DTA Alliance LLC, the owner and operator of the sand quarry in Palmerton, has plans for improvements to the land. Now, it just needs the Lower Towamensing Township Zoning Hearing Board to grant a variance.

A public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdayat the municipal building on Hahns Dairy Road. In a letter to the township, DTA explained that they had purchased the land formerly owned by Alliance Sand Co. The sand quarry is located on Golf Road and is nearly depleted.DTA wants to to open a facility to manufacture, warehouse and ship concrete block products on the site after the land is filled in according to the terms of its Department of Environmental Protection permit. It will continue mining operations on the other side of Golf Road.Zoning Officer Duane Dellecker denied the permit, because the land is zoned rural-conservation, the use of the land would be changed from quarry to manufacturing, and manufacturing was not listed as a permitted use on the township’s zoning ordinance.Dan Connor, of DTA Alliance and owner of the land, said in his appeal, that the variance should be approved for several reasons. First of all, the use of the property predates the zoning. The quarry began production in the early 1900s, before the land was zoned rural-conservation.Second, the quarry is almost depleted, so its current use will not be applicable and the land is not suitable for residential housing due to “the physical characteristics of the site.” But, he said, the site would be “well-suited for reuse as a manufacturing facility for cement/concrete products,” since sand production is continuing nearby.Connor said reuse of the land for this type of manufacturing “will contribute beneficially to the reclamation of the quarry site” and is not “out of character with the current use as a quarry and will not change the nature of the vicinity.”On Tuesday the board will also hear Blue Mountain Ski Area’s request to build a six-story hotel built on 1.95 acres near Summit Lodge on Summit Lodge Road. The hotel would consist of 80 condo units.