Upper Macungie

4 5 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 UPPER MACUNGI E , PA acre gentleman’s farm for those wanting an agricultural lifestyle. Upper Macungie remains in the unique position of providing all that is needed for new residents looking to put down roots. The township’s crown jewel is Grange Road Park, which encompasses 196 acres. Currently, it has a multitude of sports fields and basketball and pickleball courts, with plans in the pipeline for new development within the next few years including a proposed community center. Upper Macungie has a population of 27,000 residents, but due to the approximately 800 businesses that also call the township home, this number swells by 40,000 with daily commuters, according to Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. Statistics from the 2020 U.S. Census show that the Township had the fourth largest increase in population of any municipality in Pennsylvania between 2010 and 2020 – the only municipalities with larger increases were the cities of Philadelphia, Allentown, and Reading. Kalman Sostarecz, Assistant Township Manager and Director of Community Development, elaborates on these numbers, “Upper Macungie is clearly a very desirable community to live in, and our daily population more than doubles when factoring in those coming into the township to work, which is an enormous increase. Our township really functions like a city in that regard.” The multiple opportunities of the township are aided by its significant size of 26 square miles. Upper Macungie comprises several villages that have been established as early as the mid-1700’s, and even though there has been considerable infill over the past few decades, the a comprehensive plan that encompass developments, infrastructure management, government services, as well as projected growth for the area. According to this report, the township is projected to grow steadily over the next decade. Currently, the township has more than 500 approved dwelling units that are yet to be built which are in various phases of construction, as well as several residential land development plans still in the planning process, with no signs of slowing down. Among these are plans which propose apartment units, an identified need throughout not only Upper Macungie, but the entire Lehigh Valley. To encourage this type of development, the township recently passed a Mixed-Use overlay district, allowing residential and commercial uses to exist on one property, frequently through apartments situated above retail and service-related businesses, such as hair salons or dry cleaners. Stronger, faster and more reliable. ironton.com Reliable, high-speed internet & telephone without a cable package. Introducing the Network! irontonglobal.com Meet the demands of your business with feature-rich VoIP for your budget. Built-in, mobile communicator redundancy! Lets calls ring to both your business phone and smartphone. Business Cloud Phone Services