Slatington borough council met Monday night for a special meeting regarding the comprehensive plan. They met with representatives from Environmental Planning and Design to discuss amendments to its zoning.

In addition to Slatington, five other municipalities (Heidelberg, Washington, Weisenberg, Low Hill and Lynn townships) have agreed to work together on the Northern Lehigh Multimunicipal Comprehensive Plan Intermunicipal Cooperative Implementation Agreement. EPD was hired to help them work through the zoning amendments.

“It’s an extension of (the agreement), a way of coordinating the zoning between all the municipalities,” said Slatington borough manager Daniel Stevens.

The municipalities adopted a comprehensive plan in October 2022, and now have two years to finalize the zoning and update the language.

Stevens said all municipalities are required to have a variety of uses in them, but a multimunicipal comprehensive plan allows for those various uses to be spread out among the members.

For instance, a sewer plant is required by the state, but it is not practical or maybe even affordable for every municipality to have a sewer plant. One member agrees to have one, so the other members don’t have to have it.

“By allowing a use somewhere, you don’t have to have it everywhere,” he said.

Since Slatington is the most urban of the six, it has several areas that the other more rural areas don’t have, such as high density housing. This actually works well for the borough, because it can opt out of a use it doesn’t want since it is taking uses that other members may not want.

Even though they are working together on this, each municipality still remains autonomous, Stevens said.

Working together also reduces the cost.

“We are getting a lot of work done for a minimal fee,” Stevens said.

Lehigh County is pitching in the most, because it supports municipalities working together to provide these uses. Stevens said the county is putting in about $70,000.

“The county wants these regional plans done,” he said.

Slatington’s share is about $5,000. Each municipality is paying a percentage of the cost based on its population.