Chickens are on the loose in Donora.
At a Thursday borough council meeting, resident John Sobek said chickens are once more roaming around the Cypress Way area.
"There have been times that I'm coming down the alley there and had to slam on my brakes, because there's a chicken in the middle of the road," Sobek told council. "There are at least six chickens down there, three roosters and three hens."
A purported chicken problem in that part of town was first brought to council's attention in June 2010.
Back then, Terry Perrotta complained that chickens were on her property.
"I was known as the 'chicken lady' back then," Perrotta told council Thursday.
Councilman Don Pavelko told Sobek and other residents there is no ordinance to prohibit chickens from being kept in the borough.
"There is an ordinance that says they aren't to be roaming free, though," Pavelko said.
Borough Administrator Dennis Fisher said hogs are the only animals barred from the borough.
"We have ordinances in the borough dating back to 1910," Fisher said. "We'll head out there, and take pictures and look into other possible violations."
Sobek said there is a coop on the chicken owner's property.
We'll look into whether or not there should have been a building permit issued for the chicken coop," Fisher said. "There's also an offset of how far it can be from the street."
Mayor John Lignelli suggested an ordinance to prohibit chickens in the borough.
"If there's a problem let's get something on the books that prohibits them," Lignelli said to council.
Council also heard from resident Claude Gibaskwicz, who owns property in the area of Fifth and 12th streets, which are affected by the Donora Place Plan sewer extension project.
Gibaskwicz would like to sell those properties and wondered if the borough has plans to extend Fifth and 12th streets to a point they would reach his property.
"Our original plan was to extend the streets there," Councilman Jason Menendez said. "It's a matter of getting the funding to extend the streets and water service to that area.
"If someone buys one of the lots and wants to build a home back there, we'll sit down and look at what we can do."
Pavelko added that there is a designed grid of roads in the area and that there is no money available to add or extend them.
Menendez said the plan would be similar to the sewer expansion project in that the borough would send its engineering firm to the area and evaluate it and apply for grants to pay for the project.
Councilwoman Marie Trozzo said council would like to see the project completed.
In other business, council agreed to temporarily remove parking meters on Thompson Avenue.
The meters will be moved downtown, where they are most needed.
In other business:
-- Council announced that the borough is accepting reservations for pavilion rentals at Palmer Park.
-- Mayor John Lignelli issued a proclamation to the Donora Elks, BPOE Lodge 1265, to recognize its 100th anniversary.
The proclamation was accepted by Councilman Tom Kostolansky, a member of the organization.
