Rentschler Car Dealership, located on Route 873 in Slatington, is about to face a violation action for excavation work done on the property without proper permits.

Three residents spoke at Monday night's borough council meeting about the mud flood that flowed for two blocks over the weekend during and after the downpour.Janice Perry of Seventh Street brought a half-inch thick stack of photographs to document the heavy water that ran into her yard, onto her patio and down the street to the next block.Her photos showed the water running down the street for roughly two blocks while catch basins on the edge of the street were completely overwhelmed with the precipitation.Rentschler excavated the back end of the car dealership recently without a permit, according to officials, leaving behind bare dirt before laying shale and stone.Without the coverage from the former vegetation on the property, the ground could not absorb quickly enough to sop up the several inches of rain over the weekend.Borough office manager Duane Dellecker said Rentschler does not have the permits required for excavation and construction."There are seven properties affected; this is unbelievable," Perry said. "I did say where is the water going to go and no one stopped him. I've got water in my basement. Who's going to stop him? Will the borough supply me with sand bags? Who's going to pay for this, Mr. Rentschler?" she asked.Brian Perry added, "The water overwhelmed the two catch basins."Perry also said he's concerned about the upcoming winter months when the ice and snow melt and refreeze."Where is that water going to go?" he asked.Fellow resident Ronda Russell of Williams Street backed up the Perrys' claims when she spoke."I just want to verify what they said. I've got water in my garage now. Something has to be done," Russell said.Borough engineer Larry Turoscy agreed with residents and made clear the importance of immediate action."You need to stop this," he told council. "He should be submitting a plan from his engineer on how to control this water. You have to not only have him cease and desist, but come up with an erosion control plan in addition to something else." Turoscy said.President Gwyneth Jones agreed. "He needs to fix it and he needs to do it now," she said.Dellecker said he filed a complaint this morning with the Lehigh County Conservation District for earthmoving activities without proper erosion and sedimentation protections in place.Fred Rentchsler commented this morning. "It's hard to comment on this because no one has talked to us about it. No one from the borough or any of the neighbors have contacted us.He added, "We've always tried to be good neighbors. So it's hard to comment because we have no knowledge of the complaints."