Lower Macungie commissioners vote to proceed with vacation of portion of Locust Lane

The Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on June 18 to proceed with vacating a 0.513‑acre portion of Locust Lane and directed the township solicitor to prepare the required report and agreement for recording with the Lehigh County Recorder of Deeds.

Solicitor Mark Fiser opened the public hearing and explained the procedural steps required under the First Class Township Code (recorded in the hearing as "53PS section 57007"): the board must hold a hearing, prepare a report and agreement, record it with the county, and then observe a 30‑day period in which interested parties may file exceptions before the township can adopt an ordinance vacating the right-of-way.

Township Manager Bruce Bidle told the board the vacation grows out of an earlier Spring Creek / Mertztown subdivision reconfiguration that left the existing right-of-way unnecessary. Bidle said the 0.513 acres being vacated would be split roughly with 0.181 acres assigned to Lot 1 of the Mertztown subdivision and about 0.332 acres to 1672 Bell Lane, and that both adjacent owners — David Jandel at 1611 Locust Lane and Adam and Logan Michelle Puscar at 1672 Bell Lane — have signaled agreement with the process so far.

No public comments were offered during the hearing. Commissioner Wesley Barrett moved and Commissioner Melissa Bozac seconded a motion to approve the vacation process and to direct the solicitor to prepare the report and agreement. The board approved the motion on a 4–0 roll-call vote (Barrett, Bozac, Rafus, Bitler voting in favor).

According to the solicitor’s description of next steps, once the report and agreement are recorded there will be a 30‑day window for any exceptions to be filed; if none are filed, the township may bring an ordinance to adopt the vacation. Solicitor Fiser said the agreement from the property owners should be returned to the board for approval in July.