Council took action following an Executive Session at last night’s Council Meeting, regarding noise from new businesses in the borough and the lack of obtaining proper permits.
West Easton residents were upset that noise emitted from new equipment installed by IQ Fibers, located on Johnson Trucking property (Lehigh Drive), and Delta Wash, located on the former Chipman Mill property (East St.), were running equipment that disturbs their quality of life.
Residents from neighboring Glendon were also allowed to speak, informing Council that even across the river, noise from IQ Fibers newest piece of equipment is disturbing.
“It sounds like a shotgun constantly going off,” stated Kenneth Teske, from Glendon.
Delta Wash, the East Street business, installed 3 additional exhaust type stacks and when running, are disturbing residential neighborhoods.
No permits were issued for either business to install the equipment.
IQ Fibers hasn’t obtained permits and inspections to begin operations, but appears to be manufacturing their paper based insulation.
Cease and Desist orders issued by West Easton’s Zoning Officer are being ignored.
Normally, our Zoning Officer represents the borough in court when, after what can be many months of notifications and responses between the borough and offending businesses, it finally reaches the courtroom of local Magistrate Richard Yetter.
Judge Yetter, if one past decision is a reflection of enforcing West Easton’s ordinances is any indication, doesn’t seem inclined to impose a fine on a business that violates West Easton’s Zoning Ordinances.
In a case involving Delta Wash, Yetter asked if the violation had been corrected as he heard the evidence (and by that time it had), which should have had no bearing on his decision, but Yetter declined to fine Delta Wash.
That would be like asking if a driver, cited for a parking violation, now has his vehicle legally parked.
It is expected our Solicitor will be able to provide some teeth to our ordinances, move to get court ordered Cease and Desist Orders in place, and speed up the process to a hearing, in which fines will be imposed.
Owners of the properties and those they rent to, can now consider themselves on notice that the Wild West of doing as you please in the business districts of West Easton is coming to an end.
UPDATED 5:00 PM to correct name of business brought before Judge Yetter.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
