Palmerton Borough Council voted last month against a study into the possibility of an abandoned rail line becoming a multi-municipality trail. But on Thursday, new information changed their minds.

Andrew Hollywood, head of the recreation committee, said since council’s last meeting in April, he’s been able to connect with Christopher Strohler, a senior conservation planner at the Emmaus-based Wildlands Conservancy who originally presented the idea in front of council a few months ago.

“There were so many questions last time. We didn’t understand our commitment,” Hollywood said.

“There’s a lot more communication,” between the borough and the conservancy, Hollywood added. “I have a much better feeling about the project now.”

Now, the councilman pointed out, Palmerton’s contribution to the study will be $3,000 between 2021 and 2022, rather than $10,000.

According to Strohler, the conservancy has owned a rail line with Eldred Township in Monroe County for years. Spanning about 4 miles, it stretches from Eldred to Little Gap in Lower Towamensing and outside Palmerton’s boundaries.

The first step of turning it into a public footpath would be a feasibility study, which Strohler said the conservancy wants to fund in part by applying for a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant. The remainder of the study would need to be covered by municipalities involved, including Palmerton, Lower Towamensing and Eldred.

Most of the council members were in favor of backing the feasibility study and its new price tag. But Holly Sell was reluctant. Sell said with the coronavirus pandemic ongoing, she’s concerned what the borough’s future budgets might look like with so many residents out of work.

“I have a difficult time committing money to a project like this at this time when we don’t know if we’re going to meet all our numbers down the road,” Sell said. “We have staff that we need to consider.”

Sell’s was the only opposing vote, and the measure to support the study passed by a 6-1 vote.

Palmerton Borough Council also decided on Thursday to move the borough real estate and per capita tax deadlines to Nov. 1, 2020 without penalty.

The Palmerton Police Department to pursue a Local Share Account grant to cover the cost of two automatic license plate readers. The cost of the equipment would total just over $50,000.