planning commission meeting will be held in April 2012.